[riddell] PRE-ASSEMBLY LEGISLATURES IN BRITISH CANADA 131 



After the Quebec Act the time is extended to six months following 

 section 16 of that Act and the Ordinances were to be sent not only 

 to the Board of Trade but also to one of the Principal Secretaries 

 of State (16). 



The Council were still further restricted after The Quebec Act; 

 Carleton's Instructions (1775) afterwards repeated to Haldimand 

 (1778) and himself (1786, then become Lord Dorchester) prevented the 

 Council from levying any taxes or duties, except such rates and taxes 

 as the inhabitants of a Town or District might be authorized to assess 

 for making roads, erecting public buildings or the like for the local 

 convenience (17). 



No such legislation had in fact been passed by the Council unless 

 indeed the fees charged for licences to sell liquor could be so considered 

 (68). 



Carleton's Instructions (1775), also directed that "No Ordinance 

 touching Religion or by which any Punishment may be inflicted greater 

 than Fine or Imprisonment for three Months be made to take effect 

 until the same shall have received our Approbation" (18) and that 

 "no Ordinance be passed at any Meeting of the Council where less 

 than a Majority or at any time except between the first day of January 

 and the first day of May . . . unless upon some urgent Occasion ; 

 in which case every Member . . . resident at Quebec or within 

 fifty miles thereof shall be personally summoned to attend 

 The latter simply upheld the provisions of Section 16 of the Quebec 

 Act, and the former, Section 15. 



The Council were in Carleton's Instructions (1775), not to lose 

 sight of the importance of personal liberty and were told that they 

 could not follow a better example than the Writ of Habeas Corpus 

 (19). Many of the petitions by the English-speaking inhabitants had 

 bitterly complained of the absence of such a remedy and it was thought 

 well to introduce it. But the troubles arising from the American 

 Revolution prevented immediate effect being given to the recom- 

 mendation. Haldimand imprisoned more than one person arbitrarily — 

 (whether this was necessary or not we need not here enquire). The 

 Instructions had been repeated when Haldimand succeeded Carleton 

 in 1778 but it was not till April 29, 1784, that an Ordinance was 

 passed bringing the Writ into force in Canada (20). 



The Instructions to Dorchester in 1786 contained a clause directing 

 him to "take effectual Care that the said Ordinance be duly enforced 

 so that every Security to Personal Liberty . . may be fully 

 enjoyed ... in the Province" (21). 



The Royal Assent was provided for from the beginning. In 

 Murray's Instructions, there was a provision that until the calling of 



