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Octavo (9.25 inches). 47 pages. Royal coat of arms. Stab stitched, as issued. Paper loss affecting the blank top right corner of the initial eight leaves and the final leaf (possibly insect or rodent damage), some slight edge abrasion, and a tiny shallow dent/puncture in upper blank margin. Outer leaves slightly spotted and soiled. A slight musty odor. Otherwise good. Condition noted, and sold as is. First Halifax edition of the British North America (Constitution) Act, 1867 and the Canada Railway Loan Act, 1867, printed by request of the Nova Scotia House of Assembly, 24 April 1867. The full titles of the two Acts are: An Act for the Union of Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick, and the Government thereof, and for purposes connected therewith (being 30 Victoria, Chapter 3), appearing on pages 3-44; and An Act for Authorizing a Guarantee of Interest on a loan to be raised by Canada towards the Construction of a Railway connecting Quebec and Halifax (being 30 Victoria, Chapter 16), appearing on pages 45-47. The British North America Act received Royal Assent on 29 March 1867, and the Canada Railway Loan Act received Royal Assent on 12 April 1867. The British North America Act, 1867 (commonly referred to as the BNA Act, 1867 or Constitution Act, 1867) came into effect on 1 July 1867, and united the Province of Canada (formerly known as Canada East and Canada West), New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia into the Dominion of Canada. The Act, which created a federal dominion with a parliamentary system modelled after that of Great Britain, outlined the distribution of responsibilities and powers for each level of government and the rights of its inhabitants. By Section 129 of the Act, all applicable British legislation was received into Canadian constitutional law. The operating structure for the new country included: Executive Power (as vested in the Queen, and the Governor General); Legislative Power for the Senate and House of Commons (constituting the Parliament of the Dominion of Canada); Provincial Constitutions; Distribution of Legislative Powers and the Authority of the Parliament of Canada (including exclusive control over all matters relating to Indians and Indian Lands); Judicature; Revenues, Debts, Assets and Taxation; Intercolonial Railway; and Admission of other Colonies (noting Newfoundland, Prince Edward Island, British Columbia, and Ruperts Land as possible candidates). The Appendices elaborated on: Existing and New Electoral Divisions in Ontario and Quebec; Provincial Public Works and Property to be the Property of Canada; Assets to be the Property of Ontario and Quebec Conjointly; and the Oath of Allegiance to the Queen. The Canada Railway Loan Act, 1867 concerned the loan of GBP 3,000,000 to Canada, at an interest rate of four percent per annum, for the construction of a railway connecting the Port of Riviere du Loup in the Province of Quebec with the line of railway leading from the City of Halifax in the Province of Nova Scotia.
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