Legislative Council

A Legislative Council is the name given to the legislatures, or one of the chambers of the legislature of many nations and colonies.

A member of a legislative council is commonly referred to as an MLC.

Unicameral legislatures

• Brunei: Legislative Council of Brunei (unelected; dissolved but re-established in 2004)
• Ceylon: Legislative Council of Ceylon (1831–1931; dissolved to form the State Council of Ceylon)
• Falkland Islands: Legislative Council of the Falkland Islands (1845–2009; reconstituted as the Legislative Assembly of the Falkland Islands)
• Gibraltar: Legislative Council of Gibraltar (1950–1969)
• Hong Kong:
  • Legislative Council of Hong Kong (1843–1997; the legislature of the British Crown colony/dependent territory of Hong Kong)
  • Provisional Legislative Council of Hong Kong (1997–1998, the first legislative council of Hong Kong after becoming a Chinese dependency)
  • Legislative Council of Hong Kong (after 1998, the name of the legislature of the Chinese dependency of Hong Kong was reverted to its original name after the 1998 Hong Kong general election)
• Macao: Legislative Assembly of Macao
• Malaysia: Federal Legislative Council of Malaya (1948–1957; replaced by the Parliament of Malaya and subsequently in 1963, the Parliament of Malaysia)
• Saint Helena: Legislative Council of Saint Helena
• Singapore: Legislative Council of Singapore (1946–1953; replaced by the Legislative Assembly of Singapore and finally the Parliament of Singapore)
• Straits Settlements: Legislative Council of the Straits Settlements (1867–1946; replaced by the Legislative Council of Singapore and the Federal Legislative Council of Malaya)
• Uganda: Uganda Legislative Council (became the National Assembly of Uganda in March 1962)

Part of a bicameral legislature

• Australia:
  • New South Wales Legislative Council
  • Queensland Legislative Council (abolished in 1922)
  • South Australian Legislative Council
  • Tasmanian Legislative Council
  • Victorian Legislative Council
  • Western Australian Legislative Council
• Barbados: Barbadian Legislative Council (renamed the Senate of Barbados in 1964)
• Bermuda: Bermuda Legislative Council (renamed the Senate of Bermuda in 1980)
• Canada:
  • Legislative Council of British Columbia (1867–1871)
  • Legislative Council of Lower Canada (abolished by the 1840 Union Act)
  • Legislative Council of Manitoba (abolished in 1876)
  • Legislative Council of New Brunswick (abolished in 1892)
  • Legislative Council of Nova Scotia (abolished in 1928)
  • Legislative Council of Prince Edward Island (amalgamated into the Legislative Assembly of Prince Edward Island in 1893)
  • Legislative Council of Quebec (abolished in 1968)
  • Legislative Council of the Province of Canada (abolished at the Canadian Confederation)
  • Legislative Council of Upper Canada (abolished by the 1840 Union Act)

(Ontario, Alberta and Saskatchewan are the only provinces not to have had an upper house)

• India: The Vidhan Parishad (or Legislative Council) in seven of the twenty-eight Indian states (Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh), the Vidhan Parishad serves as the upper house of a bicameral legislature
• Isle of Man: the Legislative Council of the Isle of Man
• Dominion of Newfoundland: the Legislative Council of Newfoundland (dissolved with the creation of the Commission of Government in 1934; not recreated after Newfoundland joined Canada in 1949)
• New Zealand: New Zealand Legislative Council (abolished in 1951)
• United States:
  • Delaware Legislative Council: the upper house under the Delaware Constitution of 1776 (since 1792, the Delaware State Senate)
  • New Jersey Legislative Council: the upper house under the 1776 New Jersey Constitution (since 1845, the New Jersey Senate) and New Jersey Supreme Court
  • South Carolina Legislative Council: the upper house under the 1776 South Carolina Constitution (since 1778, the South Carolina Senate)

See also

• House of Assembly
• Legislative Assembly