Identity area
Type of entity
Corporate body
Authorized form of name
Nova Scotia. House of Assembly
Parallel form(s) of name
Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules
Other form(s) of name
Identifiers for corporate bodies
Description area
Dates of existence
1758-
History
In 1758 Governor Charles Lawrence was ordered by London to organize the election for a House of Assembly. The first in Canada, the Nova Scotia House of Assembly convened on 2 October 1758 in the law courts at Halifax. From 1758 to 1928 the assembly was the lower house of a bicameral legislature, whose position was entrenched in the Constitution Act, 1867. Since the achievement of "responsible" (party) government in 1848, the party holding the largest number of seats in the assembly forms the government of the province. It is customary that members of the Executive Council (Cabinet) be drawn from the governing party in the House of Assembly. The work of the assembly is to enact the statute law of the province, both public and private.