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This series consists of letters and copies of letters from the Colonial Attorney General to the Governor forwarding ordinances and commenting on bills and ordinances, 1864-1870.

The series consists of inward and outward Attorney-General’s Department correspondence created between 1912 and ca. 1969, predominantly between 1959-1965. Records relate to a variety of matters for which the Attorney-General was responsible, including some coroners' reports (within AG file codes C-49 and C-81).

Records are arranged by act and then by file code as assigned by the Attorney-General. File codes represent an act and specific subject matters under the act. Within the files, records are arranged chronologically. Original textual records were destroyed after microfilming. The records were scheduled for full retention.

The series consists of inward and outward Attorney-General’s Department correspondence created between 1926 and 1970, predominantly between 1956-1965. Records relate to a variety of matters for which the Attorney-General was responsible, including some ca.1955-1965 coroners' reports (within AG file code C-81-4).

Records are arranged by act and then by file code as assigned by the Attorney-General. File codes represent an act and specific subject matters under the act. Within the files, records are arranged chronologically. Original textual records were destroyed after microfilming. The records were scheduled for full retention.

The series consists of inward and outward Attorney-General’s Department correspondence created between 1937 and ca. 1963, but predominantly between 1952-1959. Records relate to a variety of matters for which the Attorney-General was responsible.

Records are arranged by act and then by file code as assigned by the Attorney-General. File codes represent an act and specific subject matters under the act. Within the files, records are arranged chronologically. Original textual records were destroyed after microfilming. The records were scheduled for full retention.

Series consists of inward and outward Attorney-General’s Department correspondence created between 1938 and ca. 1961. Records relate to a variety of matters for which the Attorney-General was responsible, including coroners' records (within AG file code C-81).

Records are arranged by act and then by file code as assigned by the Attorney-General. File codes represent an act and specific subject matters under the act. Within the files, records are arranged chronologically. Original textual records were destroyed after microfilming. The records were scheduled for full retention.

This series consists of bills, draft ordinances, orders of the day and other working papers for the Legislative Council of the colony of British Columbia.

This series consists of bills, draft bills, orders of the day, notes on debates, estimates, draft legislation, statutes, subject files and other records of the Legislative Council and the Legislative Assembly, 1868-1872.

The first versions or drafts of a bill or act are known as the Blues version, after the blue paper used for the printing. The final version, printed by the Queen’s Printer, is on white paper. All blues versions will be identified as draft. Final versions will be noted at “Statute”.

The series consists of records created by the Cabinet Operations branch of the Office of the Premier from 1980-2001. Most records were created by various Cabinet Committees responsible for reviewing legislation, as well as some regulations and Orders-in-Council (OICs). These committees include:

Cabinet Committee on Legislation (CCL)
Cabinet Committee on Legislation and Regulations (CCLR)
Cabinet Committee on Regulations and Orders in Council
Cabinet Committee on Legislation, Regulations and Orders in Council
Cabinet/Caucus Committee on Legislation (CCCL)

Records include committee meeting minutes, correspondence, recommendations, legal advice, legislative proposals and requests for legislation. A large portion of the records are the minutes and meeting files produced by the Cabinet Committee on Legislation.

Cabinet Operations controls the process by which legislation is proposed and reviewed prior to the legislation being prepared as a Bill. These records may relate to the preparation of instructions and templates for the submission of legislative proposals, requests for legislation, or the tracking of submissions throughout the legislative approval process. This process begins when a ministry submits their legislative proposals for consideration. If a legislative proposal is approved, the ministry will be asked to develop a formal Request for Legislation (RFL). The Legislative Review Committee (LRC) will review the RFLs and make recommendations to Cabinet on policies and programs requiring change. Legislative Counsel, working with the ministry, is then responsible for drafting individual bills, acts, and regulations.

These records provide evidence of the development and coordination of this legislative review process, and include records pertaining to both new and amended legislation. The records relate to entire bills or Acts, as well as records of amendments to particular sections of an Act. These may be referred to as major or minor changes in the file list.

Where possible, the records are arranged by year or legislative session, then alphabetically by Ministry name and then alphabetically by Act name within each Ministry grouping. This arrangement may not always be followed consistently throughout the records, especially for older ones.

In some cases, records were arranged in two distinct groupings within a file folder, with records clipped to both the left and right sides. Metal clips were removed for preservation purposes, but records from the left side are face-down on top of records on the right hand side, which are arranged face-up.

The records are covered by ORCS 10610-20 (schedule 881099) and were selected for full retention.

This series consists of background materials used by members of cabinet in the creation and approval of orders-in-council (OICs) and Ministerial Orders, from 1989-2003.

The majority of these records are information sheets or resumes which identify the relevant Ministry, contact person, summary of background information, authority (such as any related legislation), concerns from Legislative Counsel, impacts of the OIC, and tracking information. The OIC number is usually stamped in the top right corner. Numbers with the prefix “M” are Ministerial Orders, not OICs.

Information sheets may be stapled to other associated supporting records such as correspondence, reference materials, financial impact statements, copies of the OIC, and coloured slips showing it has been reviewed by Legislative Counsel. Green slips note the OIC can proceed, yellow indicates certain conditions that need to be met, and red indicates the OIC may be invalid or open to challenge. Most packages do not include copies of the actual OIC.

There are also a few files relating to a 1983 OIC “reduction exercise”. This involved reviewing legislation to determine if statutory powers requiring routine OICs to have full consideration and approval of cabinet could be transferred to the Minister concerned. This change was considered so Cabinet could spend more time on “non-routine” issues.

Early OICs are grouped by the name of the Ministry responsible, and roughly chronologically within each grouping. Sheets may not clearly be labelled with the year and files may contain OICs for multiple years.

Later OICs are arranged chronologically by year and OIC number. There may not be records for every OIC number or there may be a placeholder noting where records for an OIC are not included. Each year filed chronologically may begin with files for minutes of Cabinet and other miscellaneous files related to OICS of that year.

Records in the series are covered by ORCS 10200-30 of schedule 881099 (Office of the Premier and Executive Council).

This series consists of papers, mainly draft bills, regarding mining, 1859-1871. Records created before 1871 were created in the office of the Attorney-General of the Colony of British Columbia, and possibly the Attorney-General of the Colony of Vancouver Island, if the records relate to Vancouver Island and were created before 1866 when the two colonies merged. Records created in 1871 were created by the Attorney-General for the Province of British Columbia.

This series consists of drafting of legislation and regulation case files from the Legislative Council of the Ministry of Attorney General, mostly from the 1950s to the late 1980s. Most files relate to drafting new or amending existing individual bills, acts, regulations, and orders in council, and include a variety of records used in the drafting process for particular years. The series also includes some correspondence files, subject files, Cabinet Committee on Legislation Records of Decisions, Cabinet Committee Approvals, reviews of existing legislation, as well as general operational and administrative records of the office documenting the legislative process, meetings, procedures, training, human resources management, presentations and conference materials, such as the Uniform Law Conference.

Most legislation and regulation case files each have a two sided structure; however, this structure is not always followed consistently through the files. Records on the left side of the file generally include correspondence and memorandums, while the remaining documents such as acts, regulations, working drafts, reference material and records used in the legislation process are on the right side. These records can include copies of legislation from BC and other jurisdictions, drafts, working copies, amendments to existing legislation and regulations, reference materials used in the drafting and editing process, correspondence from government and third parties interested in changes to legislation, cabinet submissions, notes, bills, requests for new legislation, court judgements, commission reports, proclamations, orders in council and discussion papers.

These records have been classified as 34200-20 in the Legal Services ORCS (schedule 105050).

This series consists of drafts of proclamations, ordinances, acts, and bills, 1858-1910. Records created before 1871 were created by the Attorney-General of the Colony of British Columbia, and possibly by the Attorney-General for the Colony of Vancouver Island. Records created after 1871 were created by the Department of the Attorney-General for the Province in British Columbia.

Index to Acts of the colony of British Columbia, 1859-1861.

Index to proclamations and ordinances for the Colony of British Columbia, 1858 to 1871.

This series contains legal opinions offered by Attorney General on a wide range of subjects. For more information on the subjects covered, please consult the attached finding aid.

Legal Services to Government (the Deputy Attorney General's) filing system for correspondence, memoranda, drafts, etc. for civil matters. The records are arranged roughly chronologically within the Act to which they pertain, starting with A4-1 (Administration Act) on Reel B13983 and ending with P482-3 (Probation Act) on Reel B14141.

This series consists of legislative program files and Cabinet submissions from the Ministry of Forests, 1987-1999. Files relate to a particular piece of legislation or several pieces of legislation being worked on at a given time (such as a particular sitting in the Legislature). Some files also include information on the legislative process and drafting instructions.

Legislative program files relate to legislation administered and developed by the Ministry of Forests and its predecessors. This includes their annual legislative program (such as amendments to existing legislation) as well as the development of new legislation, regulations, orders in council (OICs), and Ministerial orders. It also includes a collection of approved legislation administered by the Ministry.

Changes to existing legislation or the creation or new legislation may be suggested based on a Ministry need, court decision, changes to other legislation, etc. Forestry branches would submit their requests for legislation to the Ministry of Forests Strategic Planning Branch for referral to Legislative Council.

Files can contain requests for legislation or amendments; calls for legislation; copies of legislation, bills, and regulations; suggested amendments and drafts; reports and discussion papers; reference and background materials; correspondence; briefing notes; legislation status reports; communication plans; training materials; draft and final cabinet submissions; presentations; documents regarding consultation with other Ministries and third parties regarding proposed legislation; extracts of Cabinet Committee and Cabinet Committee on Legislation and Regulations meeting minutes; and comments from Legislative Council.

This series also includes several briefing books created to provide Executive Government Officials and Ministers with information on a particular bill. Books can contain summary information, question and answer sections, copies of bills and legislation, news releases, background information, general speaking notes for the first, second and third readings and highly detailed speaking notes for the committee stage which address each proposed amendment.

These records are classified under ARCS number 201-40 and 140-03.

Proclamations and related records from the colony and province of British Columbia, 1858-1918.

This series consists of proclamations, 1883-1905.

This series consists of correspondence and reports concerning laws, statutes, titles, and emblems. Records include files regarding the Provincial Elections Act, Engineering Profession Act, Daylight Saving Act, Public Documents Disposal Act, and Historic Objects Preservation Act. Records also concern the authorized use of the name "British Columbia", provincial coat-of-arms, and royal styles and titles. Additional files concern Court mourning observances and Princess Margaret's Portland Island. These records were originally part of a larger series, transferred separately to the PABC and catalogued as GR-1661.

Register of Proclamations, Commissions, Letters Patent, Leases, and other documents issued under the Great Seal of the Province of British Columbia, 1872-1881.

This series contains a report written in 1975, giving an overview of certain areas of the law relating to Indians in British Columbia, concentrating on Indian hunting, trapping and fishing, but also including material on a constitutional outline, the issue of Aboriginal Rights in British Columbia, Treaty Rights, Applicability of Provincial Laws on Reserves, miscellaneous notes and conclusions. The report includes a table of cases, a 1976 addendum, and references.

Commission on Statute Laws handwritten report, dated March 1888, and typewritten report, dated January 1889.