General note:
As engrossed on parchment, the "copy of record" is the ultimate source when questions arise as to the exact wording of a statute. Royal Assent may be recorded in the words La Reyne/Le Roy le veult inscribed on an Act, or by means of Letters Patent. Until 1851, the texts of statutes were engrossed on parchment sheets sewn into rolls; thereafter, the texts were printed on parchment cut to a standard page size. Letters patent were engrossed on parchment sheets fastened together at their foot by the cord to which the Great Seal was appended. These factors greatly affect the legibility of the texts and the manner in which copying might be effected.
Custodial history:
Facsimile copies of six key constitutional documents were presented to the government of Canada in 1982 by the government of Great Britain. Photostatic copies of four of these, plus the 1840 Letters Patent of Royal Assent, had been made in 1966 from the originals in the House of Lords Record Office. A photographic copy of the 1867 Letters Patent of Royal Assent was acquired in 1965 through the Centennial Commission. A photographic copy of the Statute of Westminster was acquired in 1987. Extracts from the printed House of Lords sessional papers (Accounts and Papers volume LXXV/94) were microfilmed about 1954 at the Public Record Office. A photocopy of the Bill for the Quebec Act of 1774 was made in 1971 from the imprint in the Harvard University Library through the courtesy of F W Torrington and Erik Spicer, then Librarian of Parliament.
Location of originals note:
The originals are in the House of Lords Record Office, London, England, and with the Harvard University Library, Cambridge, Mass., USA.
Exhibitions note:
Exhibition title: 1867: Canadian Museum of History, Gatineau, Quebec; 2014.11.27 - 2015.09.13. Copy of Act of Union of 1840 inscribed by hand on parchmeny formed into rolls Copy of BNA Act of 1867, Exhibition Title: 1867: Rebellion & Confederation. Curator: Jean-François Lozier and Jodi Giesbrecht. Canadian Museum for Human Rights, Winnipeg, Manitoba; 2016.12.13-2017.05.07 (Textual - Copy of the Act of Union, 1840), Exhibition title: Founding Documents, Library of Parliament, Ottawa, Ontario; 2017.02.28 - 2017.12.15. (Photograph - Statute of Westminster (1931) photographic facsimile "copy of record" (House of Lords Record Office. Parliament. Constitutional Documents) first page)