Series consists of minute books of the Council meeting in its legislative and executive capacities during the period 1764-1775. These minutes document the deliberations and decisions of the Governor and Council concerning both state and land matters. During these years deliberations of the Council were not recorded in two separate sets of books, as was the case after the constitution created under the Quebec Act came into force. Rather, a single set of minutes documents both the legislative and executive functions of the Council. Some volumes contain a rough index or table of contents. The subject entries in such indexes reflect contemporary concepts and follow no known standard.
The Council met for the first time in August 1764. Its immediate task was to advise and assist the Governor in establishing the local institutions and infrastructure of civil government, including courts and a system for the administration of justice for the Province. The minutes of the earliest Council meetings document this task. As the government evolved, a broad range of issues came to occupy the Council. Questions requiring the expert opinion of officials who did not sit on the Council were referred to them for report and the findings entered into the minutes. As the volume of business presented to the Council increased, committees were nominated to investigate issues as they arose, and their findings were presented to the Council and entered as reports into the minutes.
Business was brought before the Governor in Council by means of submissions. These usually took the form of: petitions or memorials from individuals or groups requesting a specific benefit such as a land grant; reports from officials; or reports from committees or sub-committees of Council. The deliberations and decisions of the Governor and Council were recorded as minutes. Minutes of decisions, when written out in the form of extracts from the minute books (i.e., orders-in-council) served as authority for actions.
The series includes both original minutes (vols. 105-107) and transcripts (vols. 1-5). The latter are certified typed copies of the originals, prepared by the National Archives in the period prior to the microfilming of the originals, in order to avoid damage to the originals from frequent use. Although they are copies, these transcripts have been accorded the status of records in their own right within this series and assigned permanent volume numbers accordingly. The transcripts include marginal notations of the corresponding page or folio numbers for the original text.
Volume 116 is a draft analytical index to the contents of volumes 105-107. It provides nominal and subject references. Entries in this index refer to the minute books according to their contemporary alphabetical designations (A, B, C), not according to volume numbers assigned by the National Archives.
