House of Assembly of the British Virgin Islands

The history of legislatures in the British Virgin Islands can be roughly divided into two: colonial legislatures in the 18th and 19th centuries, and then a hiatus, followed by the modern legislature after the re-introduction of democracy in 1950. Colonial legislatures There was no attempt to impose any form of local legislature prior to the British taking control of the islands in 1672. But in 1735 the Governor of the Leeward Islands, William Matthew, sought to establish executive councils and legislative assemblies in Virgin Gorda and Tortola. The assemblies were to consist of nine members, elected by the free inhabitants of the islands. After the elections, it was determined that the governor had no such power and therefore the assemblies were ultra vires and were never called into session (although the councils did take up their duties). During the 18th and 19th centuries the British Virgin Islands had a number of legislative councils, but these proved to be largely ineffective, and the last one was formally dissolved in 1901. Between 1747 and 1754 Lieutenant Governor James Purcell pressed for some form of formal government in the British Virgin Islands, but in this he was rebuffed by Governor George Thomas. But by 1773 the new Leeward Islands Governor, Sir Ralph Payne, was instructed to introduce a system of representative government in the Virgin Islands, consisting of a governor, an appointed council, and an elected assembly. On 30 November 1773 legislation was introduced which provided for, amongst other things, an eleven-member assembly (eight for Tortola, two for Virgin Gorda and one for Jost Van Dyke), with various qualification to vote or to stand. The assembly opened on 31 January 1774, but got off to an inauspicious start. After an impassioned speech from Governor Payne about the need for immediate action to pass laws for good government, the legislature (consisting of plantation owners) almost immediately fell into stalemate with the governor over a tax bill and confirmation of land titles. Accordingly, the legislature refused to pass legislation to establish a court system. Powers were eventually conferred on the governor to create a court system directly, which led to further mistrust and division between the plantation owners in the legislature on the one hand, and the governor and the newly appointed judge on the other. In around 1783 the legislature was reconstituted with 15 members and districts were redrawn, and a certain amount of détente emerged. In 1815 (after the abolition of the trade in African slaves, but prior to the abolition of slavery itself) the territory was inhabited by an increasing number of free blacks who petitioned for civil rights, and in 1818 their request was granted and free black men were permitted to vote, although they could still only vote for white landowners. It appears that this may not have been so much of a great leap forward in civil rights so much as an attempt to shore up interest in the legislature, which was being increasingly abandoned and marginalised by the plantation owners at this time. By 1867, when the Territory was struck by a fierce hurricane, "all pretence to the operation of a Legislative Council in which there were elected representatives came to an end". Legislation was passed reconstituting the assembly again so that it consisted of three official members and three appointed members, but with no elections. In 1871 a single federal colony consisting of all the Leeward Islands was created, and tellingly the Virgin Islands was not given a seat at this assembly. In 1902 the Federal Council formally abolished the local Virgin Islands legislature and council, neither of which had met for many years by that time. It was grimly noted that the legislature "had practically nothing of any real importance ... to legislate about and the functions of the executive was the maintenance of law and order and the collection of taxes from miserably poor people". 1950 onwards The first Legislative Council of modern times was formed in 1950 pursuant to the Constitution Act, 1950. It had eight members: two ex officio members, two nominated members and four elected members. Requirements for standing for election included income, property, and a deposit (forfeited with failure to garner a certain percentage of votes). The four members were elected in 1950 on a Territory-wide basis. In 1954 the existing constitutional provisions were replaced by the Constitution and Elections Ordinance, 1954 which expanded the elected membership to six, divided amongst five district seats (with Road Town having two representatives). The 1967 Constitution expanded the elected membership to seven, with each district having a single representative. In 1977 the Elections Ordinance increased the number of district seats to nine. Pursuant to the Elections Act, 1994 the British Virgin Islands introduced four territorial at-large seats in addition to the nine district seats, making a total of 13 elected members to sit alongside the two ex officio members (the Speaker and the Attorney General). The introduction of the territorial at-large seats was bitterly opposed by the Chief Minister of the day, Lavity Stoutt. Modern legislatures ==Qualifications==