he British North America Act assigns to the
different provinces, as to the central parliament, their spheres of
control, but all residuary powers are given to the general government.
Within these limitations the provincial assemblies have a wide range of
legislative power. In Nova Scotia and Quebec the bicameral system of an
upper and lower house is retained; in the other provinces legislation is
left to a single representative assembly. For purely local matters
municipal institutions are organized to cover counties and townships,
cities and towns, all based on an exceedingly democratic franchise.

The creation of a supreme court engaged the attention of Sir John
Macdonald in the early years after federation, but was only finally
accomplished in 1876, during the premiership of Alexander Mackenzie.
This court is presided over by a chief justice, with five puisne judges,
and has appellate civil and criminal jurisdiction for the Dominion. By
an act passed in 1891 the government has power to refer to the supreme
court any important question of law affecting the public interest. The
right of appeal from the supreme court, thus constituted, to the
judicial committee of the privy council marks, in questions judicial,
Canada's place as a part of the British empire.

The appointment, first made in 1897, of the chief justice of Canada,
along with the chief justices of Cape Colony and South Australia, as
colonial members of the judicial committee still further established the
position of that body as the final court of appeal for the British
people. The grave questions of respective jurisdiction which have from
time to time arisen between the federal and provincial governments have
for the most part been settled by appeal to one or both of these
judicial bodies. Some of these questions have played a considerable part
in Canadian politics, but are of too complicated a nature to be dealt
with in the present brief sketch. They have generally consisted in the
assertion of provincial rights against federal authority. The decision
of the courts has always been accepted as authoritative and final.

An excellent bibliography of Canadian history will be found in the
volume _Literature of American History_, published by the American
Library Association. The annual _Review of Historical Publications
Relating to Canada_, published by the University of Toronto, gives a
critical survey of the works on Canadian topics appearing from y