The 1851 legislation continued in force after Confederation in Ontario and Quebec under Chapter 86 of the Consolidated Statutes of Canada, 1859. The law was important because it fortified the concept that a "public library" could one that was accessible to all residents of a community, but not generally free because it required voluntary personal payments. This type of public library formation was readily accepted by the mid-19th century in British North America. The Act served as a guide for other provincial jurisdictions to formalize library development. Nova Scotia passed a similar law, ‘An Act Respecting Library Associations and Institutes,’ on 18 April 1872, as did British Columbia on 24 February 1871, ‘An Act Respecting Literary Societies and Mechanics’ Institutes.’ Association Libraries would coexist into the Twentieth Century alongside Free Libraries--ones supported with municipal taxation and not requiring membership fees at the entrance point.
The 1851 Act was 'enabling legislation' which became the basic foundation for general provincial public library acts in post-Confederation Canada. The 1851 law (and subsequent similar provincial acts) contained influential ideas about public libraries. It recognized that a public library would be available to persons through voluntary decisions, not mandated legal provisions. It established that libraries would be governed by local boards of trustees independent from control by municipal politicians, a ‘special purpose body’ in public administrative terminology. Further, it provided public recognition of libraries as incorporated bodies through public legislation, thereby creating the opportunity for provincial grants in the public interest that supplemented local fundraising efforts. Consequently, hundreds of library associations and mechanics' institutes were formed and continued in provincial legislation into the 20th century.
The re-quoted 1851 text follows:
1851—14 & 15 VICTORIAE, CHAPTER 86
An Act to provide for the incorporation and better Management of Library Associations and Mechanics' Institutes
[30th August, 1851]
WHEREAS
it is expedient to encourage the establishment of Library Associations
and Mechanics' Institutes, and for that purpose to provide for the incorporation
of such Institutions, and to grant them certain powers enabling them better
to protect their property and manage their affairs: Be it therefore enacted
by the Queen's Most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent
of the Legislative Council and of the Legislative Assembly of the Province
of Canada, constituted and assembled by virtue of and under the authority
of an Act passed in the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, and intituled, An Act to re-unite the Province of Upper
and Lower Canada, and for the Government of Canada, and it is hereby
enacted by the authority of the same, That any number of persons, not
less than ten, having subscribed, or holding together not less than Twenty-five
Pounds in money or money's worth, for the use of their intended Institution,
may make and sign a Declaration (in duplicate) of their intention to establish
a Library Association or a Mechanics' Institute, or both, (as the case
may be,) at some place to be named in such Declaration, in which they
shall also state the corporate name of the Institution, its purpose, the
amount of money or money's worth subscribed by them respectively, or held
by them for the use thereof, the names of those who are to be the first
Trustees for managing its affairs, and the mode in which their successors
are to be appointed, or new Members of the Corporation admitted, or in
which Bye-laws are to be made for such appointment or admission, or for
any other purpose, or for all purposes, and generally such other particulars
and provisions as they may think necessary, not being contrary to this
Act or to Law: or in case of a Mechanics' Institute or Library Association
(or both united) already established or in existence, then, that the Directors,
Trustees or the Office Bearers and Committee thereof for the time being,
may make and sign a Declaration as aforesaid, of their wish or determination
to become incorporated, according to the provisions of this Act, stating
in such Declaration the Corporate Name to be assumed by such Institution
or United Institutions,—and also with such Declaration, to file in
the manner hereinafter provided, a copy of the Constitution and Bye-laws
of such Institution and or United Institutions, together with a general
statement of the nature and amount of all the property, real or personal,
held by or in trust for such Institution or United Institutions: and one
duplicate of such Declaration shall then be filed in the Office of the
Registrar of Deeds for the County by one of the subscribing parties, who
shall, before such Registrar, acknowledge the execution thereof by himself,
and declare the same to have been executed by the other parties thereto,
either in person or by their Attorneys; and the Registrar shall then keep
one of the said duplicates, and deliver the other to the person filing
the same, with a Certificate of the same having been so filed, and the
execution attested before him, and such duplicate, or any copy thereof
certified by such Registrar, shall be primâ facie evidence
of the facts alledged in such Declaration and Certificate.
II. And be it
enacted, That when
the formalities aforesaid have been complied with, the persons having
signed such Declaration as aforesaid, or the Directors, Trustees or the
Office Bearers and Committee for the time being, of any such Institution
or United Institutions now established or in existence as aforesaid, and
their successors, shall be a body corporate and politic, and shall have
the powers, rights and immunities, vested in such bodies under the Interpretation
Act and by Law, with power to such Corporation, in their corporate name,
from time to time, and at all times hereafter, to have, take, acquire,
hold, possess and enjoy to them, and to their successors, to and for the
uses and purposes of such Corporation, any messuages, lands, tenements
or hereditaments, of what nature or kind soever, situate within this Province;
but the yearly value of the real property to be held by any such Corporation,
shall never exceed One Hundred Pounds currency.
III. And be it enacted, That the affairs of such Corporation shall be managed by the Directors or Trustees thereof for the time then being, appointed as hereinafter, or by any By-law of such Corporation provided, who, or a majority of whom, shall have full power to exercise all the powers of the Corporation, and to act in its name and on its behalf, and to use its Seal, subject always to any provisions limiting the exercise of such powers in the Declaration aforesaid, or in any By-law of the Corporation; and such Trustees, or a majority of them, shall have power to make By-laws binding the Members and Officers thereof, and such others as shall agree to be bound by them, for all purposes relative to the affairs and business of the Corporation, except as to matters touching which it is provided by the Declaration aforesaid, that By-laws shall be made in some other manner.
IV. And
be it enacted, That
the Members of such Corporation, at their Annual Meeting, to be held on
such day as may be provided by any By-law of the said Corporation, may
choose from among themselves a President, and may appoint (except in so
far as it may be otherwise provided in the Declaration or By-laws) a Librarian,
Treasurer, Secretary, Lecturer, and such other Officers and servants of
the Corporation as they may think necessary, and fix and pay their remuneration;
and also a Board of Directors or Trustees of such Corporation, who shall
hold office for one year, or such further time as may be hereinafter limited
or permitted.
V. And be it
enacted, That
a failure to elect Trustees on any day appointed for that purpose by the
Declaration aforesaid, or by any By-laws, shall not operate the dissolution
of the Corporation, but the Trustees then in office shall remain in office
until their successors are elected, which they may be (if no other provision
be made therefor by the Declaration or By-laws) at any Meeting of the
Members of the Corporation at which a majority of such Members shall be
present, in whatever way such
VI. And be it enacted, That any such Corporation shall have power by its By-laws to impose a fine not exceeding One Pound, on any Member contravening the same, or on any person not being a Member of the Corporation, who shall in writing have agreed to obey the By-law for the contravention whereof it is imposed; and any such fine, if incurred, and any subscription or other sum of money which any Member or other person may have agreed to pay to the said Corporation, for his subscription to the funds of the Corporation for any certain time, or for the loan of any book or instrument, or for the right of entry to the rooms of the Corporation, or of attending any lectures, or for any other privilege or advantage afforded him by such Corporation, may be recovered by the Corporation by action in any Court having jurisdiction in civil matters to the amount, on allegation and proof of the signature of defendant to some writing by which he shall have undertaken to pay such subscription, or to obey such By-law, and of this breach of such undertaking, which breach shall be presumed until the contrary be shewn, as regards any promise to pay any sum of money, and may be proved by the oath of any one credible witness, as regards the contravention of any such By-law; and in any such action, or any other to which such Corporation may be a party, any Member or Officer of the Corporation shall be a competent witness, and any copy of any By-law bearing the signature of the defendant, or bearing the Seal of the Corporation, and the signature of some person purporting to have affixed any such Seal by authority of the Corporation, shall be primâ facie evidence of such By-law; and all fines so recovered shall belong to the Corporation for the use thereof.
VII. And be it enacted, That any such Corporation may, if it be so stated in the said Declaration, be at the same time a Mechanics' Institute or a Library Association, or either of them, and their business shall accordingly be the ordinary and usual business of a Mechanics' Institute or of a Library Association, or both, as the case may be, and no other, but may embrace all things necessary and useful for the proper and convenient carrying on of such business; and their funds and property shall be appropriated and used for purposes legitimately appertaining to such business, and for no other.
VIII. And
be it enacted, That
if it be provided in such Declaration as aforesaid, or by the By-laws
of the Corporation, that the shares of the Members, or of any class of
Members, in the property of the Corporation, shall be transferable, then
they shall be transferable accordingly, in such way, and subject to such
conditions, as shall be mentioned in such Declaration, or in the By-laws
of the Corporation, if by such Declaration, such transfers are to be regulated
by them; and all such shares shall be personal property, and by such Declaration
of By-laws provision may be made for the forfeiture of such shares in
cases to be therein named, or for preventing the transfer thereof to others
than persons of some certain description, or resident within some certain
locality.
IX. And
be it enacted, That
provision may be made for the dissolution of such Corporation, by the
Declaration aforesaid, or it may be therein provided, that such provision
may be made by the By-laws of the Corporation to be hereafter passed:
Provided that no such dissolution shall take place until all the liabilities
of the Corporation are discharged.
X. And be it
enacted, That
nothing in this Act contained shall prevent any Mechanics' Institute or
Library Association (or both united) from being and becoming incorporated
by a separate Act of Parliament, as if this Act had not been passed; nor shall this Act be held in any way to affect or extend to any Mechanics'
Institute, or Library Association already incorporated.
Five years after its passage, the 1851 Act was amended to allow local boards of management to hold property of value up to £500. The amended act, which applied to Canada West (Ontario) and Canada East (Quebec) follows:
CHAPTER 51 — 19 VICTORIA
An Act to amend the Act for incorporating Library Associations and Mechanics' Institutes.
[Assented to 19th June, 1856]WHEREAS it is expedient to amend the second section of the Act passed in the session held in the fourteenth and fifteenth years of Her Majesty's Reign, and intituled, An Act for the incorporation and better management of Library Associations and Mechanics' Institutes, so as to enable such institutions in certain towns and villages to hold property to a larger amount than the sum therein limited: Therefore, Her Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council and Assembly of Canada, enacts as follows:
I. From and after the passing of this Act, it shall be lawful for any Library Association or Mechanics' Institute incorporated under the said Act, and situate in any village or town having of more than three thousand inhabitants or more, to hold real property not exceeding in annual value the sum of five hundred pounds; and for any Library Association or Mechanics' Institute incorporated under the said Act, and situate in any town or city not having more than three thousand inhabitants, to hold real property not exceeding in annual value the sum of two hundred and fifty pounds; any thing in the said section to the contrary notwithstanding.
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