The Combined Court was the

legislature A legislature (, ) is a deliberative assembly with the legal authority to make laws for a political entity such as a country, nation or city on behalf of the people therein. They are often contrasted with the executive and judicial power ...

British Guiana British Guiana was a British colony, part of the mainland British West Indies. It was located on the northern coast of South America. Since 1966 it has been known as the independent nation of Guyana. The first known Europeans to encounter Guia ...

until 1928. In its final form, it consisted of a sitting of the

Court of Policy The Court of Policy was a legislative body in Dutch and British Guiana until 1928. For most of its existence it formed the Combined Court together with the six Financial Representatives. History The Court of Policy was established in 1732 by the ...

together with the elected Financial Representatives.

History

The Combined Court was established by the Dutch authorities at a time when the colonies of

Berbice Berbice () is a region along the Berbice River in Guyana, which was between 1627 and 1792 a colony of the Dutch West India Company and between 1792 and 1815 a colony of the Dutch state. After having been ceded to the United Kingdom of Great Brita ...

Demerara Demerara (; , ) is a historical region in the Guianas, on the north coast of South America, now part of the country of Guyana. It was a colony of the Dutch West India Company between 1745 and 1792 and a colony of the Dutch state from 1792 unti ...

and Essequibo were under the control of the Netherlands. It originally consisted of a joint sitting of the Court of Policy and the College of Kiezers. However, Lieutenant Governor of Demerara

Hugh Lyle Carmichael Lieutenant-General Sir Hugh Lyle Carmichael (1764 – 11 May 1813) was a British Army officer and colonial administrator who served as the lieutenant-governor of Demerara and Essequibo from 1812 to 1813, when he died in office. He also was comma ...

abolished the College of Kiezers in 1812, giving its duties to the Financial Representatives. The Court of Policy was part-appointed and part-elected by the re-established College of Kiezers, whilst the Financial Representatives were elected by the public, although using a severely limited franchise. Its responsibilities included raising and spending public revenue, and from 1855 onwards, setting the salaries of civil servants.Nineteenth-Century British Guiana

Library of Congress Country Studies The Country Studies are works published by the Federal Research Division of the United States Library of Congress, freely available for use by researchers. No copyright is claimed on them. Therefore, they have been dedicated to the public domain ...

Following the 1891 constitutional reforms, the Combined Court consisted had 22 members, six of which were the Financial Representatives now elected by the public in the single member constituencies of Demerara, Essequebo North Western, Essequebo South Eastern, Berbice, Georgetown and New Amsterdam, and the remainder were the 16-member Court of Policy, half of which was elected. The Court of Policy included the

Governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

, seven government officials (the Attorney General, the Government Secretary, the Immigration Agent General and the Receiver General, together with three other appointees). The eight elected members were elected from seven constituencies by the public;Historical information events and dates on the Parliament of Guyana from 1718 to 2006
Parliament of Guyana

East, Demerara West, Essequebo North Western, Essequebo South Eastern,

, City of Georgetown (2 members) and

New Amsterdam New Amsterdam (, ) was a 17th-century Dutch Empire, Dutch settlement established at the southern tip of Manhattan Island that served as the seat of the colonial government in New Netherland. The initial trading ''Factory (trading post), fac ...

.George D Bayley (1909) ''Handbook of British Guiana, 1909: Comprising General and Statistical Information Concerning the Colony'', The Argosy, p158 The franchise was severely limited. By the 1926 elections only 4.2% of the population were eligible to vote, up from 1.08% in 1921. Elections were held under this system in

1892 In Samoa, this was the only leap year spanned to 367 days as July 4 repeated. This means that the International Date Line was drawn from the east of the country to go west. Events January * January 1 – Ellis Island begins processing imm ...

1897 Events January * January 2 – The International Alpha Omicron Pi sorority is founded, in New York City. * January 4 – A British force is ambushed by Chief Ologbosere, son-in-law of the ruler. This leads to a punitive expedit ...

1901 December 13 of this year is the beginning of signed 32-bit Unix time, and is scheduled to end in January 19, 2038. Summary Political and military 1901 started with the unification of multiple British colonies in Australia on January ...

1906 Events January–February * January 12 – Persian Constitutional Revolution: A nationalistic coalition of merchants, religious leaders and intellectuals in Persia forces the shah Mozaffar ad-Din Shah Qajar to grant a constitution, ...

1911 Events January * January 1 – A decade after federation, the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory are added to the Commonwealth of Australia. * January 3 ** 1911 Kebin earthquake: An earthquake of 7.7 m ...

1916 Events Below, the events of the First World War have the "WWI" prefix. January * January 1 – The British Empire, British Royal Army Medical Corps carries out the first successful blood transfusion, using blood that has been stored ...

1921 Events January * January 2 ** The Association football club Cruzeiro Esporte Clube, from Belo Horizonte, is founded as the multi-sports club Palestra Italia by Italian expatriates in First Brazilian Republic, Brazil. ** The Spanish lin ...

and

1926 In Turkey, the year technically contained only 352 days. As Friday, December 18, 1926 ''(Julian Calendar)'' was followed by Saturday, January 1, 1927 '' (Gregorian Calendar)''. 13 days were dropped to make the switch. Turkey thus became the ...

. The Combined Court was abolished in 1928 when a new constitution replaced it with the

Legislative Council A legislative council is the legislature, or one of the legislative chambers, of a nation, colony, or subnational division such as a province or state. It was commonly used to label unicameral or upper house legislative bodies in the Brit ...

.New constitution of 1928
Guyana.org

References

{{reflist Dutch colonisation of the Guianas British Guiana Political history of Guyana Historical legislatures 1928 disestablishments in British Guiana