The Royal Proclamation, 1763


Document Summary:
This proclamation outlined the future government of Québec. The governor would call an assembly "so soon as the state and circumstances of the said Colonies admit." Governors had power to make laws for "Public Peace, Welfare and good Government, as near as may be agreeable to the laws of England."

The document also reserved lands for Aboriginal people ("Indians") and ordered people who had settled on those lands to leave.

Additionally:

• Any future negotiation with the Aboriginals was to be in done in public with representatives from Britain, and nobody else.
  
  
• The final results of such negotiations were to be recorded in written treaties.
  
  
• Britain alone had the right to purchase Aboriginal hunting and fishing grounds, but gave Aboriginals the right to hunt and fish on these acquired lands.
  

This proclamation announced Britain's intentions to establish governments in different regions of newly acquired territories. Lord Mansfield indicated in a 1774 judgment that it was the constitution of Québec "by proclamation" until other acts superceded it.