Royal instructions are formal instructions issued to Governor

Governor

A governor is a governing official, usually the executive of a non-sovereign level of government, ranking under the head of state...

s of the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

's colonial dependencies. They have also been issued to the Governor General of certain Commonwealth realm

Commonwealth Realm

A Commonwealth realm is a sovereign state within the Commonwealth of Nations that has Elizabeth II as its monarch and head of state. The sixteen current realms have a combined land area of 18.8 million km² , and a population of 134 million, of which all, except about two million, live in the six...

s.

Traditionally the royal instructions were issued to a Governor to:

• tell him how the Executive Council
  Executive Council
  Executive Council may refer to:In government:* Executive Council , a constitutional organ which exercises executive power and advises the governor.* Executive Council of Bern, the government of the Swiss canton of Bern....
  
   and Legislative Council
  Legislative Council
  A Legislative Council is the name given to the legislatures, or one of the chambers of the legislature of many nations and colonies.A Member of the Legislative Council is commonly referred to as an MLC.- Unicameral legislatures :...
  
   were to be constituted, how their procedure was to be regulated, and how he was to work with them
• set out the how legislation was to be framed
• instruct him as to which classes of legislation he must refuse his assent
• regulate precedence
• set out how copies of certain formal documents and records were to be communicated to the British government

Initially the form of royal instructions remained essentially unchanged after the development of responsible government

Responsible government

Responsible government is a conception of a system of government that embodies the principle of parliamentary accountability which is the foundation of the Westminster system of parliamentary democracy...

. Detailed criticism in 1876 by Edward Blake

Edward Blake

Dominick Edward Blake, PC, QC , known as Edward Blake, was the second Premier of Ontario, Canada, from 1871 to 1872 and leader of the Liberal Party of Canada from 1880 to 1887...

 (Canada's federal Minister of Justice) of the wording of both the letters patent

Letters patent

Letters patent are a type of legal instrument in the form of a published written order issued by a monarch or president, generally granting an office, right, monopoly, title, or status to a person or corporation...

 appointing the Governor General of Canada

Governor General of Canada

The Governor General of Canada is the federal viceregal representative of the Canadian monarch, Queen Elizabeth II...

 and the royal instructions issued to him led to changes to both sets of instruments for each of the dominion

Dominion

A dominion, often Dominion, refers to one of a group of autonomous polities that were nominally under British sovereignty, constituting the British Empire and British Commonwealth, beginning in the latter part of the 19th century. They have included Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Newfoundland,...

s, to better reflect how they were actually governed.

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