Russell County, Manitoba

In Manitoba, counties were originally only organized for judicial purposes. Between 1875 and 1890, they also existed for municipal purposes.

History

In 1875, provision was made for a majority of the electors in a judicial county to petition to have it organized for municipal purposes. By 1881, the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba passed legislation to redivide the entire Province into municipal counties, as a consequence of its enlargement.

They existed only until 1890, though the term itself lived on with respect to the County Courts and land registration districts.

Organization

The ''Municipal Act, 1886'' listed the counties of Manitoba as follows:

County No. 4 (Varennes), created in 1881, occupied that part of Manitoba around Rat Portage, in an area disputed with Ontario. It was abolished subsequent to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council's decision in 1884 to award the territory to Ontario, later confirmed by the ''Canada (Ontario Boundary) Act 1889''.

File:Canada change 1881-12-23.png, Manitoba expansion, as enacted in 1881
File:Canada change 1889-08-12.png, areas withdrawn in 1889
File:Ontario Manitoba Boundaries (1915).jpg, summary of territorial claims and boundary changes (1870-1912)

Further reading

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References

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Geography of Manitoba
Manitoba