{{Infobox legislature | name = Legislative Council of Burma | native_name = | native_name_lang = my | transcription_name = | legislature = | coa_pic = | coa_res = 200px | term_limits = | foundation = 1897<!-- {{Start date|YYYY|MM|DD}} --> | disbanded = 1936<!-- {{End date|YYYY|MM|DD}} --> | preceded_by = Nyilarkhan of Konbaung Dynasty | succeeded_by = Legislature of Burma | house_type = Unicameral | houses = | leader1_type = | leader1 = | party1 = | election1 = | leader2_type = | leader2 = | party2 = | election2 = | members = 9 (1897–1923)<br />103 (1923–1936) | house1 = | structure1 = | structure1_res = 250px | political_groups1 = | committees1 = | joint_committees = | voting_system1 = | last_election1 = 1932 Burmese general election | session_room = | session_res = | meeting_place = Rangoon, British Burma | website = | footnotes = }}
The '''Legislative Council of Burma''' was the legislative body of British Burma from 1897 to 1936.
==Establishment==
It was established in 1897 as an advisory council to the British colonial governor, the Lieutenant-Governor of Burma, in drafting legislation for Burma. The Legislative Council was initially an appointed body,<ref name="Taylor2009">{{cite book|author=Robert H. Taylor|title=The State in Myanmar|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ztJgkXwCNDsC&pg=PA185|accessdate=24 November 2012|year=2009|publisher=NUS Press|isbn=978-9971-69-466-1|page=185}}</ref> established as a nine-member council consisting of four officials and five nominated non-officials.<ref name="brown">{{cite book|last=Brown|first=Ian|title=Burma's Economy in the Twentieth Century|publisher=Cambridge University Press|date=1013|isbn=9781107015883}}</ref> Its membership, which increased from nine to thirty members, predominantly represented foreign commercial interests.<ref name="Taylor2009"/> Prior to its establishment, Burmese laws were made in India, whereby laws drafted by the local administration in Burma were submitted to the Legislative Council of India for approval.<ref name="brown"/> After the passage of such laws, they were consented to by the Governor-General-in-Council and put into effect through publication within the Burma Gazette.<ref name="brown"/>
==Restructuring== On 2 January 1923, with the enactment of the Montagu–Chelmsford Reforms (which granted British India dyarchy constitution, giving Burma a limited measure of self-rule), the Council was recast as a partially elected body.<ref name="mm">{{cite book|last=Maung Maung|title=Burma's Constitution|publisher=Springer Science & Business Media|date=2012|isbn=9789401188906}}</ref> The new Legislative Council consisted of 103 seats, 80 filled by election, 8 by nomination of non-officials, 13 by nomination of officials, and 2 by members of the Governor's Executive Council ex-officio.<ref name="mm"/> The 80 elected seats were divided as follows: 22 to urban constituencies in 8 towns, with 8 of them to the Burmese Indian community; 49 to rural constituencies in 31 districts, with 5 to the Karen; and the remaining given to special constituencies like Rangoon University and various chambers of commerce.<ref name="mm"/>
Elections were held in 1922, 1925 and 1928.<ref name="Tarling1992">{{cite book|author=Carl A. Trocki|author-link=Carl A. Trocki|editor=Nicholas Tarling|editor-link=Nicholas Tarling|title=The Cambridge History of Southeast Asia: Volume 2, the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pBfsaw64rjMC&pg=PA126|accessdate=24 November 2012|year=1992|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-35506-3|page=126|chapter=Political Structures in the Nineteenth and early Twentieth Centuries}}</ref> Burmese nationalists, organized by the General Council of Burmese Associations, boycotted elections to the Legislative Council, and under 7% of the electorate voted in the 1922 elections.<ref name="Taylor2009"/> Turnout continued to be low: just over 16% in 1925, and 18% in 1928.<ref name="Taylor1996">{{cite book|author=R. H. Taylor|title=The Politics of Elections in Southeast Asia: Delusion Or Necessity?|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1qa-v556N6YC&pg=PA165|accessdate=24 November 2012|year=1996|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-56443-4|page=165}}</ref>
==Presidents of Legislative Council== {| class="wikitable" ! Name ! Took office ! Left office ! Notes |- |Sir Frank McCarthy |February 1923 |1925 |Died in office<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7qX6CAAAQBAJ|title=Burma's Constitution|first=Maung|last=Maung|date=December 6, 2012|publisher=Springer Science & Business Media|isbn=9789401188920|via=Google Books}}</ref> |- |Sir Robert Sydney Giles |1925 |1927 |<ref name="auto">{{Cite book|url=http://hdl.handle.net/2027/uc1.32106000446796|title=My Burma;the autobiography of a President.|first=U.|last=Ba U|date=August 1, 1959|publisher=New York|hdl=2027/uc1.32106000446796}}</ref> |- |Sir Oscar de Glanville |1927 |1930 |<ref name="auto1">{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1aAlAAAAMAAJ|title=Burma Handbook|date=August 1, 1944|publisher=Manager, Government of India Press|via=Google Books}}</ref> |- |U Pu 'Tharrawaddy' |1930 |1932 |<ref name="auto1"/><ref name="bios">{{Cite book|url=http://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015032410535|title=The impact of political thought on Burma's struggle for independence, (1930-1948) /|date=August 1, 1989|publisher=Ann Arbor|hdl=2027/mdp.39015032410535}}</ref> |- |Chit Hlaing |1932 |1932 |<ref name="bios" /><ref name="auto2">{{Cite web| title=Chronology of Burma History (1404-1996) | url=https://mllcru.weebly.com/uploads/2/2/8/4/22848786/25256254-chronology-of-burma-history-1404-1996.pdf | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170721161713/http://mllcru.weebly.com:80/uploads/2/2/8/4/22848786/25256254-chronology-of-burma-history-1404-1996.pdf | archive-date=2017-07-21}}</ref> |- |Sir Oscar de Glanville |1932 |1935 |<ref name="auto1"/><ref name="auto"/><ref name="auto2"/> |- |Chit Hlaing |1935 |1936 |<ref name="bios" /><ref name="auto2"/> |- |}
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{Legislatures of Burma}} {{Authority control}}
Category:Legislatures of Myanmar Category:British rule in Burma Category:Organizations established in 1897 Category:Defunct unicameral legislatures Category:1897 establishments in the British Empire