The last of the Charter Acts, the Charter Act of 1853 made legislation important changes in the machinery for Indian legislation. Though the Governor-General's Council was continued as the one legislative authority competent to enact laws for the whole of British India, so many alterations were made in its character and composition that "the System was entirely changed".
The Council was enlarged for legislative purposes by the addition of six special members who were expressly debarred from sitting and voting in the Council, "except at meetings thereof for making laws and regulations". These members were called Legislative Councillors. The Council now consists of twelve members including the Governor-General, the Commander-in-Chief, four representatives of the local Governments of Madras, Bombay, Calcutta and Agra. The legislative functions of the Council were clearly demarcated from its executive functions and their special nature emphasized by the express requirements of Section 23 of the Act that the powers of making laws or regulations, vested in the Governor-General-in-Council, were to be exercised only "at meetings of the said Council".
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