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This research tool provides access to orders-in-council from the date of Canada's modern inception on July 1, 1867 to 1910. The database is part of a continuing effort to make historical records of the Privy Council Office available online. Regular updates will extend the temporal range of these records through to the mid-20th century. The term orders-in-council refers to a legislative instrument generated by the governor-in-council, and constitutes a formal recommendation of Cabinet that is approved and signed by the governor general. Orders-in-council address a wide range of administrative and legislative matters, from civil service staffing to capital punishment, and from the disposition of Aboriginal lands to the maintenance of the Parliamentary Library.