Volksraad, noun

Forms:
Also Folksraad, Volk raad.
Origin:
AfrikaansShow more Afrikaans, volk (Afrikaner) people + linking phoneme -s- + raad council, senate.
historical
1.
a. The legislative assembly of any of the former Boer republics. b. rare. The House of Assembly, see house sense 1 a. In both senses also called raad (sense 2).
1841 in G.W. Eybers Sel. Constit. Doc. (1918) 165In this Law or Regulation none the least alteration, addition or deduction shall be made..without the consent of at least two-thirds of the Volks Raad, or Legislative Council.
a1843 H. Cloete in J. Bird Annals of Natal (1888) I. 387The district was divided into twelve..wards, from each of which the names of two..persons were..sent in, forming a council of twenty-four members, in which were vested all the combined, supreme, executive, legislative and judicial powers. This elective Council or Volksraad was required to assemble here (at Pietermaritzburg) every three months.
1847 in H. Ward Cape & Kaffirs (1851) 7A spot has been selected by the late Volks Raad, for a town on the Sunday’s River.
1852 C. Barter Dorp & Veld 194A resolution of the Volksraad, that no additional natives should be allowed to take up their residence within the colony.
1877 F. Jeppe Tvl Bk Almanac & Dir. (1976) 35The legislative power of the State is vested in the Volksraad.
1887 A. Douglass Despotism in British Bechuanaland 12The ‘lawfully adopted’ here refers to laws that may be passed by the Volksraad of Stellaland.
1900 H.C. Hillegas Oom Paul’s People 47The Boer leader, Commandant-General Pretorius,..had been chosen by the first ‘Volksraad’ — a governing body elected while the journey from Cape Colony to Natal was being made.
1937 C. Birkby Zulu Journey 202Among all the Parliaments which have ever sat, the most comic and the most pathetic must surely have been the Griqua Volksraad.
1951 H. Davies Great S. Afr. Christians 45The People’s Council (‘Volksraad’) was set up by the Trekkers on Bushman’s Ridge, now renamed Pietermaritzburg, in October of 1938.
1988 B.P.J. Erasmus in S. Afr. Panorama Dec. 12Relief came in June 1842 and a month later the Volksraad agreed to accept British rule. The following year Natal was annexed by Britain.
1990 D. Boshoff in S. Afr. Panorama Jan.Feb. 8On 6 May 1889 President Paul Kruger laid the cornerstone of the Raadsaal. One year later the Volksraad met for the first time in the incomplete building. It was decided to provide for a second Volksraad for the so-called ‘uitlanders’ (foreigners).
2. combinations
In Afrikaans combining form Volksraadsbesluit /-bəˌslœɪt/ [Afrikaans, besluit resolution], a decree of the Volksraad;
Volksraadslid /-lət/, plural Volksraadslede /-lɪədə/ (formerly Volksraadsleden) [Afrikaans, lid member], a member of the Volksraad.
1977 S. Afr. Panorama Aug. 34The judges claimed the testing right..by declaring a Volksraadsbesluit null and void on the ground that it was legislation passed in a manner not authorised by the constitution.
c1900 in M. Marquard Lett. from Boer Parsonage (1967) 93To the Volksraadsleden, de Wet ’t was who spoke Ere the Free State go down there are crowns to be broke.
1980 Cape Times 29 Mar. 8The numbers, including ex-Volksraadslede and top officials, who poured into the Protectorates seeking refuge from their own people.
The legislative assembly of any of the former Boer republics.
The House of Assembly, see house sense 1 a. In both senses also called raad (sense 2).
Entry Navigation

Visualise Quotations

Quotation summary

Senses

18411990