The Legislature’s Mace

Why does Nova Scotia's legislature have a mace and where did it come from?

The legislature’s mace was donated anonymously to the House on March 5, 1930 but the donor's name - Chief Justice Robert Edward Harris - was released after his death in 1931. It is gilded sterling silver (silver with a thin layer of gold on it). It is four feet tall and weighs 18 pounds.

The mace was made in England by Elkington and Co. which pioneered electroplating in the 1830s, a process that bonds thin layers of a metal to the surface of another metal at the molecular level. Plating is often done to dress up a cheaper metal or to make it more durable.

Maces were weapons carried by the royal bodyguard when medieval English kings conducted assemblies. As the Speaker became eventually responsible to the legislature rather than the King, the mace came to symbolize the Speaker's authority to conduct the legislature’s business.

The Nova Scotia legislature passed motions to get a mace in 1758, 1819 and 1840 but it did not happen. Until 1930, the Sergeant at Arms carried a sword instead.

See the story of Nova Scotia's beautiful legislature building - whose exterior walls are made of sandstone from Wallace, Cumberland County: https://notyourgrandfathersmining.ca/wallace

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