The Royal Institution for the Advancement of Learning (R.I.A.L.) was created in 1801 by an Act of the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada - An Act for the establishment of Free Schools and the advancement of Learning in this Province. (41 Geo. III Cap. 17). The initial purpose was to administer the provision of elementary education but the R.I.A.L. spent most of its early years trying to get funds from the government to enable it to establish and operate these schools - which were primarily for the protestant English-speaking inhabitants of Lower Canada (Quebec). However, in 1811 James McGill drew up a will leaving a large tract of land (his estate called Burnside) in what is now central Montreal and 10,000 pounds to the R.I.A.L. McGill wanted this bequest used to establish a university and when he died in December 1813 this task became the responsibility of the R.I.A.L. In McGill's will he had laid down that if a college was not established within 10 years of his death the estate and the money would revert to the heirs of his wife, Charlotte Desrivieres. In 1821, after much legal wrangling with the Desrivieres family, a Royal Charter was obtained and McGill University was officially established (as McGill College). The designation normally used up to 1885 was "McGill College" or The "University of McGill College" but after that date the Board adopted the now familiar McGill University. In fact, due to these legal proceedings - which did not finally end until 1835 - and because there was land but not much money (the government made no contributions), not much happened until 1829 when the Montreal Medical Institution became "engrafted" onto the College as its Faculty of Medicine. This remained the College's only functioning faculty until 1843 when the Faculty of Arts commenced teaching.
In due course the R.I.A.L. lost control of the 84 schools it had administered and after the dislocations of 1837-39 (Lower Canada Rebellion) the two Royal grammar schools - one in Montreal and one in Quebec, also ceased to exist and the sole purpose of the R.I.A.L. was to administer the McGill bequests on behalf of the College/University. The Royal Institution for the Advancement of Learning continues to exist and is the "legal person" that runs McGill University and its various constituent bodies such as the former Macdonald College (now Macdonald Campus) and Royal Victoria College (the former women students' college) and the Montreal Neurological Institute. The Trustees of the Royal Institution for the Advancement of Learning comprise, since the revised Charter of 1852, the Board of Governors of McGill University.
References
Frost, Stanley Brice McGill University, Vol. I. For the Advancement of Learning, 1801-1895. McGill-Queen's University Press, 1980. ISBN 0773503536
Frost, Stanley Brice McGill University, Vol. II. For the Advancement of Learning, 1895-1971. McGill-Queen's University Press, 1984. ISBN 0773504222