Charter of the French Language with the adoption of the "Official Language Act" in 1974. Quebec is constitutionally obliged nonetheless to provide English services in the courts and the National Assembly of Quebec (see below). The fundamental French language rights in Quebec are: French is the declared language of the legislature and courts in Quebec. Section 133 of the "Constitution Act, 1867", still in effect, nonetheless requires that bills be printed, published, passed, and assented to in French and in English in Parliaments and the legislatures of Canada and of Quebec. French or English may be used by any person before the courts of Quebec.
Official language after unifying the country in 221 BC. Classical Chinese would remain the standard written language for the next 2000 years. Standardization of the spoken language received less political attention, and Mandarin developed on an "ad hoc" basis from the dialects of the various imperial capitals until being officially standardized in the early twentieth century. According to an undated chart by the American pro-English-only organization known as U.S. English, 178 countries have an official language at the national level. Among those, English is the most common with 67 nations giving it official status. French is second with 29 countries, Arabic is