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ADDENDA ET CORRIGENDA.

Page 26. At the foot of the page add the following:-NOTE.The Colonial and Imperial Conferences.-The Conferences referred to above were initiated in the year 1887 (on the occasion of Queen Victoria's Jubilee), delegates from the self-governing Colonies and some of the larger Crown Colonies attending. Subsequent Conferences were held at Ottawa in 1894, and in London in 1897 and 1902, the two latter occasions being the celebrations of Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee and the Coronation of King Edward VII. respectively. The Imperial Conference was inaugurated at the Colonial Conference held in April, 1907, a resolution being passed expressing the desirability of holding a Conference every four years under the name of the "Imperial Conference." The resolution also placed the Imperial Conference upon a permanent footing by appointing seven ex officio members, viz.:-the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, President; the Secretary of State for the Colonies, Chairman (in the absence of the President); and the Prime Ministers of the five self-governing Colonies, viz., of Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and Newfoundland. Such other Ministers were also authorised to attend as the respective Governments should appoint, so that, however, there should not be more than two representatives from each, and that each Government should have only one vote. A permanent Secretary and an Under-Secretary were also appointed under the resolution, whose duties under the Secretary of State for the Colonies are to obtain information for the use of the Conference, attend to its resolutions and correspondence, and keep the several Governments informed in the periods between the Conferences on the matters which have, or are likely to become topics of discussion. It was also provided that subsidiary Conferences in the intervals might be held between two or more Governments as occasion required. Under this resolution subsidiary Conferences were held in 1909 (as to Defence) and in 1910 (as to Copyright), the first officially-styled "Imperial Conference" being held in May and June, 1911. The deliberations of the Conferences have had important results. They have been largely concerned with matters of defence, resulting in the maintenance by Australia, with Imperial assistance, of an Australian unit to the general Pacific fleet, and in naval contributions from the other self-governing Colonies. Arrangements were also made in 1909 for military defence, and the unification of all the forces of the Empire in one Imperial force. A resolution was also passed by the Imperial Defence Committee in 1911 that one or more representatives of the Oversea Dominions should be invited to attend when matters relating to the defence of the Oversea Dominions were in question. As to trade, commerce, and communications,

the Conferences have resulted in the affirmation of the principle of preferential trade within the Empire (except by the United Kingdom), the appointment of a commission to investigate the natural resources of the Empire, the reduction of cable rates, and the inauguration of cables between Canada and Australia, and Australia and New Zealand, as also the conclusion of a contract with the Marconi Co. for a chain of wireless stations throughout the Empire. Other matters discussed by the Conferences include posts and mails, emigration facilities, commercial treaties (resulting in the denunciation of the former treaties with Germany and Belgium, and the recognition of the right of the Dominions to be consulted as to treaties relating to themselves), appeals to the Privy Council (resulting in the appointment of two additional Lords of Appeal (see page 81) and new Orders in Council as to procedure): Also the unification of laws throughout the Empire as to companies, copyright, patents, trade marks, and naturalisation (resulting in the Imperial Copyright Act, 1911, and the British Nationality and Status of Aliens Act, 1914). The organisation of a separate branch of the Colonial Office for dealing with the self-governing Dominions is also due to the Conference of 1907. (See the series of Parliamentary Papers relating to the Conferences, and in particular as to the Conferences of 1907-1911, Cd. 3523, 4948, 5272, 5745. See also the Colonial Office List, 1915, p. xl, where a full account is given.)

Page 74, 3 (b). For "four" read "six."

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Page 100. Collection.-For "of the Excise is read "of the Excise were prior to the 15th February, 1909," with a corresponding change to the past tense (where necessary) to the end of the paragraph. At the end of the paragraph add: "By the Excise Transfer Order, 15th February, 1909 (issued under the Finance Act, 1908), the management of the Excise Department of the Inland Revenue was transferred to the Commissioners of Customs (see page 99), who are to be styled the Commissioners of Customs and Excise, and appoint officers for its collection. The Commissioners are appointed by letters patent, and hold office at the pleasure of the Crown, subject to the control of the Treasury."

Page 103, note (b), line 2. After "deductions are" add "(1) from the amount of the tax assessed." Line 5. After "s. 69 (1) (2)" add "(2) from the annual value for purposes of assess

ment."

Page 107, line 8. For "chosen from . . . Commissioners of Inland Revenue" read "are appointed by the Land Tax Commissioners from amongst their own number."

Page 109, last line. For "less the amount necessary for repairs read subject to certain deductions under the Income Tax Act, 1842 (see note (b), p. 103, ante).

Page 495, line 3. For "Colonies" read "Protectorates."

CONSTITUTIONAL LAW OF ENGLAND,

Part I.-The Nature and Sources of English Constitutional Law.

CHAPTER I.

THE SOURCES OF ENGLISH CONSTITUTIONAL LAW. Laws Proper and Conventions.-Unlike that of many foreign nations, for example, Switzerland or the United States, the laws of the English constitution are not to be found in any written document, nor were they drawn up by any particular set of men and imposed upon the nation at any particular date. Rather they are the result of continuous growth, and many of the principles which lie at the root of the constitution have not been accepted without fierce national strife, whilst others are still imperfectly defined.

The English constitution as we find it to-day is, in fact, the product of a gradual development, and it would not be reasonable to suppose that the final stage of that development has been reached, but rather that it will go on growing and expanding with the ever-widening circles of national and imperial life.

It is this flexibility, and, in some sense, this vagueness of our constitution, which has excited the wonder of foreign nations, whose constitutions, being contained in written. documents, are for the most part fixed and rigid; and it is this flexibility and vagueness which form perhaps its chief excellence, for a constitution which, possibly without violent national upheaval, is capable of adapting itself to new national exigencies, or the changes brought about by the general

C.L.E.

1

progress of civilization, must possess many advantages over a constitution whose rules and laws are fixed, or only changeable by means of lengthy processes, or violent upheavals. Constitutional law includes "all rules which directly or indirectly affect the distribution or the exercise of the sovereign power in the State," (a) and these rules are of two sorts :—

a. Laws which are observed and enforced by the courts (Constitutional Law proper).

b. Conventions or understandings which are not enforced by the courts, but which, through continual usage, have obtained nearly the force of law.

Laws Proper. The first of these heads includes(1) Statutes. These affect a variety of subjects, such as the qualification of electors and of members of Parliament, the distribution of seats and the manner in which elections are to be held. Many of the executive functions of the Crown are exercised by virtue of statutory authority, e.g. the administration of the Coinage, the Foreign Jurisdiction, or the Extradition Acts. The succession to the Crown itself is now governed by statute; (b) in fact, there is no branch of constitutional law which is not affected by statute. (2) Quasi-Statutes. These are not so much legislative enactments as solemn compacts made between the Crown and Parliament defining constitutional principles, and as such they approach more nearly to the general declarations of popular liberties which are usually found in the written constitutions of foreign nations, and they mark the result of the great national and constitutional crises in English history. The principal of these great constitutional landmarks are Magna Carta, 1215; (c) the Petition of Right, 1628; (d) the Bill of Rights, 1688; (e) and the Act of Settlement, 1700. (ƒ)

(a) Dicey, p. 22.

(b) Viz. The Act of Settlement, 1700 (12 & 13 Will. III. c. 2). (c) See Stubbs' Select Charters, 288.

(d) 3 Car. I. c. 1.

(e) 1 Will. & Mar. sess. 2, c. 2.

(ƒ) 12 & 13 Will. III. c. 2. For a short account of these important

documents see post, p. 6.

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