170 ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



make a peace by the sacrifice of Cornwall, and bei^in a war for the con- 

 quest of Brittany. She could make every citizen in the United ivino-doni. 

 male or female, a peer ; she could make every parish in the United King- 

 dom a 'university' ; she could dismiss most of the civil servants ; she 

 could pardon all oftenders. In a word, the Queen could b}' prerogative 

 upset all the action of civil government within the government, could 

 disgrace the nation by a bad war or peace, and could, by disbanding our 

 forces, whether land or sea, leave us defenceless against foreign nations," 



But by conventions, understandings and usages that have grown up 

 with parliamentary government since the Revolution, the sovereign's 

 prerogatives in these and other respects have been limited, qualified and 

 even annulled in practice. In the same way the Crown's prerogative in 

 the government of the Canadian provinces has within a half centur}^ 

 been modified and even annulled by the action of the principles of respon- 

 sible government. All these conventions, understandings and usages 

 might not be cited in a court of law, but they have just as much force in 

 the operation of our political system as a statutory enactment, and are 

 respected and carried out by the Crown and the political cabinet or execu- 

 tive. Applying these well understood and commonly accepted princi])les 

 to the question now immediately before us, we can well understand the 

 argument that the exercise of the prerogative of the Crown with respect 

 to the legislative council is now regulated by an understanding, laid down 

 in the first place in distinct language in the despatch of the 20th August, 

 1845, under the express command of the Sovereign. The wdiole system 

 of responsible government does not rest on a more legal or secure basis. 

 The commission and instructions to Lord Monck do not disturb that 

 basis. On the contrary, the modifications that therein a])pear, and the 

 very general tenor of the clause with respect to suspension of persons 

 a])pointed during pleasure, go to show the desire of the Crown to leave 

 all questions atfecting the self-government of the province to be regulated 

 by law and usage under the new conditions of responsible government. 

 The governor-in-council had large powers Avith respect to internal admin- 

 istration under the old regime of an irresponsible executive, and a gov- 

 ernor constantly acting under special instructions from the imperial 

 authorities. Constitutionally the instructions contained in the despatch 

 of the 20th August were always in force until repealed by other instruc- 

 tions. Briefly summed up, the constitution of Nova Scotia in this parti- 

 cular was in 1867 as follows, in my ofiinion : 



(a) The legislative council formed a nominated or upper house of a 

 legislative body, the other branches of which were a lieutenant-governoi-, 

 representing the Crown, and an assembly representing directly the 

 yjeopje. 



(6) The council formed pai't of a system of legislative and constitu- 

 tional government sanctioned by the Sovereign in 1758. This house had 



