1568 PREROGATIVE INSTRUMENTS 
COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
In the case of the Commonwealth there are four instru- 
ments, (1) Letters Patent constituting the office of Governor- 
General, (2) Instructions, (3) Commission, and (4) a Dormant 
Commission providing for the administration of the Govern- 
ment in the absence, &c., of the Governor-General. The last 
instrument is rendered necessary by the fact that the framers 
of the Commonwealth did not desire the Chief Justice to 
administer the government. 
As the Constitution itself, in ss. 2 and 61, recognizes the 
office of Governor-General and confers upon him the execy- 
tive government of the Commonwealth, and allows him, 
subject to the Constitution, to exercise such powers and 
functions of the Crown as may be conferred upon him, the 
creation of the office by letters patent has been criticized. 
But the practice criticized rests upon obvious grounds of 
convenience. The only alternative would have been to 
include in the commission issued to each Governor-General 
the rules laid down in clauses I, IT, and VI-X of the letters 
patent, and it was clearly much more convenient to have 
permanent instruments accompanied by permanent instruc- 
tions than a temporary commission accompanied by tem- 
porary or even by permanent instructions. It must be 
remembered, moreover, that the first rule contained in the 
letters patent as to the mode of appointing the Governor- 
General, by commission under the sign manual and signet, 
could hardly have been included in the Governor-General’s 
commission, and would have had to be laid down, if it was 
to be laid down at all, in some other instrument. 
Similarly as regards the Union. In the case of Canada the 
position is different, for the office of Governor-General is not 
expressly created by the British North America Act, and the 
formal creation is therefore still less open to objection than 
in the cases of the Commonwealth and the Union, where the 
office is expressly created by the Constitution. In all other 
cases the need of permanent letters patent is obvious : the 
office of Governor generally is not created at all by virtue of 
the Constitution Acts. Itis assumed throughout the statute 
book that there is an officer so styled, and that he administers 
the government, but the creation is left to the prerogative. 
The Crown must both name from time to time the persons 
to exercise these powers, and must also assign the exact