Responsible government in the Dominions: Responsible government in the Dominions

Responsible government in the Dominions (Vol. 1)

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Multivolume work

Identifikator:: 1896933912

Document type:: Multivolume work

Author:: Keith, Arthur Berriedale http://d-nb.info/gnd/119086794

Title:: Responsible government in the Dominions

Place of publication:: Oxford

Publisher:: Clarendon Press

Year of publication:: 1912-

Collection:: Economics Books

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Volume

Identifikator:: 1896934455

URN:: urn:nbn:de:zbw-retromon-236504

Document type:: Volume

Author:: Keith, Arthur Berriedale http://d-nb.info/gnd/119086794

Title:: Responsible government in the Dominions

Volume count:: Vol. 1

Place of publication:: Oxford

Publisher:: Clarendon Pr.

Year of publication:: 1912

Scope:: LI, 568 Seiten

Digitisation:: 2022

Collection:: Economics Books

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Document type:: Multivolume work

Structure type:: Chapter

Title:: Part II. The executive Government

Collection:: Economics Books

270 THE EXECUTIVE GOVERNMENT [PART In by the common law, as acts which are necessary for the maintenance of order and peace. The common law is not loath to recognize such acts: it knows that the safety of the law at times requires that its ordinary prescriptions must yield ; for example, there can be no doubt that even in England in the case of actual hostilities there is a right which may be called a common-law right to disregard the rights of individuals in the cause of the State, e.g. to enter private houses, to seize private property for martial uses, and soon. Whether such seizure ought not to be paid for is matter of equity not of legal obligation, and in any case the essential thing is that in taking goods in this way the taker would not be acting as a robber, who might be killed if necessary for suc- cessful resistance, but would only be acting in accordance with the law. The common law of England is the common law of most of the self-governing Colonies, and in any case the Roman Dutch law and the French law of Quebec admit as clearly as the English law the doctrine salus respublicae suprema lex: But it must be at once admitted that this common-law right has not sufficient definition to be a trustworthy guide in cases of action in emergencies. At the best it may extend, as Sir F. Pollock * has argued, to cover acts done in good faith for the purpose of quelling revolt, but it is not certain that it does extend so far, and it may be well that the view taken by Professor Dicey, which restricts it to necessary acts, is more sound. And in any case, whether the criterion be reason or necessity, the criterion will be applied in cold blood long after the events by a judge sitting in a eourt far removed from all the circumstances which make reason or necessity obvious in one’s actions. It is therefore clear that, in the interest of those who act under martial law, they will be well advised not to fail to secure for themselves acts of indemnity. As a matter of fact, it will be found that acts of indemnity are invariably adopted after the exercise of martial law in the Colonies, and that such acts will bar civil proceedings in this country is proved by the case of Phillips t Law Quarterly Review, xviii, 152-8; xix, 230. * Law of the Constitution,” p. 533.

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