CHAP. 11] LEGAL BASIS 81
again the ministers do not constitute the Executive Council ;
they are only an essential part of it.2
This review of the conditions in force will show how
far from accurate was Mr. Higinbotham’s view that the
responsible government of the Colonies rested on parliamen-
tary enactment. In some cases there is no trace of such
enactment ; in other cases certain members must be included
in the Executive Council of the Governor. But there is no
attempt to do more than provide that the members who are
ex officio Executive Councillors are also to be, or some of
them are to be, members of Parliament. Not one constitu-
tion attempts to lay down the law that a government must
Tule by a parliamentary majority. Bub of course the rule
is none the less binding, though it is not laid down in formal
language, and the advantage that it does not rest on enact-
ments is seen in the obvious difficulty which would arise if
any effort were made to set forth in terms of law a system
80 complicated and difficult to express with precision.
1 9g Edw. VIL c. 9, ss. 12, 14.
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