cusp. 1] THE POWERS OF THE GOVERNOR 107 
If the plea is to be regarded as a plea of privilege only, 
and as claiming immunity to the Governor from liability 
to be sued in the courts of the Colony, their Lordships 
think that it cannot, in that aspect of it, be sustained. 
The dictum attributed to Lord Mansfield in Fabrigas v. 
Mostyn! that ‘ the Governor of a Colony is in the nature of 
a viceroy, and therefore locally during his government no 
civil or criminal action will lie against him ; the reason is, 
because upon process he would be subject to imprisonment,’ 
was dissented from and declared to be without legal founda- 
tion in the judgment of the Lords of the Judicial Committee 
delivered by Lord Brougham in the case of Hill v. Bigge.? 
In that appeal their Lordships were of opinion that the plea 
of the Lieutenant Governor of the Island of Trinidad to 
an action brought against him in the civil court of the island, 
claiming that whilst Lieutenant Governor he was not liable 
to be sued in that court, could not be sustained. The action 
was for a private debt contracted by the defendant in 
England before he became Governor, but the principle 
affirmed by the judgment is that the Governor of a Colony, 
under the commission usually issued by the Crown cannot 
claim, as a personal privilege, exemption from being sued 
in the courts of the Colony. The claim to such exemption 
is thus met :— If it be said that the Governor of a Colony 
is quasi sovereign, the answer is, that he does not even 
represent the Sovereign generally, having only the functions 
delegated to him by the term of his commission, and being 
only the officer to execute the specific powers with which 
that commission clothes him.’ 
The defendant has sought to strengthen his claim of 
privilege by averring in his plea that the acts complained 
of were done by him ‘as Governor’, and ‘as acts of State’. 
Their Lordships propose hereafter to consider the particular 
averments of this plea. It is enough here to say that it 
appears to them that if the Governor cannot claim exemp- 
tion from being sued in the courts of the Colony in which 
he holds that office, as a personal privilege, simply from his 
being Governor, and is obliged to go further, his plea must 
then show by proper and sufficient averments that the acts 
complained of were acts of State policy within the limits 
of his commission, and were done by him as the servant 
of the Crown, so as to be, as they are sometimes shortly 
termed, acts of State. A plea, however, disclosing these 
facts would raise more than a question of personal exemption 
1 Cowp. 161. * 3 Moo. P. C. 465.