110 THE EXECUTIVE GOVERNMENT [part 11 
sovereign power, out of the limits of the authority so given 
to him, would be purely void, and the courts of the Colony 
over which he presided could not give it any legal effect. 
We think the office of Governor is of the latter description, 
for no authority or dictum has been cited before us to show 
that a governor can be considered as having delegation of 
the whole royal power in any colony, as between him and 
the subject, when it is not expressly given by his commission. 
And we are not aware that any commission to colonial 
governors conveys such an extensive authority.’ 
Again, it is said :—* All that we decide is that the simple 
act of the Governor alone, unauthorised by his commission, 
and not proved to be expressly or impliedly authorised by 
any instructions, is not equivalent to such an act done 
by the Crown itself.’ 
In the well-known case! of the action brought by Mr. Phil- 
lips against Mr. Eyre, the former Governor of Jamaica, 
for acts done by him, whilst he was governor, in suppressing 
an insurrection in that Colony, the question raised was, 
whether the Colonial Act of Indemnity was an answer to 
an action brought in England. That such an Act was 
thought to be necessary, and that it was alone relied on as 
a defence to the action, raises a strong presumption that it 
had been thought that the action might, but for this Act, 
have been maintained. It is to be observed, however, that 
the facts of the rebellion and of its suppression, were averred 
in the plea by way of introduction to the Act of Indemnity, 
and Mr. Justice Willes in delivering the judgment of the 
Exchequer Chamber, after saying that the court had dis 
cussed the validity of the defence upon the only question 
argued by counsel, viz., the effect of the Colonial Act, adds,2— 
‘ but we are not to be understood as thereby intimating that 
the plea might not be sustained upon mors general grounds 
as showing that the acts complained of were incident to the 
enforcement of martial law.” It is to be noticed that the 
nature of those acts, and the occasion upon which they were 
sommitted, were shown by distinct averments in the plea. 
It is apparent from these authorities that the governor of 
a Colony (in ordinary cases) cannot be regarded as a viceroy ; 
nor can it be assumed that he possesses general sovereign 
power. His authority is derived from his commission, and 
limited to the powers thereby expressly or impliedly en- 
trusted to him. Let it be granted that for acts of power 
done by a governor under and within the limits of his com- 
' Phillips v. Eyre, 4 Q. B. 225; 6 Q. B. 1. ! 6 Q. B. at p. 31.