car. 11] THE POWERS OF THE GOVERNOR 115 
is the only case in which an act of State can be successfully 
alleged as a defence in English law.l But probably it would 
not have been valid had there been no authority from the 
Crown, on the ground that the Governor is not in possession 
of all the royal authority, but only of such part as is expressly 
or impliedly entrusted to him. The Governor in fact can 
legally do, not what the Crown can do, but what the Crown 
has entrusted to him, or what is vested in him by legislation. 
But the real question is how much the Crown must be 
deemed to have vested in him of the prerogative. The 
answer can only be that given by Mr. Higinbotham ? all the 
power necessary for the conduct of the Executive Govern- 
ment of the Colony, and the only criterion must be found in 
that idea. In the case of the Commonwealth it is expressly 
provided in the Constitution 3 that the executive power of 
the Commonwealth is exercisable by the Governor-General 
as the representative of the Sovereign, and extends to the 
maintenance of the Constitution and the laws of the Common- 
wealth. The British North America Act* and the Union of 
South Africa Act’ also result in the bestowal of a wide 
executive authority on the Governor-General. Nor is it 
+ Cf. Harrison Moore, Act of State in English Law. 
* Of, chap. iii, § 3; Lefroy, Law Quarterly Review, 1899, p. 283; 
views of Ontario Government in Sess. Pap., 1888. No. 37, pp. 20-22; 
22 0.R.222; 190. A. R. 31. 
* 8. 61. Ina British Colony, and probably even in the Federations, it is 
impossible to hold that there can be drawn any line between executive and 
legislative powers in so far as to prevent the Legislature exercising any 
power by statute ; cf. Lefroy, Legislative Power vn Canada, pp. 88 seq. ; 
Ontario Sess. Pap.. 1888. No. 37: Clark. Australian Constitutional Law, 
pp. 33-6. 
* 30 Vict. ¢. 3,8. 9. Cf. 5. 10, which implies the same result as s. 61 of 
the Commonwealth Constitution. 
s 9 Edw. VIL, c. 9,58. 8. This clause permits the Crown to act in person, 
while the Canadian Act only applies to the Crown, and does not in s. 9 
mention the Governor-General. How far the Crown could delegate its 
power in the case of Canada to persons other than the Governor-General is 
hardly worth considering. Ceremonial visits like that of the Duke of York 
to open the Commonwealth Parliament in 1901, and of the Duke of 
Connaught to open the Parliament of South Africa in 1910, do not count. 
L