364 PARLIAMENTS OF THE DOMINIONS [PART 111 
There may also be mentioned the dictum of Strong C.J. 
of Canada in the pardoning case, where he seemed to lay 
down the rule that no statute regarding the prerogative of 
pardon would be possible unless passed by the Imperial 
Parliament.! Tt is impossible to adopt this view, and the 
Provincial Legislatures of Canada, as a matter of fact, 
delegate the power of pardoning offences against local 
enactments to the Lieutenant-Governors: * The cases alluded 
to by the Chief Justice tell in no way in favour of his view : 
they were Cushing v. Dupuy? and in re Louis Marois? 
decided by the Privy Council. In both ¢ases the decision 
merely was that a law would not be held to take away the 
prerogative unless it was clearly intended to take it away, 
and in the case of Cuwillier v. Aylwin * it was actually held 
that the power to take away the prerogative lay in the 
Colonial Legislature, though the Crown itself could not divest 
itself of its rights by any voluntary action alone. Nor is 
there any doubt that the Canadian Act of 1888, which 
takes away the prerogative of allowing an appeal to the 
Privy Council in cases of criminal law, is valid as far as the 
prerogative right to grant leave to appeal goes, but it is 
liable to be overridden by the statutory right under the 
Act of 1844 5 to grant leave to appeal. 
Nor can it be successfully argued that the Legislature of 
a Colony is unable to affect the position of the Governor, 
though this argument undoubtedly derives some strength 
from the fact that the federal constitution of Canada removes 
from all power of alteration by the federal or provincial Par- 
liaments alike the position of the Lieutenant-Governor.6 Tt 
is clear that in that case the intention is to secure that there 
shall be an executive officer with a power as to legislation 
whatever the form of legislature shall be. Can it be said 
that this is merely a laying down formally of what follows 
inevitably from the very position of the Governor ? That 
¢ Attorney-General of Canada v. Attorney-General of Ontario, 23 S. C. R, 
458, at pp. 468, 469, See Lefroy, Legislative Power in Canada, pp. 180-2, 
* 5 App. Cas. 409. ? (1862) 15 Moo. P. C. 189. 
* (1832) 2 Knapp, 72. . °.7 & 8 Vict. e. 69, su. 1, 
* Cf. Lefroy, op. cit., pp. 100-2, 295, 296.