420 PARLIAMENTS OF THE DOMINIONS [PART III 
diction of the several courts of justice then established in 
Rupert’s Land, and of the several officers thereof, and of all 
magistrates and justices then acting within the said limits, 
should continue in full force and effect thereunder. That 
is to say, the Imperial Parliament expressly authorized the 
Canadian Parliament to alter the Imperial Acts relating to 
matters in Rupert's Land. It is indeed obvious that such 
a state of affairs was essential ; Rupert’s Land had been 
regulated in part by the authority of the Hudson’s Bay 
Company and in part by special Imperial statutes, and when 
it was given over to Canada it was necessary that the 
Canadian Parliament should be given a free hand to legis- 
late with regard to it. It will therefore be seen that the 
arguments adduced by Sir John Thompson are without 
validity. 
The subject of copyright in Canada, although it has elicited 
certain legal decisions, has not, unfortunately, produced 
a final decision on the point discussed above ; that is, the 
right of the Parliament of Canada to repeal an Imperial Act 
which extends to Canada but which was passed before 1867. 
The right, however, was discussed and was denied in a 
Canadian case by two judges, namely the case of Smiles v. 
Belford} in the Appeal Court of Upper Canada. Their 
decision was to the effect that the Imperial Act of 1842 was 
in force in Canada, and had not been, and could not be, 
modified by Canadian legislation. 
In the case of Low v. Routledge? it was held that an alien 
who during the time of his temporary residence in a British 
Colony published in the United Kingdom a book of which 
he was the author was entitled under the Imperial Act of 
1842 to the benefit of English copyright, and that British 
copyright, when once it existed, extended, under the 29th 
section of the statute, over every part of the British Domi- 
nions. It was not, indeed, even contended, according to 
Lord Chelmsford, before the Court that any local law in 
Canada could prevent a native of Canada from acquiring 
an English copyright which would extend to Canada as well 
'' 10. A. R. 436. * 1 Ch. App. 42,