cuAp. 111] REPUGNANCY OF COLONIAL LAWS 421
as to all other parts of the British Dominion, though the
requisitions of the Canadian law had not been complied
with.
In the more recent case of the Imperial Book Company
v. Black! it was expressly held by the Supreme Court of
Ontario 2 and by the Court of Appeal of Ontario? that the
Imperial Act of 1842 was in force in Canada. This judgement
was confirmed by the Supreme Court of Canada, but in
giving the decision Sedgewick J. stated that the Court ex-
pressed no opinion one way or the other upon the question
as to whether Smiles v. Belford was rightly decided. It was
still open for discussion as to whether the Parliament of
Canada, having been given exclusive jurisdiction to legislate
upon the subject of copyright, might not, by virtue of that
jurisdiction, be able to override Imperial legislation ante-
cedent to the British North America Act, 1867. There has
been no subsequent judicial decision to vary or modify the
question in any way. The Judicial Committee of the Privy
Council 4 declined to grant special leave to appeal from this
decision, no doubt on the ground that it was correctly
held that the Act of 1842 was still in force. but of course this
leaves the wider issue untouched.
It should be noted, however, that a similar contention
has been put forward by the Law Department of the Common-
wealth of Australia in connexion with the question of merchant
shipping. The Commonwealth Constitution (ss. 51 (i) and 98)
confers upon the Parliament of the Commonwealth power to
legislate with regard to merchant shipping; and as the
Commonwealth Constitution, which depends on an Imperial
Act of 1900, is subsequent to the Merchant Shipping Act,
1894, ss. 735 and 736 of which conferred upon Colonial
Parliaments certain restricted powers of legislation with
regard to vessels registered in the Colonies or engaged in
their coasting trade, it was suggested by the Secretary to
the Attorney-General’s Department that the Act of 1900
enabled the Commonwealth Parliament to legislate without
' 35 8. C. R. 488.
} 10 O. A. R. 488.
*80.R.9.
F221 T. L. R. 540.
