cusp. v] THE PRIVILEGES AND PROCEDURE 451 
enjoyed by the House of Commons in England, not in 1867 
but at the date of the passing of the Act of the Dominion 
Parliament defining the privileges thus taken. Thus the 
Oaths Act was re-enacted in 1876 and was allowed to remain 
in operation, while the Imperial Act of 1875 itself confirmed 
the Act of 1868 which had been allowed to pass unobserved. 
In the case of the provinces the Legislatures of Ontario 
and Quebec passed in the session of 1868-9 Acts (31 & 32 Vict. 
¢. 3 and 32 Vict. c. 4) conferring on these bodies the privileges 
enjoyed by the Canadian House of Commons, adding in the 
case of the Quebec Legislative Council those of the Canadian 
Senate. These Acts were promptly disallowed, being held 
not only by the Dominion Minister of Justice, but also by 
the Imperial law officers, to be ultra vires.* On the other 
hand, when an Act of Quebec of 1870 (33 Vict. c. 5) defined 
the privileges which it claimed, amounting to pretty much 
the same thing as had been claimed in the case of the previous 
Act, the Act was left in operation,® and the case ex parte 
Dansereau 4 decided that a provincial legislature had a right 
to summon witnesses before it and to punish persons who 
declined to appear, and that the provincial Act of 1870 was 
a proper exercise of the power which in itself was inherent 
in a legislature by reason of its being essential for the proper 
conduct of its legislative powers. This decision went 
further than was justified in holding that the power was 
inherent in a legislature, and was evidently one of those 
Quebec decisions held by Taschereau C. J. to have been 
overruled by the decision in Landers v. Woodworth? which 
followed the case of Falconer v. Doyle,® decided by the Privy 
Council, and which should have been followed in this matter 
by the judges in ex parte Dansereau. But the decision in 
itself was correct, as was to be proved later. In 1871 a 
British Columbia Act (35 Vict. c. 4, repealed by 36 Vict. c. 35, 
! Parl. Pap., C. 911, pp. 3-9; Canada Sess. Pap., 1876, No. 45; 
Imperial Act, 38 & 39 Vict. c. 38; Canada Act, 39 Vict. c. 7. 
* Canada Sess. Pap., 1877, No. 89, pp. 202-11. 221: Provincial Legislation, 
1867-95, pp. 83, 146, 147, &o. 
* Of. Canada Sess. Pap., 1877, No. 89, pp. 108-14, 325. 
"19 L. C. J. 210. ®28.C.R. 158. 
4 Moo. P. C. (N.S.) 203 ; see above, pp. 446, 447. 
NF o2