CHAP. 1] THE DOMINION OF CANADA 657
Executive Power Case, 1892, of Mr. Justice Burton in that
case,! of Mr. Justice Loranger? of Chief Justice Higin-
botham,? and Mr. Justice Kerferd,* though both in a Colony
proper and a province the prerogative is rather delegated
than given by legislation, as the Victorian judges thought.
The executive power is vested in the Crown and its repre-
sentatives : it is not conferred but regulated by law. The
only real question is what prerogatives are necessary for
the provincial form of government, and differences of opinion
as to these matters are of course possible. The decision of
the Privy Council that the provinces were entitled to escheats,
in The Attorney-General of Ontario v. Mercer is fatal to
any other view than that the Lieutenant-Governor possesses
the provincial executive authority.
The same principle was also asserted in the case of The
Liquidators of the Maritime Bank of Canada v. The Receiver-
General of New Brunswick,® when the question at issue was the
priority of the Provincial Government over other simple con-
tract creditors in connexion with the liquidation of that bank.
In connexion with that liquidation the Supreme Court
of New Brunswick decided that the Provincial Government
was entitled to payment in full, in preference both to note-
holders of the bank and to other depositors and simple
contract creditors of the bank. The Supreme Court of the
Dominion answered the first question adversely to the Pro-
vincial Government, but agreed with the Supreme Court of
New Brunswick with recard to the second question.
' 19 0. A. R. 31, at p. 38.
! Letters wpon the Interpretation of the Federal Constitution, pp. 10, 11
"14 V. L. R. 349, at p. 397. * Ihid.. at pp. 409. 411.
"8 App. Cas. 767.
P1892] A. C. 437. Cf. Molson v. Chapleau (1883), 3 Cart. 360, at pp. 365,
368, per Papineau J. ; Reg. v. St. Catherine's Milling and Lumber Co., (1884)
13 0. A. R. 148, at pp. 165, 166; 4 Cart. 192, at p. 207, per Burton J. A. ;
Mercer v. Attorney-General for Ontario, (1881) 5 8. C. R. 538, at p. 637, per
Ritchie C. J. See also Maritime Bank v. The Queen, 17 8. C. R. 657 ;
(1888) 27 N. B. 351 ; The Liquidators of the Maritime Bank v. Receiver-
General of New Brunswick, (1889) 20 S. C. R. 695: 27 N. B. 379: Lefroy,
9D. cit., pp. 72 seq.
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