1224 ADMINISTRATION AND LEGISLATION [PART V
Act of 1875. It was pointed out in a long report! the
substance of which were the old objections which had been
raised years before, that the Berne Convention had somewhat
increased the causes of complaint which had formerly existed
by giving foreign authors an automatic copyright in Canada.
The benefit conferred on Canadian authors was comparatively
small, and the proximity of the United States demanded that
Canada should be treated in a different way from any other
Dominion. The Government of Canada were satisfied that
their proposals in the Act of 1889 were adequate in the
interests of the author, and they were prepared to submit
regulations to secure the collection of the royalty contem-
plated in the Act and its payment to the proper parties.
The Minister of Justice also argued as to the validity of the
Copyright Act as passed. He contended that the Act was
not inconsistent with any Imperial legislation passed since
the adoption of the British North America Act, 1867, except,
of course, the Imperial Act of 1886, which had been applied
to Canada by Order in Council. He contended that the grant
of power to legislate as to copyright by the British North
America Act was a grant of power to repeal previous Imperial
legislation applicable to Canada. He admitted that the
view taken by the Imperial Law Officers in 1874 was that
the grant of power in the British North America Act was
merely a grant of power to the Dominion Parliament as
opposed to the Provincial Legislatures, and that it gave no
greater power to the Dominion than the Provincial Legisla-
tures had hitherto enjoyed.
In replying on March 25, 1890, to the Governor-General’s
dispatch, Lord Knutsford intimated that he was unable to
authorize the Governor-General to issue a proclamation to
bring the Act of 1889 into force.2 He stated that he was
advised by the Law Officers that the British North America
Act did not authorize the Dominion Parliament to amend or
repeal, as far as relates to Canada, an Imperial Act conferring
privileges within Canada. He pointed out that similar
advice had been given by the Law Officers in 1871 and 1874.
Parl. Pap., C. 7783, pp. 4-9. ? Ibid., pp. 12, 13.
