1380 THE JUDICIARY [PART VI
prepared, action in the sense desired by the Commonwealth
seems impossible.
The proposal of Sir Joseph Ward is to some extent different,
and it is perhaps possible more fully to meet his position.
There are various considerations to which weight attaches
with regard to the question.! In the first place there arises
the question how far Imperial policy requires or renders
desirable the retention of the right of appeal so far as the
Courts of the self-governing Dominions are concerned. It
is clear that little is gained with regard to securing uniformity
of law, for the Dominions constantly legislate in derogation
of the principles of the common law, in which alone a uni-
formity can be obtained, and the judgements of the Privy
Council are often not acceptable to the Dominions; for
instance, the decision of the Privy Council with regard to the
liabilities of information agencies was not satisfactory to
New South Wales, and a Bill was introduced by the Govern-
ment into the Parliament which would have altered the law
as declared by the judgement of the Privy Council ; as a
matter of fact, in passing through the Parliament, the pro-
posed law was modified, but the action of the Government
is characteristic of the manner in which from time to time
the Privy Council’s decisions are viewed.2
The Judicial Committee does, however, afford a certain
security in the minds of investors in Colonial securities.
Moreover, the Judicial Committee have been and are of
importance in maintaining uniformity of law as to the
prerogatives of the Crown, and in asserting the overriding
force of Imperial Acts. But the real value of a Supreme
Court of Appeal from all the Colonies is sentimental, and if
on the one hand the appeal of the Privy Council has been
at times a source of irritation, on the other hand there seems
still to be no widespread desire or feeling in the Dominions
that the appeal should be abolished. Although power exists
in the Commonwealth Constitution for the Parliament to
* For an attack on the Privy Council, see Clark, Australian Constitutional
Law, pp. 335-57; contra, Haldane, Empire and Education, pp. 128 seq.
® Act No. 22 of 1909; Debates, 1909, pp. 3137 seq.
