1526 IMPERIAL UNITY [PART VIII
the Union had full powers. The resolution in favour of an
extension of the legislative power of the Dominions was
passed therefore only by New Zealand and Canada, and the
Imperial Government made no pledge that it could do
anything substantial to comply with the wishes of the
Dominions in this regard.
(4) The Imperial Court of Appeal
On June 12 the important question before the Conference
was that of the Imperial Court of Appeal, resolutions having
been proposed by the Commonwealth of Australia in favour
of the transfer to an Imperial Appeal Court of the powers
exercised by the House of Lords in respect of appeals from
the United Kingdom Courts and the powers exercised by
the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council ; and by the
Government of New Zealand, that no Imperial Court of
Appeal could be satisfactory which did not include judicial
representatives of the overseas Dominions in view of the
diversity of laws enacted, and the differing public policies
affecting legal interpretation in those Dominions. In support
of the resolution of the Commonwealth, Mr. Batchelor 1
thought that it was anomalous to have two final Courts of
Appeal, that the existence of two such Courts gave a possi-
bility of conflicting judgements, while the similarity of the
personnel of the Courts was an argument in favour of their
merger. He criticized also the system under which the
members of the Judicial Committee did not give individual
judgements, and he much preferred the system by which
individual judgements were given. Lord Loreburn? then
explained the nature of the existing Courts and their juris-
diction. The House of Lords comprised the Lord Chancellor,
the four Lords of Appeal with any previous Chancellor, and
any Peer who had held high judicial office, and it heard all the
appeals from the United Kingdom. Three members formed
a quorum, but the Court usually sat with at least four. The
Judicial Committee had heard all the appeals from Colonial
and Dominion Courts, from the Channel Islands. the Isle
Cd. 5745, pp. 214-6.
2 Tbid., pp. 216 seq.
