CHAP. III] THE CONFERENCE OF 1911 1527 
of Man, from certain Consular Courts, and the United 
Kingdom Ecclesiastical Courts. The cases which came 
before it might involve old French law, Roman Dutch law, 
the English common law, modified variously by statute in 
the several Dominions, and the Indian codes, and it was 
necessary, therefore, to adjust the character of the tribunal 
to the different classes of cases with which it had to deal. 
The Judicial Committee included the Lord Chancellor, the 
four Lords of Appeal, all Privy Councillors who had held 
high judicial office, two judges with special knowledge of 
Indian law, and judges not exceeding five in number from 
the Dominions. In practice the members of the House of 
Lords and the Judicial Committee were almost identical, 
and whenever a division of judges between the Courts had to 
be made he carried out the division himself, and took special 
care to secure that both Courts were strongly manned. There 
had never been any difference of decision between the two 
Courts! although there had been differences of dicta, but 
such a difference took place between the dicta of members 
of the House of Lords themselves. 
Lord Loreburn was of opinion that it would be better if 
the House of Lords, like the Judicial Committee, delivered 
but one judgement, but he recognized that a change in the 
practice of the House of Lords was not possible, and he 
intimated that if the Dominions preferred that the practice 
of the Privy Council should be based on that of the House of 
Lords there would be no difficulty in making the alterations. 
Moreover, he was quite prepared that the Final Court of 
Appeal for the Dominions should be constituted in such 
manner as each Dominion preferred for itself. Did the 
Dominions desire that Indian judges should sit on appeals 
from the Dominions ¢ Did they desire that a permanent 
judge should come from each Dominion to deal with all the 
appeals or only with the appeals from that Dominion ? It 
could always be arranged to take all cases from one Dominion 
at such period as would permit the attendance of a judge 
* The Court of Appeal and the Judicial Committee have in effect dis. 
agreed : see Clark, Australian Constitutional Law, pp. 349 seq.