CHAPTER VI 
THE GOVERNOR AS AN IMPERIAL OFFICER 
§ 1. Tue GoveErNoOR’s DUTY UNDER IMPERIAL INSTRUCTIONS 
TrE Governor, besides acting according to law, has to act 
according to the instructions of the Secretary of State. He 
is called upon to do so by the instruments which create his 
office and appoint him Governor! and he obeys the Secretary 
of State as the mouthpiece of the Crown. It isno longer the 
practice to issue all instructions in the name of the Crown, 
as was once the custom, and the royal name is reserved for the 
most important formal instruments, but the instruction of the 
Secretary of State is issued for the Crown, and is as binding 
as though conveyed in a formal instrument. Tt has indeed 
been argued in Canada that the prerogative cannot be 
exercised by anything less than a formal instrument ;?2 
this was done with reference to the question of the validity 
of legislation as to the appointment in the Canadian provinces 
of Queen’s Counsel, but it is impossible to accept that view 
as so expressed. The formal intimation is sometimes more 
suitable than the informal, but in the absence of law to the 
contrary the intimation of the royal pleasure under the hand 
of the Secretary of State is sufficient. 
Now these instructions may in many cases place the 
Governor in opposition to the Ministry of the day, and, as 
a matter of fact, historically there have been many cases 
in which this divergence has appeared. The instructions 
have always been based on some broad Imperial interest 
which was supposed to require their maintenance, and there- 
fore wherever the Governor has obeyed them and differed 
from his ministers they have really rested upon Imperial 
' See e.g. Commonwealth Letters Patent, clause i; Governor-General’s 
Commission, clause ii, 
1 Lenoir v. Ritchie, 3 8. C. R. 575.