INTRODUCTION.
A
under certain circumstances, lie to the Judicial Committee of
the Privy Council.
It follows from what has been said that a citizen of Canada Tee |
is subject to three distinct legislatures, the provincial Legisla- tres.
ture, the Dominion Parliament, and the Imperial Parliament,
and to three distinct executive bodies, the Provincial Execu-
tive, the Dominion Privy Council, and the English Cabinet.
If he thinks that in legislating on any matter affecting
his rights the Dominion or the Provincial legislature has
overstepped the limits of its powers, he may challenge the
legality of the statute in a court of law, but as regards a
statute of the British Parliament he has no legal redress.
The decision of a Dominion court is as binding on him
as the decision of a court of his province, and as the Sheriff
and other officials who execute provincial judgments are ex
officio officials of the Dominion, the Courts of the Central
Government have the requisite machinery for exacting obedi-
ence to their decrees.
Each province has the right of determining whether its Powers of
legislature shall consist of one or two houses. In Ontario, Benin
Manitoba and British Columbia the legislature consists of
one house only. The qualifications of voters and of members
is, as a rule, determined by the province. The legislative
powers of a province are fixed by Imperial Statutes, and as
far as possible are specifically enumerated. A province may
legislate on property and civil rights, provincial lands, the
borrowing of money for provincial purposes, direct taxation,
public institutions, tavern licences, the incorporation of pro-
vincial companies, and the solemnization of marriage. All
local works and undertakings as well as municipal institu-
tions and “all matters of a merely local or private nature in
the province ” are within its jurisdiction. In order to secure
a uniform criminal law throughout the Dominion, criminal
law and procedure have been placed under the Dominion,