PREFACE. 
SOME years ago I began to collect materials for a survey 
of the legal aspects of the constitution of the empire, but 
my purpose as regards the constitution of Great Britain and 
Ireland was anticipated by the publication of Sir William 
Anson’s valuable work on the Law and Custom of the 
Constitution, and I therefore restricted myself to" the 
constitutions of our colonies. Of these it is not possible 
to take a general survey without examining each in detail. 
Our colonies exclusive of the Indian dependencies fall into four 
groups: (1) the North American group, (2) the Australian 
group, (3) the South African group and (4) the Crown 
colonies. I have selected Canada for treatment first, not 
merely because a special interest has of recent years been 
taken in its constitution, but for the further reason that some 
recent Canadian statutes have given a completeness to the 
Dominion system of government it did not previously 
Possess. 
T have not attempted to criticise the working of the 
constitutions described or to investigate the development 
of purely local government—any adequate treatment of 
such subjects would require a greater personal knowledge 
of Canada than I can claim to possess: they are therefore 
reserved for consideration at some subsequent time. Con- 
stitutional customs are dealt with briefly, as Mr Todd in his