Preface to the First Edition.........................
Preface to the Eighth Edition .......................
Analysis of Introduction..........................
Introduction to the Eighth Edition ....................
Outline of Subject The True Nature of Constitutional Law.................
PART I
The Sovereignty of Parliament
I. The Nature of Parliamentary Sovereignty.............
II. Parliament and non-Sovereign Law-Making Bodies......
III. Parliamentary Sovereignty and Federalism ...........
PART II
The Rule of Law
IV. The Rule of Law: Its Nature and General Applications ....
V. The Right to Personal Freedom....................
VI. The Right to Freedom of Discussion ................
VII. The Right of Public Meeting.....................
VIII. Martial Law...............................
IX. The Army .................................
X. The Revenue................................
XI. The Responsibility of Ministers ...................
XII. Rule of Law compared with Droit Administratif............
XIII. Relation between Parliamentary Sovereignty and the Rule
of Law .....................................
PART III
The Connection Between The Law of the Constitution and the Conventions of the Constitution
XIV. Nature of Conventions of Constitution .................
XV. The Sanction by which the Conventions of the Constitution
are Enforced...................................
APPENDIX
I. Rigidity of French Constitutions.......................
II. Division of Powers in Federal States ....................
III. Distinction between a Parliamentary Executive and a non-Parliamentary Executive ...........................
IV. The Right of Self-Defence..........................
V. Questions Connected with the Right of Public Meeting........
VI. Duty of Soldiers Called upon to Disperse an Unlawful Assembly .
VII. The Meaning of an "Unconstitutional" Law...............
VIII. Swiss Federalism ...............................
IX. Australian Federalism .............................
X. Martial Law in England during Time of War or Insurrection.....
XI. Constitution of the Tribunal des Conflits ..................
XII. Proceedings Against the Crown ......................
XIII. Parliament Act, 1911..............................
Index......:....................................
PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION
This book is (as its title imports) an introduction to the study of the law of the constitution; it does not pretend to be even a summary, much less a complete account of constitutional law. It deals only with two or three guiding principles which pervade the modern constitution of England. My object in publishing the work is to provide students with a manual which may impress these leading principles on their minds, and thus may enable them to study with benefit in Blackstone's Commentaries and other treatises of the like nature those legal topics which, taken together, make up the constitutional law of England. In furtherance of this design I have not only emphasised the doctrines (such, for example, as the sovereignty of Parliament) which are the foundation of the existing constitution, but have also constantly illustrated English constitutionalism by comparisons between it and the constitutionalism on the one hand of the United States, and on the other of the French Republic. Whether I have in any measure attained my object must be left to the judgment of my readers. It may perhaps be allowable to remind them that a book consisting of actually delivered lectures must, even though revised for publication, exhibit the characteristics inseparable from oral exposition, and that a treatise on the principles of the law of the constitution differs in its scope and purpose, as well from a constitutional history of England as from works like Bagehot's incomparable
English Constitution, which analyse the practical working of our complicated system of modern Parliamentary government.
If, however, I insist on the fact that my book has a special aim of its own, nothing is further from my intention than to underrate the debt which I owe to the labours of the lawyers and historians who have composed works on the English constitution. Not a page of my lectures could have been written without constant reference to writers such as Blackstone, Hallam, Hearn, Gardiner, or Freeman, whose books are in the hands of every student. To three of these authors in particular I am so deeply indebted that it is a duty no less than a pleasure to make special acknowledgment of the extent of my obligations. Professor Hearn's Government of England has taught me more than any other single work of the way in which the labours of lawyers established in early times the elementary principles which form the basis of the constitution. Mr. Gardiner's History of England has suggested to me the conclusion on which, confirmed as I found it to be by all the information I could collect about French administrative law, stress is frequently laid in the course of the following pages, that the views of the prerogative maintained by Crown lawyers under the Tudors and the Stuarts bear a marked resemblance to the legal and administrative ideas which at the present day under the Third Republic still support the droit administratif of France. To my friend and colleague Mr; Freeman I owe a debt of a somewhat different nature. His Growth of the English Constitution has been to me a model (far easier to admire than to imitate) of the mode in which dry and even abstruse topics may be made the subject of effective and popular exposition. The dear statement which that work contains of the difference between our so-called "written law" and "our conventional constitution," originally led me to seek for an answer to the inquiry, what may be the true source whence constitutional understandings, which are not laws, derive their binding power, whilst the equally vigorous statements contained in the same book of the aspect in which the growth of the constitution presents itself to an historian forced upon my attention the essential difference between the historical and the legal way of regarding our institutions, and compelled me to consider whether the habit of looking too exclusively at the steps
by which the constitution has been developed does not prevent students from paying sufficient attention to the law of the constitution as it now actually exists. The possible weakness at any rate of the historical method as applied to the growth of institutions, is that it may induce men to think so much of the way in which an institution has come to be what it is, that they cease to consider with sufficient care what it is that an institution has become.
A. V. DICEY
All Souls College, Oxford, 1885
PREFACE TO THE EIGHTH EDITION
The body of this work is the eighth edition, or rather a reprint of the seventh edition, of the Law of the Constitution first published in 1885. It is, however, accompanied by a new Introduction. This Introduction is written with two objects. The first object is to trace and comment upon the way in which the main principles of our constitution as expounded by me may have been affected either by changes of law or by changes of the working of the constitution which have occurred during the last thirty years (1884-1914). The second object of this Introduction is to state and analyse the main constitutional ideas which may fairly be called new, either because they have come into existence during the last thirty years, or because (what is much more frequently the case) they have in England during that period begun to exert a new and noticeable influence.
It has been my good fortune to receive in the composition of this Introduction, as in the writing of every book which I have published, untold aid from suggestions made to me by a large number both of English and of foreign friends. To all these helpers I return my most sincere thanks. It is at once a duty and a pleasure to mention my special obligation to two friends, who can both be numbered as high authorities among writers, who have investigated the constitution of England from different points of view. To the friendship of the late Sir William Anson I owe a debt the amount of which it is impossible to exaggerate. He was better acquainted, as his books show, with the
details and the working of the whole constitution of England than any contemporary authority. Since I first endeavoured to lay down the few general principles which in my judgment lie at the basis of our constitution, I have, whilst engaged in that attempt, always enjoyed his sympathy and encouragement, and, especially in the later editions of my work, I have received from him corrections and suggestions given by one who had explored not only the principles but also all the minute rules of our constitutional law and practice. To my friend Professor A. Berriedale Keith I am under obligations of a somewhat different kind. He has become already, by the publication of his Responsible Government in the Dominions, an acknowledged authority on all matters connected with the relation between England and her Colonies. I have enjoyed the great advantage of his having read over the parts of my Introduction which refer to our Colonial Empire. His knowledge of and experience in Colonial affairs has certainly saved me from many errors into which I might otherwise have fallen.
It is fair to all the friends who have aided me that I should state explicitly that for any opinions expressed in this Introduction no one is responsible except myself. The care with which many persons have given me sound information was the more valued by me because I have known that with some of the inferences drawn by me from the facts on which I commented my informants probably did not agree.
A. V. DICEY Oxford, 1914
ANALYSIS OF INTRODUCTION
Aim ...........................................xxxv
The Sovereignty of Parliament........................xxxvi
Possible change in constitution of parliamentary sovereign
(Parliament Act, 1911) ...........................xxxvi
State of things before passing Act ...................xxxviii
Direct effects of Parliament Act......................xxxix
(1) Money Bill — House of Lords no veto .............xxxix
(2) Other public Bills — House of Lords has only suspensive veto................................xl
(3) House of Commons has unlimited legislative power . . . . xli Practical change in area of parliamentary sovereignty
(Relation of the Imperial Parliament to Dominions)........xlii
First question — What is the difference between such
relation in 1884 and 1914? ..........................xlii
Second question — What changes of opinion caused
the change of relation?..............................l
The Rule of Law.....................................lv
Decline in reverence for rule of law......................lv
Comparison between present official law of England and
present droit administratif of France....................lxi
Conventions of the Constitution........................lxvi
First question — What changes?.......................bcvi
Second question — What is the tendency of new
conventions?..................................lxxii
Third question — Does experience of last thirty years
confirm principles laid down as to connection between
conventions and rule of law?.......................lxxv
Development during the last Thirty Years of New
Constitutional Ideas ..............................lxxvi
Two general observations on new constitutional ideas......lxxvi
First observation — Slow growth of political or constitutional
inventiveness .................................lxxvi
Second observation — These new ideas take no account of
one of the ends which good legislation ought to attain .... bcxvii
Criticism of the Four New Constitutional Ideas .............lxxx
Woman Suffrage.................................lxxx
The causes of demand.............................lxxxi
The two main lines of argument and answers ............lxxxi
First argument — Every citizen entitled to vote ...........lxxxi
Second argument — Difference of sex no ground for
difference of political rights.......................bocxii
Proportional representation........................lxxxiv
The three propositions on which argument in favour of
proportional representation is based................lxxxiv
The truth of two first propositions admitted ............lxxxiv
Objections to third proposition .....................lxxxvi
First objection — Complication of system increases power
of wire-pullers................................lxxxvi
Second objection — House of Commons is not mere House
for Debate ..................................boocvii
Third objection — Proportional representation increases
number and evil of parliamentary groups ...........lxxxviii
Federalism ......................................xci
Leading characteristics of federal government ............xciii
Characteristics of federal government in relation to Imperial
Federalism...................................xcviii
First objection — Attempt to form federal constitution for
Empire full of difficulty and peril....................xcix
Second objection — No real necessity for formation of
any new federal constitution for Empire................ciii
Characteristics of federal government in relation to Home
Rule all round (i.e. federalisation of United Kingdom) ...... civ
Vagueness of the ideas which support the policy of
federalisation of United Kingdom (Home Rule all round) . . . . cv
Specific objections to Home Rule all round ...............cvi
First objection — No desire for Federalism in any part of
United Kingdom ................................cvi
Second objection — Federalisation of United Kingdom
does not promote Imperial Federalism ................cvii
Third objection — Such federalisation opposed to whole
history of English constitutionalism ..................cvii
The Referendum.................................cviii
Meaning of referendum............................cviii
Causes for demand for referendum.....................ex
The main argument against the referendum ..............cxi
The main argument in favour of the referendum ..........cxiv
Conclusions .....................................cxvii
INTRODUCTION
AIM
The Law of the Constitution was first published in 1885. The book was based on lectures delivered by me as Vinerian Professor of English Law. The lectures were given and the book written with the sole object of explaining and illustrating three leading characteristics in the existing constitution of England; they are now generally designated as the Sovereignty of Parliament, the Rule of Law, and the Conventions of the Constitution. The book, therefore, dealt with the main features of our constitution as it stood in 1884-85, that is thirty years ago. The work has already gone through seven editions; each successive edition, including the seventh, has been brought up to date, as the expression goes, by amending it so as to embody any change in or affecting the constitution which may have occurred since the last preceding edition. On publishing the eighth and final edition of this treatise I have thought it expedient to pursue a different course. The constant amendment of a book republished in successive editions during thirty years is apt to take from it any such literary merits as it may originally have possessed. Recurring alterations destroy the original tone and spirit of any treatise which has the least claim to belong to the literature of England. The present edition, therefore, of the Law of the Constitution is in substance a reprint of the seventh edition; it is however accompanied by this new Introduction whereof the aim is to compare our constitution as it stood and worked in 1884 with the constitution as it now stands in 1914. It is thus
possible to take a general view of the development of the constitution during a period filled with many changes both of law and of opinion. J My readers are thus enabled to see how far either legislation or constitutional conventions have during the last thirty years extended or (it may be) limited the application of the principles which in 1884 lay at the foundation of our whole constitutional system. This Introduction therefore is in the main a work of historical retrospection. It is impossible, however (nor perhaps would it be desirable were it possible), to prevent a writer's survey of the past from exhibiting or betraying his anticipations of the future.
The topics here dealt with may be thus summed up: — The Sovereignty of Parliament,2 the Rule of Law,3 the Law and the Conventions of the Constitution,4 New Constitutional Ideas,5 General Conclusions.6
SOVEREIGNTY OF PARLIAMENT7
The sovereignty of Parliament is, from a legal point of view, the dominant characteristic of our political institutions. And my readers will remember that Parliament consists of the King, the House of Lords, and the House of Commons acting together. The principle, therefore, of parliamentary sovereignty means neither more nor less than this, namely that "Parliament" has "the right to make or unmake any law whatever; and further, that no person or body is recognised by the law of England as having a right to override or set aside the legislation of Parliament,"8 and further that this right or
1 Compare the Introduction to the second edition of Law and Public Opinion in England during the Nineteenth Century.
2 See Part I. Chaps. I.-III.,posf.
3 See Part II. Chaps. IV. -XIII., post.
4 See Part III. Chaps. XIV., XV., post.
5 Seep. lxxvi,post.
6 A student who wishes to understand the statements in the Introduction should read with care that part of the book on which they are a comment; thus the portions of the Introduction referring to the Sovereignty of Parliament ought to be read in connection with Part I. Chapters I.-III., post.
7 See Chaps. I.-III., post.
8 See Chap. I. p. 3, post. Parliament may itself by Act of Parliament either expressly or impliedly give to some subordinate legislature or other body the power to modify or add to
power of Parliament extends to every part of the King's dominions.9 These doctrines appear in the first edition of this work, published in 1885; they have been repeated in each successive edition published up to the present day. Their truth has never been denied. We must now, however, consider whether they are an accurate description of parliamentary sovereignty as it now exists in 1914. And here it should be remarked that parliamentary sovereignty may possibly at least have been modified in two different directions, which ought to be distinguished. It is possible, in the first place, that the constitution or nature of the sovereign power may have undergone a change. If, for example, the King and the Houses of Parliament had passed a law abolishing the House of Lords and leaving supreme legislative power in the hands of the King and of the House of Commons, any one would feel that the sovereign to which parliamentary sovereignty had been transferred was an essentially different sovereign from the King and the two Houses which in 1884 possessed supreme power. It is possible, in the second place, that since 1884 the Imperial Parliament may, if not in theory yet in fact, have ceased as a rule to exercise supreme legislative power in certain countries subject to the authority of the King. Let us consider carefully each of these two possibilities.
POSSIBLE CHANGE IN CONSTITUTION OR
CHARACTER OF THE PARLIAMENTARY SOVEREIGN
(EFFECT OF THE PARLIAMENT ACT, 1911)
The matter under consideration is in substance whether the Parliament Act,10 has transferred legislative authority from the King11 and
a given Act of Parliament. Thus under the Commonwealth Act, 63 & 64 Viet. c. 12, the Imperial Parliament has given to the Parliament of the Australian Commonwealth power to modify many provisions of the Commonwealth Act, and the Imperial Parliament, under the National Insurance Act, 1911, has given power to the Insurance Commissioners and to the Board of Trade to modify some provisions of the Insurance Act.
9 See pp. 47-61, post.
10 See especially the Parliament Act, 1911, ss. 1-3, and Appendix, Note XIII., the Parliament Act.
11 The Parliament Act in no way diminishes the prerogatives of the King as they existed immediately before the passing of that Act, and it is enacted (Parliament Act. s. 6) that "nothing in this Act shall diminish or qualify the existing rights and privileges of the House of Commons."
the two Houses of Parliament to the King and the House of Commons?
The best mode of giving an answer to this question is first to state broadly what were the legislative powers of the House of Lords immediately before the passing of the Parliament Act, i8th August 1911, and next to state the main direct and indubitable effects of that Act on the legislative power of the House of Lords and of the House of Commons respectively.
THE STATE OF THINGS IMMEDIATELY BEFORE THE PASSING OF THE PARLIAMENT ACT
No Act of Parliament of any kind could be passed without the consent thereto both of the House of Lords and of the House of Commons. No doubt the House of Lords did very rarely either alter or reject any Money Bill, and though the Lords have always claimed the right to alter or reject such a Bill, they have only on very special occasions exercised this power. No doubt again their lordships have, at any rate since 1832, acknowledged that they ought to pass any Bill deliberately desired by the nation, and also have admitted the existence of a more or less strong presumption that the House of Commons in general represents the will of the nation, and that the Lords ought, therefore, in general to consent to a Bill passed by the House of Commons, even though their lordships did not approve of the measure. But this presumption may, they have always maintained, be rebutted if any strong ground can be shown for holding that the electors did not really wish such a Bill to become an Act of Parliament. Hence Bill after Bill has been passed by their lordships of which the House of Lords did not in reality approve. It was however absolutely indubitable up to the passing of the Parliament Act that no Act could be passed by Parliament without obtaining the consent of the House of Lords. Nor could any one dispute the legal right or power of the House, by refusing such assent, to veto the passing of any Act of which the House might disapprove. Two considerations, however, must be taken into account. This veto, in the first place, has, at any rate since 1832, been as a rule used by the Lords as a merely suspensive veto. The passing of the Great Reform Act itself was delayed by
their lordships for somewhat less than two years, and it may well be doubted whether they have, since 1832, ever by their legislative veto, delayed legislation really desired by the electors for as much as two years. It must again be remembered that the Lords, of recent years at least, have at times rejected Bills supported by the majority of the House of Commons which, as has been proved by the event, had not received the support of the electors. Hence it cannot be denied that the action of the House of Lords has sometimes protected the authority of the nation.
THE DIRECT EFFECTS OF THE PARLIAMENT ACT12
Such effects can be summed up in popular and intelligible language, rather than with technical precision, as follows:
1. In respect of any Money Bill the Act takes away all legislative power from the House of Lords. The House may discuss such a Bill for a calendar month, but cannot otherwise prevent, beyond a month, the Bill becoming an Act of Parliament.13
2. In respect of any public Bill (which is not a Money Bill),14 the Act takes away from the House of Lords any final veto, but leaves or gives to the House a suspensive veto.ls
This suspensive veto is secured to the House of Lords because under the Parliament Act, s. 2, no such Bill can be passed without the consent of the House which has not fulfilled the following four conditions:
i. That the Bill shall, before it is presented to the King for his assent, be passed by the House of Commons and be rejected by the House of Lords in each of three successive sessions.16
ii. That the Bill shall be sent up to the House of Lords at least one calendar month before the end of each of these sessions.17
12 See as to "indirect effects," p. lxix, post.
13 See Parliament Act, ss. i and 3.
14 Except a Bill for extending the maximum duration of Parliament beyond five years. See Parliament Act, s. 2, sub-s. i.
15 See s. 2.
16 Sees. 2(1).
17 Ibid.
iii. That in respect of such Bill at least two years shall have elapsed between the date of the second reading of the Bill in the House of Commons during the first of those sessions and the date on which it passes the House of Commons in the third of such sessions.18
iv. That the Bill presented to the King for his assent shall be in every material respect identical with the Bill sent up to the House of Lords in the first of the three successive sessions except in so far as it may have been amended by or with the consent of the House of Lords.
The history of the Government of Ireland Act, 1914, popularly, and throughout this Introduction generally, called the Home Rule Bill or Act, affords good illustrations of the peculiar procedure instituted by the Parliament Act. The Home Rule Bill was introduced into the House of Commons during the first of the three successive sessions on April 11, 1912; it passed its second reading in the House of Commons during that session on May 9, 1912; it was rejected by the House of Lords either actually or constructively19 in each of the three successive sessions. It could not then possibly have been presented to the King for his assent till June 9, 1914; it was not so presented to the King till September 18, 1914. On that day, just before the actual prorogation of Parliament in the third session, it received the royal assent without the consent of the House of Lords; it thereby became the Government of Ireland Act, 1914. The Act as assented to by the King was in substance identical with the Bill sent up to the House of Lords in the first of the three sessions on January 16, 1913. But here we come across the difficulty of amending a Bill under the Parliament Act after it had once been sent up in the third session to the House of Lords. By June
18 S. 2 (i) Proviso. Under this enactment the House of Lords may insist upon a delay of at least two years and one calendar month, and a powerful opposition in the House of Commons may lengthen this delay.
19 Constructive rejection arises under the Parliament Act, s. 2, sub-s. 3, which runs as follows: "A Bill shall be deemed to be rejected by the House of Lords if it is not passed by the House of Lords either without amendment or with such amendments only as may be agreed to by both Houses." The Home Rule Bill was actually rejected by the vote of the House of Lords in its first and second session. It was constructively rejected in the third session by the House of Lords simply by the House not passing the Bill during such
1914 it was felt to be desirable to amend the Home Rule Bill in respect of the position of Ulster. On June 23 the Government brought into the House of Lords a Bill which should amend the Home Rule Act which was still a Bill, and it is difficult to find a precedent for thus passing an Act for amending a Bill not yet on the statute-book. The attempt to carry out the Government's proposal came to nothing. On September 18, 1914, the Home Rule Bill became the Home Rule Act (or technically the Government of Ireland Act, 1914) unamended, but on the very day on which the Home Rule Act was finally passed it was in effect amended by a Suspensory Act under which the Government of Ireland Act, 1914, cannot come into force until at any rate twelve months from September 18, and possibly will not come into force until the present war has ended. The Suspensory Act evades or avoids the effect of the Parliament Act, but such escape from the effect of a recently passed statute suggests the necessity for some amendment in the procedure created by the Parliament Act.
3. The House of Commons can without the consent of the House of Lords present to the King for his assent any Bill whatever which has complied with the provisions of the Parliament Act, section 2, or rather which is certified by the Speaker of the House of Commons in the way provided by the Act to have complied with the conditions of the Parliament Act, section 2.
The simple truth is that the Parliament Act has given to the House of Commons, or, in plain language, to the majority thereof, the power of passing any Bill whatever, provided always that the conditions of the Parliament Act, section 2, are complied with. But these provisions do leave to the House of Lords a suspensive veto which may prevent a Bill from becoming an Act of Parliament for a period of certainly more, and possibly a good deal more, than two years.20
20 The Parliament Act leaves the existing rights and privileges of the House of Commons untouched (ibid. sect. 6). No reference whatever is therein made to the so-called "veto" of the King. Its existence is undoubted, but the veto has not been exercised for at least two centuries. The well-known words of Burke, however, should always be borne in mind: "The king's negative to bills," he says, "is one of the most indisputed of the royal prerogatives; and it extends to all cases whatsoever. I am far from certain, that if several laws which I know had fallen under the stroke of that sceptre, the public would have had a very heavy loss. But it is not the propriety of the exercise which is in question. The exercise itself is
In these circumstances it is arguable that the Parliament Act has transformed the sovereignty of Parliament into the sovereignty of the King and the House of Commons. But the better opinion on the whole is that sovereignty still resides in the King and the two Houses of Parliament. The grounds for this opinion are, firstly, that the King and the two Houses acting together can most certainly enact or repeal any law whatever without in any way contravening the Parliament Act; and, secondly, that the House of Lords, while it cannot prevent the House of Commons from, in effect, passing under the Parliament Act any change of the constitution, provided always that the requirements of the Parliament Act are complied with, nevertheless can, as long as that Act remains in force, prohibit the passing of any Act the effectiveness of which depends upon its being passed without delay.
Hence, on the whole, the correct legal statement of the actual condition of things is that sovereignty still resides in Parliament, i.e. in the King and the two Houses acting together, but that the Parliament Act has greatly increased the share of sovereignty possessed by the House of Commons and has greatly diminished the share thereof belonging to the House of Lords.
PRACTICAL CHANGE IN THE AREA OF PARLIAMENTARY SOVEREIGNTY (RELATION OF THE IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT TO THE DOMINIONS21)
The term "Dominions" means and includes the Dominion of Canada, Newfoundland, and Commonwealth of Australia, New
wisely forborne. Its repose may be the preservation of its existence; and its existence may be the means of saving the constitution itself, on an occasion worthy of bringing it forth." — Burke, Letter to the Sheriffs of Bristol, vol. iii., ed. 1808, pp. 180, 181; ed. 1872, vol. ii. p. 28. Experience has confirmed the soundness of Burke's doctrine. The existence of this "negative" has greatly facilitated the development of the present happy relation between England and her self-governing colonies. It has enabled English and colonial statesmanship to create that combination of Imperial unity with something coming near to colonial independence which may ultimately turn out to be the salvation of the British Empire.
21 For this use of the term Dominions see British Nationality & Status of Aliens Act, 1914, 4 & 5 Geo. V. c. 17, ist Schedule. Compare especially as to British colonies with representative and responsible government pp. 47 to 61, post.
The Dominions for the most part consist either of a country which was a self-governing colony, or of countries which were self-governing colonies in 1884. But this statement does
Zealand, and the Union of South Africa. Each of the Dominions is a self-governing colony, i.e. a colony possessed both of a colonial Parliament, or representative legislature, and a responsible government, or in other words, of a government responsible to such legislature. Our subject raises two questions:
First Question
What is the difference between the relation of the Imperial Parliament to a self-governing colony, such, e.g., as New Zealand, in 1884, and the relation of the same Parliament to the Dominion, e.g. of New Zealand, in 1914?
Before attempting a direct answer to this inquiry it is well to point out that in two respects of considerable importance the relation of the Imperial Parliament22 to the self-governing colonies, whether called Dominions or not, has in no respect changed since 1884.
In the first place, the Imperial Parliament still claims in 1914, as it claimed in 1884, the possession of absolute sovereignty throughout every part of the British Empire; and this claim, which certainly extends to every Dominion, would be admitted as sound legal doctrine by any court throughout the Empire which purported to act under
not apply with perfect accuracy to every one of the Dominions. Western Australia, for instance, which is now one of the states of the Commonwealth of Australia, did not obtain responsible government till 1890, and Natal, now a state of the Union of South Africa, did not obtain such government till 1893. The Union of South Africa itself consists to a great extent of states which in 1884, though subject to the suzerainty of the King, were (under the government of the Boers) all but independent countries.
Throughout this Introduction, unless the contrary is expressly stated, or appears from the context, no reference is made to the position either of (i.) the Crown colonies, or (ii.) the three colonies, viz. the Bahamas, Barbadoes, and Bermuda, which possess representative but not responsible government, or (iii.) British India. This Introduction, in short, in so far as it deals with the relation of the Imperial Parliament to the colonies, refers exclusively, or all but exclusively, to the relation between the Imperial Parliament and the five Dominions. 22 This term means what an English writer on our constitution would generally call simply "Parliament," that is the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The term "Imperial Parliament" is, however, a convenient one when we have to deal, as in this Introduction, with the relation between the Parliament of the United Kingdom and the Dominions, every one of which has representative legislatures of their own which are always popularly, and sometimes in Acts of Parliament, termed Parliaments. The term "Imperial Parliament" is used in colonial statutes, e.g., in the Interpretation Act of the Commonwealth of Australia, No. 2 of 1901.
the authority of the King. The constitution indeed of a Dominion in general originates in and depends upon an Act, or Acts, of the Imperial Parliament; and these constitutional statutes are assuredly liable to be changed by the Imperial Parliament.
Parliament, in the second place, had long before 1884 practically admitted the truth of the doctrine in vain pressed upon his contemporaries by Burke,23 when insisting upon the folly of the attempt made by the Parliament of England to exert as much absolute power in Massachusetts as in Middlesex, that a real limit to the exercise of sovereignty is imposed not by the laws of man but by the nature of things, and that it was vain for a parliamentary or any other sovereign to try to exert equal power throughout the whole of an immense Empire. The completeness of this admission is shown by one noteworthy fact: the Imperial Parliament in 1884, and long before 1884, had ceased to impose of its own authority and for the benefit of England any tax upon any British colony.24 The omnipotence, in
23 "Who are you," to quote his words, "that should fret and rage, and bite the chains of nature? Nothing worse happens to you, than does to all nations who have extensive empire; and it happens in all the forms into which empire can be thrown. In large bodies, the circulation of power must be less vigorous at the extremities. Nature has said it. The Turk cannot govern Egypt, and Arabia, and Curdistan, as he governs Thrace; nor has he the same dominion in the Crimea and in Algiers which he has at Brusa and Smyrna. Despotism itself is obliged to truck and huckster. The Sultan gets such obedience as he can. He governs with a loose rein, that he may govern at all; and the whole of the force and vigour of his authority in the centre is derived from a prudent relaxation in all his borders. Spain, in her provinces, is, perhaps, not so well obeyed as you are in yours. She complies too; she submits; she watches times. This is the immutable condition, the eternal law, of extensive and detached empire." — Burke, Conciliation with America, vol. iii. (ed. 1808),
PP- 56, 57-
24 This renunciation by the Imperial Parliament of the right to impose taxes upon a colony, whether a self-governing colony or not, has passed through two stages. Since 1783 taxation imposed by an Imperial Act has always been, even in the case of a Crown colony, imposed for the benefit of the colony, and the proceeds thereof have been paid to the colony. But until the repeal of the Navigation Laws in 1849 Parliament, in support of our whole navigation system, retained the practice of imposing duties on goods imported into the colonies, though the proceeds thereof were paid to the colonies so taxed. Since 1849 no Imperial Act has been passed for the taxation of any colony, and no colony is compelled by the Imperial Parliament to contribute anything in the way of taxation towards the cost of the government of the United Kingdom or towards the defence of the British Empire.
The Imperial Parliament does still impose customs duties upon the Isle of Man. See 3 & 4 Geo. V. c. 18.
short, of Parliament, though theoretically admitted, has been applied in its full effect only to the United Kingdom.
A student may ask what is the good of insisting upon the absolute sovereignty of Parliament in relation to the Dominions when it is admitted that Parliament never gives, outside the United Kingdom, and probably never will give, full effect to this asserted and more or less fictitious omnipotence. The answer to this suggestion is that students who do not bear in mind the claim of Parliament to absolute sovereignty throughout the whole of the British Empire, will never understand the extent to which this sovereign power is on some occasions actually exerted outside the limits of the United Kingdom, nor, though this statement sounds paradoxical, will they understand the limits which, with the full assent, no less of English than of colonial statesmen, are in fact, as regards at any rate the Dominions, imposed upon the actual exercise of the theoretically limitless authority of Parliament. It will be found further that even to the Dominions themselves there is at times some advantage in the admitted authority of the Imperial Parliament to legislate for the whole Empire. In the eyes, at any rate, of thinkers who share the moral convictions prevalent in most civilised states, it must seem a gain that the Imperial Parliament should have been able in 1834 to prohibit the existence of slavery in any country subject to the British Crown, and should be able to-day to forbid throughout the whole Empire the revival of the Slave Trade, or of judicial torture.
Let us now turn to the points wherein the relation of the Imperial Parliament to the self-governing colonies in 1884 differed from the existing relation of the Imperial Parliament to the Dominions in 1914.
The relation of the Imperial Parliament in 1884 to a self-governing colony, e.g. New Zealand.
The Imperial Parliament, under the guidance of English statesmen, certainly admitted in practice thirty years ago that a self-governing colony, such as New Zealand, ought to be allowed in local matters to legislate for itself. Parliament did, however, occasionally legislate for New Zealand or any other self-governing colony. Thus the existing English Bankruptcy Act, 1883, as a matter of fact transferred, as it still transfers, to the trustee in bankruptcy the bankrupt's property, and
even his immovable property situate in any part of the British Empire,2S and a discharge under the English Bankruptcy Act, 1883, was, and still is, a discharge as regards the debts of the bankrupt contracted in any part of the British Empire,26 e.g. in New Zealand or in the Commonwealth of Australia. So again the veto of the Crown was, in one form or another27 in 1884, and even later, used occasionally to prevent colonial legislation which, though approved of by the people of the colony and by the legislature thereof, might be opposed to the moral feeling or convictions of Englishmen. Thus colonial Bills for legalising the marriages between a man and his deceased wife's sister, or between a woman and her deceased husband's brother, were sometimes vetoed by the Crown, or in effect on the advice of ministers supported by the Imperial Parliament. No doubt as time went on the unwillingness of English statesmen to interfere, by means of the royal veto or otherwise, with colonial legislation which affected only the internal government of a self-governing colony, increased. But such interference was not unknown. There was further, in 1884, an appeal in every colony from the judgments of the Supreme Court thereof to the English Privy Council. And a British Government would in 1884 have felt itself at liberty to interfere with the executive action of a colonial Cabinet when such action was inconsistent with English ideas of justice. It was also in 1884 a dear principle of English administration that English colonists should neither directly nor indirectly take part in negotiating treaties with foreign powers. Nor had either England or the self-governing colonies, thirty years ago, realised the general advantage of those conferences now becoming a regular part of English public life, at which English ministers and colonial ministers could confer upon questions of colonial policy, and could thus practically acknowledge the interest of the colonies in everything which concerned the welfare of the whole Empire. Neither certainly did English statesmen in 1884 contemplate the pos-
25 See Dicey, Conflict of Laws (and ed.), pp. 329-333-
26 Ibid., p. 441, and Ellis v. McHenry (1871), L. R. 6, C. P. 228, 234-236; but contrast New Zealand Loan, etc, Co. v. Morrison [1898], A. C. 349, died Conflict of Laws, p. 342.
27 See pp. 56-61, post.
sibility of a colony standing neutral during a war between England
and a foreign power.
The relation of the Imperial Parliament in 1914 to a Dominion.28 This relation may now, it is submitted, be roughly summed up in
the following rules:
Rulei
In regard to any matter which directly affects Imperial interests the Imperial Parliament will (though with constantly increasing caution) pass laws which apply to a Dominion and otherwise exercise sovereign power in such a Dominion.
But this rule applies almost exclusively to matters which directly and indubitably affect Imperial interests.29
Preface to the Eighth Edition .......................
Analysis of Introduction..........................
Introduction to the Eighth Edition ....................
Outline of Subject The True Nature of Constitutional Law.................
PART I
The Sovereignty of Parliament
I. The Nature of Parliamentary Sovereignty.............
II. Parliament and non-Sovereign Law-Making Bodies......
III. Parliamentary Sovereignty and Federalism ...........
PART II
The Rule of Law
IV. The Rule of Law: Its Nature and General Applications ....
V. The Right to Personal Freedom....................
VI. The Right to Freedom of Discussion ................
VII. The Right of Public Meeting.....................
VIII. Martial Law...............................
IX. The Army .................................
X. The Revenue................................
XI. The Responsibility of Ministers ...................
XII. Rule of Law compared with Droit Administratif............
XIII. Relation between Parliamentary Sovereignty and the Rule
of Law .....................................
PART III
The Connection Between The Law of the Constitution and the Conventions of the Constitution
XIV. Nature of Conventions of Constitution .................
XV. The Sanction by which the Conventions of the Constitution
are Enforced...................................
APPENDIX
I. Rigidity of French Constitutions.......................
II. Division of Powers in Federal States ....................
III. Distinction between a Parliamentary Executive and a non-Parliamentary Executive ...........................
IV. The Right of Self-Defence..........................
V. Questions Connected with the Right of Public Meeting........
VI. Duty of Soldiers Called upon to Disperse an Unlawful Assembly .
VII. The Meaning of an "Unconstitutional" Law...............
VIII. Swiss Federalism ...............................
IX. Australian Federalism .............................
X. Martial Law in England during Time of War or Insurrection.....
XI. Constitution of the Tribunal des Conflits ..................
XII. Proceedings Against the Crown ......................
XIII. Parliament Act, 1911..............................
Index......:....................................
PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION
This book is (as its title imports) an introduction to the study of the law of the constitution; it does not pretend to be even a summary, much less a complete account of constitutional law. It deals only with two or three guiding principles which pervade the modern constitution of England. My object in publishing the work is to provide students with a manual which may impress these leading principles on their minds, and thus may enable them to study with benefit in Blackstone's Commentaries and other treatises of the like nature those legal topics which, taken together, make up the constitutional law of England. In furtherance of this design I have not only emphasised the doctrines (such, for example, as the sovereignty of Parliament) which are the foundation of the existing constitution, but have also constantly illustrated English constitutionalism by comparisons between it and the constitutionalism on the one hand of the United States, and on the other of the French Republic. Whether I have in any measure attained my object must be left to the judgment of my readers. It may perhaps be allowable to remind them that a book consisting of actually delivered lectures must, even though revised for publication, exhibit the characteristics inseparable from oral exposition, and that a treatise on the principles of the law of the constitution differs in its scope and purpose, as well from a constitutional history of England as from works like Bagehot's incomparable
English Constitution, which analyse the practical working of our complicated system of modern Parliamentary government.
If, however, I insist on the fact that my book has a special aim of its own, nothing is further from my intention than to underrate the debt which I owe to the labours of the lawyers and historians who have composed works on the English constitution. Not a page of my lectures could have been written without constant reference to writers such as Blackstone, Hallam, Hearn, Gardiner, or Freeman, whose books are in the hands of every student. To three of these authors in particular I am so deeply indebted that it is a duty no less than a pleasure to make special acknowledgment of the extent of my obligations. Professor Hearn's Government of England has taught me more than any other single work of the way in which the labours of lawyers established in early times the elementary principles which form the basis of the constitution. Mr. Gardiner's History of England has suggested to me the conclusion on which, confirmed as I found it to be by all the information I could collect about French administrative law, stress is frequently laid in the course of the following pages, that the views of the prerogative maintained by Crown lawyers under the Tudors and the Stuarts bear a marked resemblance to the legal and administrative ideas which at the present day under the Third Republic still support the droit administratif of France. To my friend and colleague Mr; Freeman I owe a debt of a somewhat different nature. His Growth of the English Constitution has been to me a model (far easier to admire than to imitate) of the mode in which dry and even abstruse topics may be made the subject of effective and popular exposition. The dear statement which that work contains of the difference between our so-called "written law" and "our conventional constitution," originally led me to seek for an answer to the inquiry, what may be the true source whence constitutional understandings, which are not laws, derive their binding power, whilst the equally vigorous statements contained in the same book of the aspect in which the growth of the constitution presents itself to an historian forced upon my attention the essential difference between the historical and the legal way of regarding our institutions, and compelled me to consider whether the habit of looking too exclusively at the steps
by which the constitution has been developed does not prevent students from paying sufficient attention to the law of the constitution as it now actually exists. The possible weakness at any rate of the historical method as applied to the growth of institutions, is that it may induce men to think so much of the way in which an institution has come to be what it is, that they cease to consider with sufficient care what it is that an institution has become.
A. V. DICEY
All Souls College, Oxford, 1885
PREFACE TO THE EIGHTH EDITION
The body of this work is the eighth edition, or rather a reprint of the seventh edition, of the Law of the Constitution first published in 1885. It is, however, accompanied by a new Introduction. This Introduction is written with two objects. The first object is to trace and comment upon the way in which the main principles of our constitution as expounded by me may have been affected either by changes of law or by changes of the working of the constitution which have occurred during the last thirty years (1884-1914). The second object of this Introduction is to state and analyse the main constitutional ideas which may fairly be called new, either because they have come into existence during the last thirty years, or because (what is much more frequently the case) they have in England during that period begun to exert a new and noticeable influence.
It has been my good fortune to receive in the composition of this Introduction, as in the writing of every book which I have published, untold aid from suggestions made to me by a large number both of English and of foreign friends. To all these helpers I return my most sincere thanks. It is at once a duty and a pleasure to mention my special obligation to two friends, who can both be numbered as high authorities among writers, who have investigated the constitution of England from different points of view. To the friendship of the late Sir William Anson I owe a debt the amount of which it is impossible to exaggerate. He was better acquainted, as his books show, with the
details and the working of the whole constitution of England than any contemporary authority. Since I first endeavoured to lay down the few general principles which in my judgment lie at the basis of our constitution, I have, whilst engaged in that attempt, always enjoyed his sympathy and encouragement, and, especially in the later editions of my work, I have received from him corrections and suggestions given by one who had explored not only the principles but also all the minute rules of our constitutional law and practice. To my friend Professor A. Berriedale Keith I am under obligations of a somewhat different kind. He has become already, by the publication of his Responsible Government in the Dominions, an acknowledged authority on all matters connected with the relation between England and her Colonies. I have enjoyed the great advantage of his having read over the parts of my Introduction which refer to our Colonial Empire. His knowledge of and experience in Colonial affairs has certainly saved me from many errors into which I might otherwise have fallen.
It is fair to all the friends who have aided me that I should state explicitly that for any opinions expressed in this Introduction no one is responsible except myself. The care with which many persons have given me sound information was the more valued by me because I have known that with some of the inferences drawn by me from the facts on which I commented my informants probably did not agree.
A. V. DICEY Oxford, 1914
ANALYSIS OF INTRODUCTION
Aim ...........................................xxxv
The Sovereignty of Parliament........................xxxvi
Possible change in constitution of parliamentary sovereign
(Parliament Act, 1911) ...........................xxxvi
State of things before passing Act ...................xxxviii
Direct effects of Parliament Act......................xxxix
(1) Money Bill — House of Lords no veto .............xxxix
(2) Other public Bills — House of Lords has only suspensive veto................................xl
(3) House of Commons has unlimited legislative power . . . . xli Practical change in area of parliamentary sovereignty
(Relation of the Imperial Parliament to Dominions)........xlii
First question — What is the difference between such
relation in 1884 and 1914? ..........................xlii
Second question — What changes of opinion caused
the change of relation?..............................l
The Rule of Law.....................................lv
Decline in reverence for rule of law......................lv
Comparison between present official law of England and
present droit administratif of France....................lxi
Conventions of the Constitution........................lxvi
First question — What changes?.......................bcvi
Second question — What is the tendency of new
conventions?..................................lxxii
Third question — Does experience of last thirty years
confirm principles laid down as to connection between
conventions and rule of law?.......................lxxv
Development during the last Thirty Years of New
Constitutional Ideas ..............................lxxvi
Two general observations on new constitutional ideas......lxxvi
First observation — Slow growth of political or constitutional
inventiveness .................................lxxvi
Second observation — These new ideas take no account of
one of the ends which good legislation ought to attain .... bcxvii
Criticism of the Four New Constitutional Ideas .............lxxx
Woman Suffrage.................................lxxx
The causes of demand.............................lxxxi
The two main lines of argument and answers ............lxxxi
First argument — Every citizen entitled to vote ...........lxxxi
Second argument — Difference of sex no ground for
difference of political rights.......................bocxii
Proportional representation........................lxxxiv
The three propositions on which argument in favour of
proportional representation is based................lxxxiv
The truth of two first propositions admitted ............lxxxiv
Objections to third proposition .....................lxxxvi
First objection — Complication of system increases power
of wire-pullers................................lxxxvi
Second objection — House of Commons is not mere House
for Debate ..................................boocvii
Third objection — Proportional representation increases
number and evil of parliamentary groups ...........lxxxviii
Federalism ......................................xci
Leading characteristics of federal government ............xciii
Characteristics of federal government in relation to Imperial
Federalism...................................xcviii
First objection — Attempt to form federal constitution for
Empire full of difficulty and peril....................xcix
Second objection — No real necessity for formation of
any new federal constitution for Empire................ciii
Characteristics of federal government in relation to Home
Rule all round (i.e. federalisation of United Kingdom) ...... civ
Vagueness of the ideas which support the policy of
federalisation of United Kingdom (Home Rule all round) . . . . cv
Specific objections to Home Rule all round ...............cvi
First objection — No desire for Federalism in any part of
United Kingdom ................................cvi
Second objection — Federalisation of United Kingdom
does not promote Imperial Federalism ................cvii
Third objection — Such federalisation opposed to whole
history of English constitutionalism ..................cvii
The Referendum.................................cviii
Meaning of referendum............................cviii
Causes for demand for referendum.....................ex
The main argument against the referendum ..............cxi
The main argument in favour of the referendum ..........cxiv
Conclusions .....................................cxvii
INTRODUCTION
AIM
The Law of the Constitution was first published in 1885. The book was based on lectures delivered by me as Vinerian Professor of English Law. The lectures were given and the book written with the sole object of explaining and illustrating three leading characteristics in the existing constitution of England; they are now generally designated as the Sovereignty of Parliament, the Rule of Law, and the Conventions of the Constitution. The book, therefore, dealt with the main features of our constitution as it stood in 1884-85, that is thirty years ago. The work has already gone through seven editions; each successive edition, including the seventh, has been brought up to date, as the expression goes, by amending it so as to embody any change in or affecting the constitution which may have occurred since the last preceding edition. On publishing the eighth and final edition of this treatise I have thought it expedient to pursue a different course. The constant amendment of a book republished in successive editions during thirty years is apt to take from it any such literary merits as it may originally have possessed. Recurring alterations destroy the original tone and spirit of any treatise which has the least claim to belong to the literature of England. The present edition, therefore, of the Law of the Constitution is in substance a reprint of the seventh edition; it is however accompanied by this new Introduction whereof the aim is to compare our constitution as it stood and worked in 1884 with the constitution as it now stands in 1914. It is thus
possible to take a general view of the development of the constitution during a period filled with many changes both of law and of opinion. J My readers are thus enabled to see how far either legislation or constitutional conventions have during the last thirty years extended or (it may be) limited the application of the principles which in 1884 lay at the foundation of our whole constitutional system. This Introduction therefore is in the main a work of historical retrospection. It is impossible, however (nor perhaps would it be desirable were it possible), to prevent a writer's survey of the past from exhibiting or betraying his anticipations of the future.
The topics here dealt with may be thus summed up: — The Sovereignty of Parliament,2 the Rule of Law,3 the Law and the Conventions of the Constitution,4 New Constitutional Ideas,5 General Conclusions.6
SOVEREIGNTY OF PARLIAMENT7
The sovereignty of Parliament is, from a legal point of view, the dominant characteristic of our political institutions. And my readers will remember that Parliament consists of the King, the House of Lords, and the House of Commons acting together. The principle, therefore, of parliamentary sovereignty means neither more nor less than this, namely that "Parliament" has "the right to make or unmake any law whatever; and further, that no person or body is recognised by the law of England as having a right to override or set aside the legislation of Parliament,"8 and further that this right or
1 Compare the Introduction to the second edition of Law and Public Opinion in England during the Nineteenth Century.
2 See Part I. Chaps. I.-III.,posf.
3 See Part II. Chaps. IV. -XIII., post.
4 See Part III. Chaps. XIV., XV., post.
5 Seep. lxxvi,post.
6 A student who wishes to understand the statements in the Introduction should read with care that part of the book on which they are a comment; thus the portions of the Introduction referring to the Sovereignty of Parliament ought to be read in connection with Part I. Chapters I.-III., post.
7 See Chaps. I.-III., post.
8 See Chap. I. p. 3, post. Parliament may itself by Act of Parliament either expressly or impliedly give to some subordinate legislature or other body the power to modify or add to
power of Parliament extends to every part of the King's dominions.9 These doctrines appear in the first edition of this work, published in 1885; they have been repeated in each successive edition published up to the present day. Their truth has never been denied. We must now, however, consider whether they are an accurate description of parliamentary sovereignty as it now exists in 1914. And here it should be remarked that parliamentary sovereignty may possibly at least have been modified in two different directions, which ought to be distinguished. It is possible, in the first place, that the constitution or nature of the sovereign power may have undergone a change. If, for example, the King and the Houses of Parliament had passed a law abolishing the House of Lords and leaving supreme legislative power in the hands of the King and of the House of Commons, any one would feel that the sovereign to which parliamentary sovereignty had been transferred was an essentially different sovereign from the King and the two Houses which in 1884 possessed supreme power. It is possible, in the second place, that since 1884 the Imperial Parliament may, if not in theory yet in fact, have ceased as a rule to exercise supreme legislative power in certain countries subject to the authority of the King. Let us consider carefully each of these two possibilities.
POSSIBLE CHANGE IN CONSTITUTION OR
CHARACTER OF THE PARLIAMENTARY SOVEREIGN
(EFFECT OF THE PARLIAMENT ACT, 1911)
The matter under consideration is in substance whether the Parliament Act,10 has transferred legislative authority from the King11 and
a given Act of Parliament. Thus under the Commonwealth Act, 63 & 64 Viet. c. 12, the Imperial Parliament has given to the Parliament of the Australian Commonwealth power to modify many provisions of the Commonwealth Act, and the Imperial Parliament, under the National Insurance Act, 1911, has given power to the Insurance Commissioners and to the Board of Trade to modify some provisions of the Insurance Act.
9 See pp. 47-61, post.
10 See especially the Parliament Act, 1911, ss. 1-3, and Appendix, Note XIII., the Parliament Act.
11 The Parliament Act in no way diminishes the prerogatives of the King as they existed immediately before the passing of that Act, and it is enacted (Parliament Act. s. 6) that "nothing in this Act shall diminish or qualify the existing rights and privileges of the House of Commons."
the two Houses of Parliament to the King and the House of Commons?
The best mode of giving an answer to this question is first to state broadly what were the legislative powers of the House of Lords immediately before the passing of the Parliament Act, i8th August 1911, and next to state the main direct and indubitable effects of that Act on the legislative power of the House of Lords and of the House of Commons respectively.
THE STATE OF THINGS IMMEDIATELY BEFORE THE PASSING OF THE PARLIAMENT ACT
No Act of Parliament of any kind could be passed without the consent thereto both of the House of Lords and of the House of Commons. No doubt the House of Lords did very rarely either alter or reject any Money Bill, and though the Lords have always claimed the right to alter or reject such a Bill, they have only on very special occasions exercised this power. No doubt again their lordships have, at any rate since 1832, acknowledged that they ought to pass any Bill deliberately desired by the nation, and also have admitted the existence of a more or less strong presumption that the House of Commons in general represents the will of the nation, and that the Lords ought, therefore, in general to consent to a Bill passed by the House of Commons, even though their lordships did not approve of the measure. But this presumption may, they have always maintained, be rebutted if any strong ground can be shown for holding that the electors did not really wish such a Bill to become an Act of Parliament. Hence Bill after Bill has been passed by their lordships of which the House of Lords did not in reality approve. It was however absolutely indubitable up to the passing of the Parliament Act that no Act could be passed by Parliament without obtaining the consent of the House of Lords. Nor could any one dispute the legal right or power of the House, by refusing such assent, to veto the passing of any Act of which the House might disapprove. Two considerations, however, must be taken into account. This veto, in the first place, has, at any rate since 1832, been as a rule used by the Lords as a merely suspensive veto. The passing of the Great Reform Act itself was delayed by
their lordships for somewhat less than two years, and it may well be doubted whether they have, since 1832, ever by their legislative veto, delayed legislation really desired by the electors for as much as two years. It must again be remembered that the Lords, of recent years at least, have at times rejected Bills supported by the majority of the House of Commons which, as has been proved by the event, had not received the support of the electors. Hence it cannot be denied that the action of the House of Lords has sometimes protected the authority of the nation.
THE DIRECT EFFECTS OF THE PARLIAMENT ACT12
Such effects can be summed up in popular and intelligible language, rather than with technical precision, as follows:
1. In respect of any Money Bill the Act takes away all legislative power from the House of Lords. The House may discuss such a Bill for a calendar month, but cannot otherwise prevent, beyond a month, the Bill becoming an Act of Parliament.13
2. In respect of any public Bill (which is not a Money Bill),14 the Act takes away from the House of Lords any final veto, but leaves or gives to the House a suspensive veto.ls
This suspensive veto is secured to the House of Lords because under the Parliament Act, s. 2, no such Bill can be passed without the consent of the House which has not fulfilled the following four conditions:
i. That the Bill shall, before it is presented to the King for his assent, be passed by the House of Commons and be rejected by the House of Lords in each of three successive sessions.16
ii. That the Bill shall be sent up to the House of Lords at least one calendar month before the end of each of these sessions.17
12 See as to "indirect effects," p. lxix, post.
13 See Parliament Act, ss. i and 3.
14 Except a Bill for extending the maximum duration of Parliament beyond five years. See Parliament Act, s. 2, sub-s. i.
15 See s. 2.
16 Sees. 2(1).
17 Ibid.
iii. That in respect of such Bill at least two years shall have elapsed between the date of the second reading of the Bill in the House of Commons during the first of those sessions and the date on which it passes the House of Commons in the third of such sessions.18
iv. That the Bill presented to the King for his assent shall be in every material respect identical with the Bill sent up to the House of Lords in the first of the three successive sessions except in so far as it may have been amended by or with the consent of the House of Lords.
The history of the Government of Ireland Act, 1914, popularly, and throughout this Introduction generally, called the Home Rule Bill or Act, affords good illustrations of the peculiar procedure instituted by the Parliament Act. The Home Rule Bill was introduced into the House of Commons during the first of the three successive sessions on April 11, 1912; it passed its second reading in the House of Commons during that session on May 9, 1912; it was rejected by the House of Lords either actually or constructively19 in each of the three successive sessions. It could not then possibly have been presented to the King for his assent till June 9, 1914; it was not so presented to the King till September 18, 1914. On that day, just before the actual prorogation of Parliament in the third session, it received the royal assent without the consent of the House of Lords; it thereby became the Government of Ireland Act, 1914. The Act as assented to by the King was in substance identical with the Bill sent up to the House of Lords in the first of the three sessions on January 16, 1913. But here we come across the difficulty of amending a Bill under the Parliament Act after it had once been sent up in the third session to the House of Lords. By June
18 S. 2 (i) Proviso. Under this enactment the House of Lords may insist upon a delay of at least two years and one calendar month, and a powerful opposition in the House of Commons may lengthen this delay.
19 Constructive rejection arises under the Parliament Act, s. 2, sub-s. 3, which runs as follows: "A Bill shall be deemed to be rejected by the House of Lords if it is not passed by the House of Lords either without amendment or with such amendments only as may be agreed to by both Houses." The Home Rule Bill was actually rejected by the vote of the House of Lords in its first and second session. It was constructively rejected in the third session by the House of Lords simply by the House not passing the Bill during such
1914 it was felt to be desirable to amend the Home Rule Bill in respect of the position of Ulster. On June 23 the Government brought into the House of Lords a Bill which should amend the Home Rule Act which was still a Bill, and it is difficult to find a precedent for thus passing an Act for amending a Bill not yet on the statute-book. The attempt to carry out the Government's proposal came to nothing. On September 18, 1914, the Home Rule Bill became the Home Rule Act (or technically the Government of Ireland Act, 1914) unamended, but on the very day on which the Home Rule Act was finally passed it was in effect amended by a Suspensory Act under which the Government of Ireland Act, 1914, cannot come into force until at any rate twelve months from September 18, and possibly will not come into force until the present war has ended. The Suspensory Act evades or avoids the effect of the Parliament Act, but such escape from the effect of a recently passed statute suggests the necessity for some amendment in the procedure created by the Parliament Act.
3. The House of Commons can without the consent of the House of Lords present to the King for his assent any Bill whatever which has complied with the provisions of the Parliament Act, section 2, or rather which is certified by the Speaker of the House of Commons in the way provided by the Act to have complied with the conditions of the Parliament Act, section 2.
The simple truth is that the Parliament Act has given to the House of Commons, or, in plain language, to the majority thereof, the power of passing any Bill whatever, provided always that the conditions of the Parliament Act, section 2, are complied with. But these provisions do leave to the House of Lords a suspensive veto which may prevent a Bill from becoming an Act of Parliament for a period of certainly more, and possibly a good deal more, than two years.20
20 The Parliament Act leaves the existing rights and privileges of the House of Commons untouched (ibid. sect. 6). No reference whatever is therein made to the so-called "veto" of the King. Its existence is undoubted, but the veto has not been exercised for at least two centuries. The well-known words of Burke, however, should always be borne in mind: "The king's negative to bills," he says, "is one of the most indisputed of the royal prerogatives; and it extends to all cases whatsoever. I am far from certain, that if several laws which I know had fallen under the stroke of that sceptre, the public would have had a very heavy loss. But it is not the propriety of the exercise which is in question. The exercise itself is
In these circumstances it is arguable that the Parliament Act has transformed the sovereignty of Parliament into the sovereignty of the King and the House of Commons. But the better opinion on the whole is that sovereignty still resides in the King and the two Houses of Parliament. The grounds for this opinion are, firstly, that the King and the two Houses acting together can most certainly enact or repeal any law whatever without in any way contravening the Parliament Act; and, secondly, that the House of Lords, while it cannot prevent the House of Commons from, in effect, passing under the Parliament Act any change of the constitution, provided always that the requirements of the Parliament Act are complied with, nevertheless can, as long as that Act remains in force, prohibit the passing of any Act the effectiveness of which depends upon its being passed without delay.
Hence, on the whole, the correct legal statement of the actual condition of things is that sovereignty still resides in Parliament, i.e. in the King and the two Houses acting together, but that the Parliament Act has greatly increased the share of sovereignty possessed by the House of Commons and has greatly diminished the share thereof belonging to the House of Lords.
PRACTICAL CHANGE IN THE AREA OF PARLIAMENTARY SOVEREIGNTY (RELATION OF THE IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT TO THE DOMINIONS21)
The term "Dominions" means and includes the Dominion of Canada, Newfoundland, and Commonwealth of Australia, New
wisely forborne. Its repose may be the preservation of its existence; and its existence may be the means of saving the constitution itself, on an occasion worthy of bringing it forth." — Burke, Letter to the Sheriffs of Bristol, vol. iii., ed. 1808, pp. 180, 181; ed. 1872, vol. ii. p. 28. Experience has confirmed the soundness of Burke's doctrine. The existence of this "negative" has greatly facilitated the development of the present happy relation between England and her self-governing colonies. It has enabled English and colonial statesmanship to create that combination of Imperial unity with something coming near to colonial independence which may ultimately turn out to be the salvation of the British Empire.
21 For this use of the term Dominions see British Nationality & Status of Aliens Act, 1914, 4 & 5 Geo. V. c. 17, ist Schedule. Compare especially as to British colonies with representative and responsible government pp. 47 to 61, post.
The Dominions for the most part consist either of a country which was a self-governing colony, or of countries which were self-governing colonies in 1884. But this statement does
Zealand, and the Union of South Africa. Each of the Dominions is a self-governing colony, i.e. a colony possessed both of a colonial Parliament, or representative legislature, and a responsible government, or in other words, of a government responsible to such legislature. Our subject raises two questions:
First Question
What is the difference between the relation of the Imperial Parliament to a self-governing colony, such, e.g., as New Zealand, in 1884, and the relation of the same Parliament to the Dominion, e.g. of New Zealand, in 1914?
Before attempting a direct answer to this inquiry it is well to point out that in two respects of considerable importance the relation of the Imperial Parliament22 to the self-governing colonies, whether called Dominions or not, has in no respect changed since 1884.
In the first place, the Imperial Parliament still claims in 1914, as it claimed in 1884, the possession of absolute sovereignty throughout every part of the British Empire; and this claim, which certainly extends to every Dominion, would be admitted as sound legal doctrine by any court throughout the Empire which purported to act under
not apply with perfect accuracy to every one of the Dominions. Western Australia, for instance, which is now one of the states of the Commonwealth of Australia, did not obtain responsible government till 1890, and Natal, now a state of the Union of South Africa, did not obtain such government till 1893. The Union of South Africa itself consists to a great extent of states which in 1884, though subject to the suzerainty of the King, were (under the government of the Boers) all but independent countries.
Throughout this Introduction, unless the contrary is expressly stated, or appears from the context, no reference is made to the position either of (i.) the Crown colonies, or (ii.) the three colonies, viz. the Bahamas, Barbadoes, and Bermuda, which possess representative but not responsible government, or (iii.) British India. This Introduction, in short, in so far as it deals with the relation of the Imperial Parliament to the colonies, refers exclusively, or all but exclusively, to the relation between the Imperial Parliament and the five Dominions. 22 This term means what an English writer on our constitution would generally call simply "Parliament," that is the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The term "Imperial Parliament" is, however, a convenient one when we have to deal, as in this Introduction, with the relation between the Parliament of the United Kingdom and the Dominions, every one of which has representative legislatures of their own which are always popularly, and sometimes in Acts of Parliament, termed Parliaments. The term "Imperial Parliament" is used in colonial statutes, e.g., in the Interpretation Act of the Commonwealth of Australia, No. 2 of 1901.
the authority of the King. The constitution indeed of a Dominion in general originates in and depends upon an Act, or Acts, of the Imperial Parliament; and these constitutional statutes are assuredly liable to be changed by the Imperial Parliament.
Parliament, in the second place, had long before 1884 practically admitted the truth of the doctrine in vain pressed upon his contemporaries by Burke,23 when insisting upon the folly of the attempt made by the Parliament of England to exert as much absolute power in Massachusetts as in Middlesex, that a real limit to the exercise of sovereignty is imposed not by the laws of man but by the nature of things, and that it was vain for a parliamentary or any other sovereign to try to exert equal power throughout the whole of an immense Empire. The completeness of this admission is shown by one noteworthy fact: the Imperial Parliament in 1884, and long before 1884, had ceased to impose of its own authority and for the benefit of England any tax upon any British colony.24 The omnipotence, in
23 "Who are you," to quote his words, "that should fret and rage, and bite the chains of nature? Nothing worse happens to you, than does to all nations who have extensive empire; and it happens in all the forms into which empire can be thrown. In large bodies, the circulation of power must be less vigorous at the extremities. Nature has said it. The Turk cannot govern Egypt, and Arabia, and Curdistan, as he governs Thrace; nor has he the same dominion in the Crimea and in Algiers which he has at Brusa and Smyrna. Despotism itself is obliged to truck and huckster. The Sultan gets such obedience as he can. He governs with a loose rein, that he may govern at all; and the whole of the force and vigour of his authority in the centre is derived from a prudent relaxation in all his borders. Spain, in her provinces, is, perhaps, not so well obeyed as you are in yours. She complies too; she submits; she watches times. This is the immutable condition, the eternal law, of extensive and detached empire." — Burke, Conciliation with America, vol. iii. (ed. 1808),
PP- 56, 57-
24 This renunciation by the Imperial Parliament of the right to impose taxes upon a colony, whether a self-governing colony or not, has passed through two stages. Since 1783 taxation imposed by an Imperial Act has always been, even in the case of a Crown colony, imposed for the benefit of the colony, and the proceeds thereof have been paid to the colony. But until the repeal of the Navigation Laws in 1849 Parliament, in support of our whole navigation system, retained the practice of imposing duties on goods imported into the colonies, though the proceeds thereof were paid to the colonies so taxed. Since 1849 no Imperial Act has been passed for the taxation of any colony, and no colony is compelled by the Imperial Parliament to contribute anything in the way of taxation towards the cost of the government of the United Kingdom or towards the defence of the British Empire.
The Imperial Parliament does still impose customs duties upon the Isle of Man. See 3 & 4 Geo. V. c. 18.
short, of Parliament, though theoretically admitted, has been applied in its full effect only to the United Kingdom.
A student may ask what is the good of insisting upon the absolute sovereignty of Parliament in relation to the Dominions when it is admitted that Parliament never gives, outside the United Kingdom, and probably never will give, full effect to this asserted and more or less fictitious omnipotence. The answer to this suggestion is that students who do not bear in mind the claim of Parliament to absolute sovereignty throughout the whole of the British Empire, will never understand the extent to which this sovereign power is on some occasions actually exerted outside the limits of the United Kingdom, nor, though this statement sounds paradoxical, will they understand the limits which, with the full assent, no less of English than of colonial statesmen, are in fact, as regards at any rate the Dominions, imposed upon the actual exercise of the theoretically limitless authority of Parliament. It will be found further that even to the Dominions themselves there is at times some advantage in the admitted authority of the Imperial Parliament to legislate for the whole Empire. In the eyes, at any rate, of thinkers who share the moral convictions prevalent in most civilised states, it must seem a gain that the Imperial Parliament should have been able in 1834 to prohibit the existence of slavery in any country subject to the British Crown, and should be able to-day to forbid throughout the whole Empire the revival of the Slave Trade, or of judicial torture.
Let us now turn to the points wherein the relation of the Imperial Parliament to the self-governing colonies in 1884 differed from the existing relation of the Imperial Parliament to the Dominions in 1914.
The relation of the Imperial Parliament in 1884 to a self-governing colony, e.g. New Zealand.
The Imperial Parliament, under the guidance of English statesmen, certainly admitted in practice thirty years ago that a self-governing colony, such as New Zealand, ought to be allowed in local matters to legislate for itself. Parliament did, however, occasionally legislate for New Zealand or any other self-governing colony. Thus the existing English Bankruptcy Act, 1883, as a matter of fact transferred, as it still transfers, to the trustee in bankruptcy the bankrupt's property, and
even his immovable property situate in any part of the British Empire,2S and a discharge under the English Bankruptcy Act, 1883, was, and still is, a discharge as regards the debts of the bankrupt contracted in any part of the British Empire,26 e.g. in New Zealand or in the Commonwealth of Australia. So again the veto of the Crown was, in one form or another27 in 1884, and even later, used occasionally to prevent colonial legislation which, though approved of by the people of the colony and by the legislature thereof, might be opposed to the moral feeling or convictions of Englishmen. Thus colonial Bills for legalising the marriages between a man and his deceased wife's sister, or between a woman and her deceased husband's brother, were sometimes vetoed by the Crown, or in effect on the advice of ministers supported by the Imperial Parliament. No doubt as time went on the unwillingness of English statesmen to interfere, by means of the royal veto or otherwise, with colonial legislation which affected only the internal government of a self-governing colony, increased. But such interference was not unknown. There was further, in 1884, an appeal in every colony from the judgments of the Supreme Court thereof to the English Privy Council. And a British Government would in 1884 have felt itself at liberty to interfere with the executive action of a colonial Cabinet when such action was inconsistent with English ideas of justice. It was also in 1884 a dear principle of English administration that English colonists should neither directly nor indirectly take part in negotiating treaties with foreign powers. Nor had either England or the self-governing colonies, thirty years ago, realised the general advantage of those conferences now becoming a regular part of English public life, at which English ministers and colonial ministers could confer upon questions of colonial policy, and could thus practically acknowledge the interest of the colonies in everything which concerned the welfare of the whole Empire. Neither certainly did English statesmen in 1884 contemplate the pos-
25 See Dicey, Conflict of Laws (and ed.), pp. 329-333-
26 Ibid., p. 441, and Ellis v. McHenry (1871), L. R. 6, C. P. 228, 234-236; but contrast New Zealand Loan, etc, Co. v. Morrison [1898], A. C. 349, died Conflict of Laws, p. 342.
27 See pp. 56-61, post.
sibility of a colony standing neutral during a war between England
and a foreign power.
The relation of the Imperial Parliament in 1914 to a Dominion.28 This relation may now, it is submitted, be roughly summed up in
the following rules:
Rulei
In regard to any matter which directly affects Imperial interests the Imperial Parliament will (though with constantly increasing caution) pass laws which apply to a Dominion and otherwise exercise sovereign power in such a Dominion.
But this rule applies almost exclusively to matters which directly and indubitably affect Imperial interests.29
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