writs of error, nevertheless, and all appeals which might, before the union, have been decided in the House of Lords of either kingdom, being henceforth decided in the House of Lords of the United Kingdom only. Since the union of 1801, all acts of the united Parliament extend of course to Ireland, whether that portion of the United Kingdom be mentioned or not, unless Ireland be expressly excepted, or the intention to except it be otherwise plainly shown. And many Acts of Parliament extend to Ireland exclusively, e.g., the Judicature (Ireland) Acts, 1877, 1888, and 1897, the Solicitors (Ireland) Act, 1898, and the Local Government Act, (Ireland) 1898. [With regard to the other adjacent islands which are subject to the British Crown, some of them (as the Isles of Wight, Portland, Thanet, &c.) are comprised within some neighbouring county, and are therefore to be looked upon as forming part of the kingdom of England. But there are some which require a more particular consideration. The Isle of Man is a territory distinct from England, and is, in general, governed, not by the laws of England, but by Acts of its own local legislature, called the Court of Tynwald; neither does any Act of Parliament extend to the Isle of Man, unless it be particularly named therein. It was formerly a subordinate feudatory kingdom, subject to the Kings of Norway; then to Kings John and Henry the Third of England; afterwards to the Kings of Scotland; and then again to the Crown of England. At length we find King Henry the Fourth claiming the island by right of conquest, and disposing of it to the Earl of Northumberland; upon whose attainder it was granted (by the name of the lordship of Man) to Sir John de Stanley, by letters patent 7 Hen. IV. (t). In his lineal descendants it continued (t) Selden, Tit. Hon. 1, 3. [for eight generations, till the death of Ferdinando, Earl of Derby, A.D. 1594; when a controversy arose concerning the inheritance thereof, between his daughters and William his surviving brother. Upon which, and a doubt that was started concerning the validity of the original patent (u), the island was seized into Queen Elizabeth's hands, and afterwards various grants were made of it by King James the First. All which being expired or surrendered, it was granted afresh in 7 Jac. 1 to William Earl of Derby, and the heirs male of his body, with remainder to his heirs general; which grant was the next year confirmed by Act of Parliament, with a restraint of the power of alienation by the said Earl and his issue male. On the death of James Earl of Derby, A.d. 1735, the male line of Earl William failing, the Duke of Atholl succeeded to the island as heir general by a female branch. In the meantime, though the title of "king" had long been disused, the Earls of Derby, as lords of Man, had maintained a sort of royal authority therein; by assenting to or dissenting from laws, and exercising an appellate jurisdiction. Yet, though no English writ, or process from the courts at Westminster, was of any authority in Man, an appeal lay from a decree of the lord of the island to the King of Great Britain in council (x). But the distinct jurisdiction of this little subordinate royalty being found inconvenient for the purposes of public justice, and for the revenue, (affording as it did a commodious asylum for debtors, outlaws, and smugglers,) authority was given to the Treasury by a statute (12 Geo. I. c. 28) to purchase the interest of the then proprietors for the use of the Crown. And this purchase was at length completed in the year 1765; and was confirmed by the Isle of Man Purchase Act of that year, whereby the whole island and all its dependencies, so granted as aforesaid, (except the landed property and (x) Christian v. Corren, (1716) 1 P. Wms. 329. (u) Camden, Eliz. A. D. 1594. [some other rights of the Atholl family,) became inalienably vested in the Crown. The Channel Islands, namely, Jersey, Guernsey, Sark, Alderney, and their appendages, were parcel of the duchy of Normandy, and were united to the Crown of England by the first princes of the Norman line. They are governed by their own laws, which are for the most part the ducal customs of Normandy, being collected in an antient book intituled Le Grand Coustumier. The King's writ, or process from the English courts, is in ordinary cases of no force in these islands. But his commission is; and the writ of habeas corpus also is (y). These islands are not bound by common Acts of the English Parliament, unless particularly named. All causes are originally determined by their own officers, the bailiffs and jurats of the islands (2); but an appeal lies from their decision to the Crown in Council.] It may here be remarked that the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands, though not included in the United Kingdom, are yet, by the provisions of the Interpretation Act, 1889, comprised in the expression "the British Islands," when it occurs in an Act of Parliament. In addition to these adjacent islands, there are now many more distant possessions or dependencies of the British Crown in various quarters of the globe. These are all now technically called colonies; and whenever in the course of what follows that term is used, it is to be understood as referring to them all. [Colonies are either gained by conquest or cession, or else they are acquired by right of occupancy only, that is, by finding them desert and uncultivated, and peopling them from the mother country. In conquered or ceded laws of their own, those (y) The Habeas Corpus Acts, 1679 and 1816; Carus Wilson's Case, (1845) 7 Q. B. 984. countries which have already laws remain in force until (2) In re the Jersey Jurats, L. R. (1866) 1 P. C. 94; Williams v. Stevens, (1866) ib. 352. [changed by competent authority (a); the common law of England, as such, having no authority there. But it has been held that, if an uninhabited country be discovered and planted by English subjects, all the English laws then in being, which are the birthright of every subject, are immediately there in force (b). But this must be understood with very many and very great restrictions. The colonists carry with them only so much of the English law as is applicable to the condition of an infant colony; such, for instance, as the general rules of inheritance, and of protection from personal injuries. The artificial refinements and distinctions incident to the property of a great commercial people, are neither necessary nor convenient for an infant colony, and therefore are not in force there (c).] In colonies of every description, every act of government is done in the name of the Crown, or in the name of the Governor, who acts as the deputy of the Crown. The right of legislation, too, is in some cases vested in the Crown. For any colony which has been acquired by conquest or cession is subject to such laws as the Crown in Council may impose (d); but this rule does not extend to colonies acquired by occupancy, for in these the Crown has no such legislative power. The Crown in Council may, nevertheless, in any colony, however acquired, direct the Governor to summon a representative assembly from among the inhabitants themselves, for the purpose of interior legislation. And it is an established principle, that a conquered or ceded colony, to which the Crown has thus once granted a representative legislature, is no longer subject to legislation by the Crown (e). Such being the nature of the authority of the Crown in (a) Campbell v. Hall, (1774) Cowp. 204; following Rex v. Vaughan, (1769) 4 Burr. 2500. (b) Blankard v. Galdy, (1693) Salk. 411; S. C. 4 Mod. 215. (c) New Zealand Loan Co. V. Morrison, [1898] A. C. 349. (d) Calvin's Case, (1608) 7 Rep. 17 b; Campbell v. Hall, (1774) Cowp. 211. (e) Campbell v. Hall, ubi sup. H our colonial possessions (as to which authority we may add that it is exercised through the agency of a principal secretary of state, called the Secretary of State for the Colonies), it is almost superfluous to remark, that they are all, under all circumstances and whatever may be their political constitution, subject to the legislative control of the British Parliament. This control at one time extended even to taxing the colonies. But the exercise of this control was strenuously opposed by, and led eventually in 1782 to the independence of, the United States of America (ƒ). And having been first given up in 1778 (g) as regards America, it has since been abandoned with regard to all our colonial possessions. But the general right of the mother country to legislate for the colonies is (excepting in the matter of taxation) still preserved, and is expressly recognized in the Colonial Laws Validity Act, 1865 (h). Though it is competent to Parliament to legislate for the colonies, yet a colony is not considered as affected by Acts of Parliament passed after its acquisition, and while it is subject to other legislative authority, unless it be referred to in the Act by name, or by general description, such as 66 the colonies"; or unless the Act be, in its nature, obviously intended to affect all our possessions wherever situate. In the case of a colony acquired by occupancy, Acts of Parliament, passed before its acquisition, come into force immediately upon that event, as part of the general law of England; at least as to all provisions not unsuitable to the social circumstances of the colony. But a colony acquired by conquest or cession is not in general affected by statutes of the United Kingdom passed before its acquisition. Such being the general principles of law applicable to colonies, we may next advert to the actual constitutions (f) 22 Geo. 3, c. 46; and the Treaty of Paris, 3rd September, 1783. (g) 18 Geo. 3, c. 12. |