PRIVY COUNCIL

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 120, 16 November 1929, Page 8

PRIVY COUNCIL

A TIMELY ADDRESS

VALUE TO DOMINIONS

(From "The Post's" Representative.) YANCOUVEB, 10th October, Lord Hailsham, Lord Chancellor in the Baldwi;i Government, gave a decided setback to the movement for abolishing Privy Council appeals in an address here on the eve of tailing for the Institute of Pacific Relations Conference at Kyoto. His address was timply as Dominion delegates were about to assemble in London to discuss, besides this question, possible amendment of the Colonial Laws Validity Act necessary to give the fullest effect to the equal status pronouncer ment of the 1926 Imperial Conference. In Australia, and New Zealand little is .heard against the Privy Council appeal. lii South Africa tho Act of Union virtually brought it to an end. In India, some three or four years go, a high tribute was paid the Privy Council when the Swarajists voted down a resolution to abolish the appeal. In the Irish Free State violent opposition to the right of appeal is hoard, despite the fact that the Government retained it as a* means of protecting loyalists. In Canada, the movement has grown with substantial support from members of the Dominion Government, "The right of appeal to the Privy Council," Lord Hailsham said, "arises historically by virtue of the fact that any subject may petition His Majesty when he believes a wrong has been done. When an appeal comes from any dominion overseas it is referred to a committee of the Privy Council, in order that it may advise His Majesty whether a grievance exists. AN IMPARTIAL BENCH. "That tribunal," the speaker said, "is not merely one of English judges. I have run into cases before the council where there wag not sn English judge sitting.' Commonly judges from England, Scotland, South Africa, and Australia sit on the tribunal, and every summer a member of your own Canadian Supreme Court, Mr. Justice Duff, or sometimes the Chicf1 Justice, sits on the council. "The Privy Oouncil is a tribunal of, the best legal talent in' the Empire to sit on exceptional cases to advise HisMajesty if a mistake has been made,' and from the very fact that members' are drawn from different parts of the Empire, remote from local influences, they are able to take a more detached view than those on the spot. In Canada I should have thought it was valuable to have such a tribunal to which the people can appeal with confidence, knowing tha£ pnly impartial views will obtain.'' Hon. Ernest Lapointe, K.C., Minister of Justice, who heads the present Canadian delegation to the "Little Imperial Conference," holds the view that in Federal matters, the Supreme Court of Canada should be the last source of reference. The general view of the Conservative Opposition is that Canada should regard the right of appeal as entitling a citizen to take his case to a tribunal directly in touch with the Sovereign, and almost as high as the Crown itself. Nevertheless, it is expected that some modification will be made in the ambit of reference, if the appeal is not abolished altogether.