SIXTH PERIOD 1867-1915 The workings of the British North America Act, 1867, lie largely outside the sphere of Constitutional history, and belong to that of Constitutional law. The Act was almost of necessity a skeleton. The great aim was to provide a working plan for Confederation. The interpretation of the Act has belonged almost entirely to the Canadian courts and to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, and there has grown up round it a body of legal decisions which form a formidable and complicated study. Cartwright's Cases carry the decisions down to 1896. Cameron's Constitution of Canada down to 1915. A shorter summary up to 1918 is found in Lefroy and Kennedy, Short Treatise on Canadian Constitutional Law. Judicial constructions of certain sections of the Act are outlined in Jenkyns, British Rule and Jurisdiction beyond the Seas, App. III. (Oxford, 1902). To these books the student must refer. In this section I have only found it necessary to insert the Manitoba Act, the Alberta Act, some Imperial Acts of Parliament dealing with the Constitution of Canada, and some documents connected with the office of Governor-General of the Dominion. CLXXX THE MANITOBA ACT (33 Victoriae, c. 3.)1 An Act to amend and continue the Act 32 and 33 Victoriae, chapter 3; and to establish and provide for the Government of Manitoba. [Assented to May 12th, 1870.] Whereas it is probable that Her Majesty, The Queen, may, pursuant Preamble. to the British North America Act, 1867, be pleased to admit Rupert's Land and the North-Western Territory into the Union or Dominion of Canada, before the next Session of the Parliament of Canada: And whereas it is expedient to prepare for the transfer of the said Territories to the Government of Canada at the time appointed by the Queen for such admission: And whereas it is expedient also to provide for the organization of part of the said Territories as a province, and for the establishment of a Government therefor, and to make provision for the Civil Government of the remaining part of the said Territories, not included within the limits of the Province: Therefore Her Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate and House of Commons of Canada, enacts as follows: Province to out of N.-W. 1. On, from and after the day upon which the Queen, by and with be formed the advice and consent of Her Majesty's Most Honorable Privy Council, territory when under the authority of the 146th Section of the British North America united to Act, 1867, shall by Order in Council in that behalf, admit Rupert's Land Canada. and the North-Western Territories into the Union or Dominion of Canada, there shall be formed out of the same a province, which shall be one of Its name and the Provinces of the Dominion of Canada, and which shall be called the boundaries. Province of Manitoba, and be bounded as follows: that is to say, commencing at the point where the meridian of ninety-six degrees west longitude from Greenwich intersects the parallel of forty-nine degrees north latitude, thence due west along the said parallel of forty-nine degrees north latitude (which forms a portion of the boundary line between the United States of America and the said North-Western Territory) to the meridian of ninety-nine degrees of west longitude, thence due north along the said meridian of ninety-nine degrees west longitude to the intersection of the same with the parallel of fifty degrees and thirty minutes north latitude, thence due east along the said parallel of fifty degrees and thirty minutes north latitude to its intersection with the before-mentioned meridian of ninety-six degrees west longitude,-thence due south along the said meridian of ninety-six degrees west longitude to the place of beginning. Certain pro 2. On, from and after the said day on which the order of the Queen visions of in Council shall take effect as aforesaid, the provisions of the British North BN. A. Act 1867, to apply America Act, 1867, shall, except those parts thereof which are in terms to Manitoba. made, or, by reasonable intendment may be held to be specially applicable to or only to affect one or more, but not the whole of the Provinces now composing the Dominion, and except so far as the same may be varied by this Act, be applicable to the Province of Manitoba, in the same way, and to the like extent as they apply to the several Provinces of Canada, and as if the Province of Manitoba had been one of the provinces originally united by the said Act. 1 This Act was confirmed by the British North America Act, 1871 (No. CLXXXI). See for some notice of the circumstances under which each of the new provinces was admitted into the Dominion: Attorney-General of Prince Edward Island v. AttorneyGeneral of Dominion, [1905] A. C. at pp. 45-7. * See note on Section 146, B.N.A. Act, 1867 (No. CLXXIX). |