“50.  Every Law which has received the Governor’s assent (unless it contains a suspending clause) comes into operation immediately or at the time specified in the Law itself.  But the Crown retains power to disallow the Law; and if such power be exercised at any time afterwards, the Law ceases to have operation from the date at which such disallowance is published in the Colony.

“51.  In Colonies having Representative Assemblies the disallowance of any Law, or the Crown’s assent to a reserved Bill, is signified by Order in Council.  The confirmation of an Act passed with a suspending clause is not signified by Order in Council unless this mode of confirmation is required by the terms of the suspending clause itself, or by some special provision in the constitution of the Colony.

“52.  In Crown Colonies the allowance or disallowance of any Law is generally signified by despatch.

“53.  In some cases a period is limited, after the expiration of which Local Enactments, though not actually disallowed, cease to have the authority of Law in the Colony, unless before the lapse of that time Her Majesty’s confirmation of them shall have been signified there; but the general rule is otherwise.

“54.  In Colonies possessing Representative Assemblies, Laws purport to be made by the Queen or by the Governor on Her Majesty’s behalf or sometimes by the Governor alone, omitting any express reference to Her Majesty, with the advice and consent of the Council and Assembly.  They are almost invariably designated as Acts.  In Colonies not having such Assemblies, Laws are designated as Ordinances, and purport to be made by the Governor with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council (or in British Guiana of the Court of Policy).

“55.  In West Indian Islands or African Settlements which form part of any general Government, every Bill or Draft Ordinance must be submitted to the Governor-in-Chief before it receives the assent of the Lieutenant-Governor or Administrator.  If the Governor-in-Chief shall consider any amendment indispensable, he may either require that amendment to be made before the Law is brought into operation, or he may authorize the officer administering to assent to the Bill or Draft on the express engagement of the Legislature to give effect to the Governor-in-Chief’s recommendation by a supplementary Enactment.”

The effect of these Regulations may be best understood by taking the following supposed case as an example of their operation.

The Houses of the Victorian Parliament pass a Bill legalising the marriage of a widower with his deceased wife’s sister.

i.  The Governor refuses his assent.  The Bill is lost and never becomes law.

ii.  The Governor assents to the Bill on the 1st of January.  It thereupon becomes an Act, and law in Victoria.

iii.  The Crown disallows the Act on the 1st of April.  The disallowance is published in Victoria on the 1st of May.  From the 1st of May the Act ceases to be law in any part of the British Dominions, but marriages made under it between the 1st of January and the 1st of May are valid.