[83] In the Federal Constitutions of Australia and Canada the central Federal Parliament is responsible for the colonial defences, but the Provinces or States are, of course, represented in the Federal Parliament.

[84] Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act, 1900, Sec. 58, and British North America Act, 1867, Sec. 15.  Until quite recently it was the custom always to give the command of the Canadian Militia to a British officer lent to Canada.  The present Commander, however, is a Canadian.

[85] See Appendix.

[86] A Colony may make local regulations to carry out an Imperial Law about extradition and neutrality, but may not touch the law.

[87] For the constitutional position of self-governing Colonies, the author owes much to Mr. Moore’s “Commonwealth of Australia.”

[88] The Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act, 1900, and the British North America Act, 1867, in order to delimit the respective powers of the Federal and Provincial Legislatures, set out a list of subjects on which the Federal Parliament has exclusive or collateral power to legislate.  There is implied, of course, a pre-existing right on the part of the Colony, as a whole, qua Colony, to legislate on the matters referred to in the list.  But the pre-existing right is subject to any pre-existing constitutional or statutory limitations. E.g., “Naturalization and Aliens” is in the list of Commonwealth powers (Sec. 51, xix.), and of the Canadian powers (Sec. 91, xxv.), but the power of any Colony is limited by Acts of 1847 and 1879 to giving naturalization within its own borders. (At the Imperial Conference of 1911 a scheme was foreshadowed for standardizing naturalization throughout the Empire.)

“Copyright” is also in both lists, but the colonial power is limited by the International Copyright Act of 1886, which, by Sec. 8, implies that a “British possession” may only make laws “respecting the Copyright within the limits of such possession of works produced in that possession.”  This Copyright Act is an example of implied limitation and sanction together.  The Coinage Act of 1853 is an example of implied sanction only, in empowering a Colony to legislate as if the Act had not been passed.  Another class of Imperial Acts confers direct powers to legislate on certain subjects—­e.g., the Australian Colonies Custom Duties Act of 1873 (removing the restrictions imposed upon intercolonial duties in 1850).  The Naturalization Acts are partly of this character, and other examples are the Colonial Naval Defence Act of 1865, and certain provisions of the Army Act of 1881, and the Colonial Courts of Admiralty Act of 1890.

[89] E.g., Colonial Attorneys Belief Act, 1857; Colonial Probates Act, 1892; parts of the Finance Act, 1894; and Wills Act, 1861.

[90] E.g., Colonial Laws made under sanction of the following Imperial Acts:  Colonial Prisoners Removal, 1869; Merchant Shipping, 1894; Sections 478 and 736, Colonial Marriages, 1866.