§ 14. Sir W. DAVISONasked the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies whether he is aware that, in the enacting words of Statutes which have recently been passed by the British Dominion known as the Irish Free State, all reference to His Majesty the King has been omitted; that in the case of the Dominion of Canada, and similarly with other British Dominions, all Statutes are stated to be enacted by His Majesty by and with the advice and consent of the Senate and House of Commons of Canada; and whether, seeing that it was expressly provided in the Treaty constituting the Irish Free State that, unless otherwise expressly provided, the law, practice, and constitutional usage governing the relationship of the Crown shall be that of the Dominion of Canada, he will say what representations have been made to the Irish Free State Government with regard to this breach of constitutional usage and of the provisions of the said Treaty?
§ Mr. ORMSBY-GOREThe hon. Member is under a misapprehension. The enacting words of Irish Free State Statutes are:
Be it enacted by the Oireachtas of Saorstàt Eireann,and the Oireachtas is defined by Article 12 of the Free State Constitution as the Legislature, consisting of the King and two Houses. A similar phraseology is used in Statutes of the Dominion of New Zealand, where the enacting words are:Be it enacted by the General Assembly of New Zealand in Parliament assembledwhile words quoted by the hon. Member are found in the Acts of no Dominion other than that of Canada. The last part of the hon. Member's question does not, therefore, arise.
§ Sir W. DAVISONIs it not a fact, as indicated in the question, that in matters of constitutional usage of this kind, the Free State Government definitely agreed to adopt the usage of Canada; and will the hon. Gentleman explain why all reference to His Majesty, which any ordinary person can understand, is omitted?
§ Mr. ORMSBY-GOREAs I have said, that arises because an Article in the Constitution made other provisions. The Canadian precedent is to be followed where there is no specific instruction to the contrary in the Constitution, as passed in the Bill which received the approval of this House last December.