London: C. J. CLAY AND SONS, CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS WAREHOUSE, AVE MARIA LANE. CAMBRIDGE: DEIGHTON, BELL AND CO. LEIPZIG: F. A. BROCKHAUS. 7X 1796730 Cambridge: PRINTED BY C. J. CLAY, M.A. AND SONS, AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS. Rec. Oct. 16, 1902. PREFACE. SOME years ago I began to collect materials for a survey of the legal aspects of the constitution of the empire, but my purpose as regards the constitution of Great Britain and Ireland was anticipated by the publication of Sir William Anson's valuable work on the Law and Custom of the Constitution, and I therefore restricted myself to the constitutions of our colonies. Of these it is not possible to take a general survey without examining each in detail. Our colonies exclusive of the Indian dependencies fall into four groups: (1) the North American group, (2) the Australian group, (3) the South African group and (4) the Crown colonies. I have selected Canada for treatment first, not merely because a special interest has of recent years been taken in its constitution, but for the further reason that some recent Canadian statutes have given a completeness to the Dominion system of government it did not previously possess. I have not attempted to criticise the working of the constitutions described or to investigate the development of purely local government-any adequate treatment of such subjects would require a greater personal knowledge of Canada than I can claim to possess: they are therefore reserved for consideration at some subsequent time. Constitutional customs are dealt with briefly, as Mr Todd in his M. b |