(11.) JOINT OPINION of the Attorney and Solicitor General, SIR JOHN CAMPBELL and SIR THOMAS WILDE, as to appointment of Members of the Legislative Council of Canada.

Temple, March 20, 1841.

MY LORD,-With reference to Mr. Vernon Smith's letter of this day's date, respecting the mode of appointing the members of the first Legislative Council of the United Province of Canada, under 3 & 4 Vict. c. 35, s. 4, we have the honour to report to your Lordship that we are clearly of opinion they must all be appointed by one instrument under the royal sign-manual, authorizing the Governor of Canada in Her Majesty's name, by one instrument under the great seal of the province, to summon them.

The instrument under the royal sign-manual will follow the words of the Act of Parliament, and authorize the Governor by an instrument under the great seal to summon; but we humbly conceive that instructions should be given to the Governor to execute this authority by one instrument under the great seal of the province, naming all the members of the Legislative Council.

The Right Hon. Lord John Russell,

&c. &c. &c.

J. CAMPBELL.
THOS. WILDE.

(12.) JOINT OPINION of the Queen's Advocate, SIR J. DODSON, and the Attorney and Solicitor General, SIR FREDERICK POLLOCK and SIR WILLIAM FOLLETT, as to Power of the Government of Canada to grant an exclusive Right of Ferry between that Province and the United States.

Temple, March 12, 1842.

SIR,-We beg to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 24th ult., wherein you state you had been directed by Lord Stanley to transmit to us the enclosed copy of a despatch from the GovernorGeneral of Canada, submitting a question which has arisen respecting the power of the Provincial Government to grant an exclusive right of ferriage over rivers dividing the British territory from the adjoining States.

And you were pleased to request we would take this subject into our consideration, and report to his Lordship our opinion whether

the Government of Canada possesses the exclusive right of regulating the ferries between that province and the United States.

In obedience to his Lordship's commands, we have taken this matter into our consideration, and beg to report that if we are to understand the question submitted to us to be, whether the Government of Canada has the power to grant to any individual the right of conveying passengers to and from the American shore to the exclusion of all other persons, English or American, we are of opinion that the Governor of Canada has no such legal power; and if it be desirable that any regulations should be adopted with respect to the intercourse between the two shores, we think that it should be made the subject of a treaty between the two governments, and be sanctioned by an Act of the Legislature.

G. W. Hope, Esq., &c. &c. &c.

J. DODSON.
FRED. POLLOCK.
W. W. FOLLETT.

(13.) Extract from JOINT OPINION of the Attorney and Solicitor General, SIR FREDERICK POLLOCK and SIR WILLIAM FOLLETT, on the necessity of the concurrence of the Council of a Colony in granting leave of absence to Public Officers.

Temple, December 17, 1842.

In obedience to your Lordship's commands, we have taken this matter into our consideration, and have the honour to report, for your Lordship's information, that we are of opinion that neither on any of the grounds suggested, nor on any other grounds that occur to us, can the concurrence of the Council in St. Lucia, or in any other colony, be lawfully dispensed with in granting leave of absence to public officers generally, or to any particular class of public officers.

The first Act, 22 Geo. 3, c. 75, is expressly made to apply to any colony or plantation now or at any time thereafter belonging to the Crown of Great Britain; there is, therefore, no foundation for the suggestion that the statute does not apply to colonies acquired since the passing of the statute.

The second statute, 54 Geo. 3, c. 61, extends the enactments of the first to all officers however appointed, if appointed by any in

strument; and it appears to us that the two statutes taken together are of universal application to all the colonies, and to all officers appointed by any instrument whatever. Any inconvenience arising from this must be remedied by the Legislature.

FREDERICK POLLOCK.
W. W. FOLLETT.

(14.) JOINT OPINION of the Attorney and Solicitor General, SIR J. JERVIS and SIR J. ROMILLY, on the Grant of a Conditional Pardon for Murder in British Guiana.

Temple, December 12, 1849.

MY LORD,-We are honoured with your Lordship's command, contained in Mr. Merivale's letter of the 21st ultimo, in which he stated that he was directed by your Lordship to transmit to us the enclosed papers, with a request that we would favour you with our joint opinion on the following question :—

A criminal has been convicted of murder by the Supreme Court of Criminal Justice in Demerara and Essequibo. The Governor wishes to extend to this offender the mercy of the Crown, subject to the condition of imprisonment for life-a punishment which is recognized by the law of British Guiana.

But he has been advised that his power to do so is doubtful. It is derived from his commission, which authorizes him to grant to any offender" a free and unconditional pardon, or a pardon subject to such conditions as by any law in force in the said colony may be thereunto annexed."

But it is stated that by the Dutch law, in force in British Guiana prior to the capitulation, no pardon could be granted by the Governor in cases of murder; and, consequently, that no such law is in force in the colony as is contemplated by the commission. The questions, therefore, on which our advice was requested, were

1st. Whether we considered that the Governor possesses the power which he wishes to exercise? and,

2nd. If we should be of opinion that he does not, what is the most advisable course, both in order to grant the pardon in the present instance, subject to the requisite condition, and also to obviate the occurrence of the same difficulty?

Mr. Merivale also stated that he was directed to annex copies of the Governor's despatch on this subject, and the opinion given by the Attorney General of British Guiana, and extracts of so much of the Governor's commission and instructions as regard the question.

In obedience to your Lordship's command, we have considered the various documents submitted to us, and have the honour to report that, in our opinion, the Governor does possess the power which he wishes to exercise. The conditions referred to in the patent do not depend upon the nature of the crime pardoned, but upon the legality of the conditions themselves.

The Right Hon. Earl Grey,

&c. &c. &c.

JOHN JERVIS.

JOHN ROMILLY.

(15.) JOINT OPINION of the Attorney and Solicitor General, SIR A. E. COCKBURN and SIR RICHARD BETHELL, on the Grant of a Conditional Pardon by the Governor of a Colony in virtue of the general power to pardon conveyed by his Commission.

Temple, February 16, 1853.

MY LORD DUKE,-We were honoured with your commands, contained in Mr. Merivale's letter of the 9th instant, in which he stated that he was directed by your Grace to request that we would favour you with an answer to the following question :

Whether the Governor of Barbadoes can, by virtue of the power entrusted to him by his commission, commute sentences of death passed by a criminal court in Barbadoes to imprisonment for a term of years?

Mr. Merivale was also directed to annex an extract of the commission of the Governor, and also a despatch received on the subject from the Governor of Barbadoes.

In obedience to your Grace's commands, we have considered the documents transmitted to us, and have the honour to report that the power to grant conditional pardons has always been held to be incidental to the general power to pardon vested in the Crown as part of its prerogative.

By means of such conditional pardons, the Crown was enabled to commute the punishment of death for that of transportation, a

punishment unknown to the common law, independently of any statutory enactment.

We are of opinion, that the power to pardon, conferred on the Governor of Barbadoes by his commission, carries with it the power to commute the sentence of death for a minor punishment, by means of a pardon conditional upon the delinquent undergoing the substituted punishment.

His Grace the Duke of Newcastle,

&c. &c. &c.

A. E. COCKBURN.
RICHARD BETHELL.

(16.) JOINT OPINION of the Attorney and Solicitor General, SIR A. E. COCKBURN and SIR R. BETHELL, that the Power of Pardon is not vested in the Superintendent of Honduras.

Temple, July 3, 1854.

SIR,-We were honoured with his Grace the Duke of Newcastle's commands, contained in Mr. Merivale's letter of the 13th April last, in which he stated that he was directed by his Grace to transmit to us copy of a correspondence between the Colonial Office and the Local Government of Honduras, on the question of the exercise of the prerogative of mercy by the Superintendent of that settlement.

And he further stated that he was to request that we would take these papers into consideration, and report to his Grace whether, in our opinion, the Superintendent of Honduras possesses, under his commission from the Governor of Jamaica, and the Act of the public meeting (sic)" to amend the system of government of British Honduras" (copies of which were annexed), or otherwise, power to exercise her Majesty's prerogative of pardon.

Mr. Merivale concluded by stating that his Grace did not think it necessary to do more than direct our attention to the peculiar circumstances of the settlement of Honduras, and the Acts relating to it (57 Geo. 3, c. 53, and 59 Geo. 3, c. 54) which had been frequently under our and our predecessors' consideration: and also to a letter from Her Majesty's Law Officers, dated the 14th March, 1851, in which the opinion was intimated that the recitals of those Acts are not at present fully applicable to the settlement.

In obedience to the above request, we have fully considered the Acts of Parliament, the Superintendent's commission, and also the