A Municipal Corporation owning improved wharves which it maintains at its own cost, for the benefit of those engaged in commerce upon the public navigable waters of the United States, is not prohibited by the United States Constitution from charging and collecting from parties using its wharves, such reasonable fees as will fairly remunerate it for the use of the property. In Ward v. Maryland (12 Wall. 418), Held: That a Statute of Maryland, which, among other things required of persons, not permanent residents of that State, to pay a license tax before selling or offering for sale within the limits of the City of Baltimore any goods, wares or merchandise whatever, other than agricultural products and articles manufactured in that State, was repugnant to the Constitution of the United States. In Machine Company v. Gage (100 U. S., S. C., 676), Held: That a law passed by the Legislature of the State of Tennessee imposing an annual tax of 15 dollars "upon all pedlars of sewing machines and selling by sample" is a tax upon all pedlars of sewing machines without regard to the place of growth or produce of material or manufacture, and is not in violation of the Constitution of the United States. of Customs and 122. The Customs and Excise Laws of each Province Continuance shall, subject to the Provisions of this Act, continue in force Excise Laws. until altered by the Parliament of Canada. and Importa Two Provinces. 123. Where Customs Duties are, at the Union, leviable Exportation on any Goods, Wares, or Merchandises in any Two Provinces, tion as between those Goods, Wares, and Merchandises may, from and after the Union, be imported from one of those Provinces into the other of them on Proof of Payment of the Customs Duty leviable thereon in the Province of Exportation, and on Payment of such further Amount (if any) of Customs Duty as is leviable thereon in the Province of Importation. in New 124.- Nothing in this Act shall affect the Right of New Lumber Dues Brunswick to levy the Lumber Dues provided in Chapter Brunswick. Fifteen of Title Three of the Revised Statutes of New Brunswick, or in any Act amending that Act before or after the Union, and not increasing the amount of such Dues; but the Lumber of any of the Provinces other than New Brunswick shall not be subject to such Dues. Exemption of public lands, &c. Provincial Chapter 15 of Title 3 of the Revised Statutes of New Brunswick was repealed by the Legislature of N. B. (36 Vict. c. 16) in 1873, in pursuance of an Act passed by the Parliament of Canada (36 Vict. c. 41) to carry into effect Articles 30, 31, and 33 of the Treaty of Washington. These Articles provided, that if these duties were repealed for the term of years mentioned in the Treaty, Her Majesty's subjects might carry in British vessels, without payment of duty, goods, wares and merchandise, from one port or place within the territory of the United States, upon the St. Lawrence the great Lakes and the Rivers connecting the same, to another port or place within the Territory of the United States, provided that, a portion of such transportation is made through the Dominion of Canada by land carriage and in bond. By Article 31 of said Treaty, it is declared that Her Britannic Majesty further engages to urge upon the Parliament of Canada and the Legislature of New Brunswick that no export duty, or other duty, shall be levied on lumber or timber of any kind, cut on that portion of the American Territory in the State of Maine watered by the River St. John and its tributaries, and floated down that River to the Sca, when the same is shipped to the United States from the Province of New Brunswick. The Dominion Act, 36 Vict. c. 41; provided that the Province of New Brunswick was to receive from the Dominion Government, as indemnity for the abolition of these dues, an annual subsidy of 150,000 dollars, in addition to the subsidy the said Province was then entitled to. 125.-No lands or property belonging to CANADA or any Province shall be liable to Taxation. In McCulloch v. Maryland (4 Wheat. 316), Held: That a tax laid by a State Legislature upon a branch of the Bank of the United States was unconstitutional, as being a tax laid on the Bank, and consequently a tax laid on the operation of an instrument created and employed by the Federal Government to carry its powers into execution. Held also, that this principle does not extend to a tax imposed on the proprietary interest which the citizens of the State may hold in that institution. 126. Such Portions of the Duties and Revenues over which the respective Legislatures of Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick, had before the Union Power of Appropriation, as are by this Act reserved to the respective Governments or Legislatures of the Provinces, and all Duties and Revenues raised by them in accordance with the special Powers conferred upon them by this Act, shall in each Province form One Consolidated Revenue Fund to be appropriated for the Public Service of the Province. IX.-MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS. General. tive Council ces becoming 127. If any Person being at the passing of this Act a As to LegislaMember of the Legislative Council of Canada, Nova Scotia, lors of Provin or New Brunswick, to whom a Place in the Senate is offered, Senators. does not within Thirty Days thereafter, by Writing under his Hand addressed to the Governor General of the Province of Canada or to the Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia or New Brunswick (as the Case may be), accept the same, he shall be deemed to have declined the same; and any Person who, being at the passing of this Act a Member of the Legislative Council of Nova Scotia or New Brunswick, accepts a Place in the Senate, shall thereby vacate his Seat in such Legislative Council. giance, &c. 128. Every Member of the Senate or House of Commons Oath of Alleof CANADA, shall, before taking his Seat therein, take and subscribe before the Governor General or some Person authorized by him, and every Member of a Legislative Council or Legislative Assembly of any Province, shall, before taking his Seat therein take and subscribe before the Lieutenant Governor of the Province or some Person authorized by him, the Oath of Allegiance contained in the Fifth Schedule to this Act; and every Member of the Senate of CANADA and every Member of the Legislative Council of Quebec, shall also, before taking his Seat therein, take and subscribe before the Governor General, or some Person authorized by him, the Declaration of Qualification contained in the same Schedule. See ante, page 76, (section 28,) for The Fifth Schedule. existing Laws, &c. 129. Except as otherwise provided by this Act, all Laws Continuance of in force in Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick at the Courts, Officers, Union, and all Courts of Civil and Criminal Jurisdiction, and all Legal Commissions, Powers, and Authorities, and all Officers, Judicial, Administrative, and Ministerial, existing therein at the Union, shall continue in Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick respectively, as if the Union had not been made; subject nevertheless (except with respect to such as are enacted by or exist under Acts of the Parliament of Great Britain or of the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland) to be repealed, abolished, or altered by the Parliament of Canada, or by the Legislature of the respective Province, according to the Authority of the Parliament or of that Legislature under this Act. In Valin v. Langlois (3 Can. S. C. 1), Ritchie, C. J., in delivering the judgment of the Court, said: The effect of this section, to which the Courts owe their very existence, is evidently, to place them under the legislative power of the Federal Government as well as, it is true, under that of the Local Government, and to make them, in fact, common to both these governments for the administration of the laws adopted by them within the limits of their respective powers. In the recent case of Perley et al. v. Burpee (Sunbury Election Petition), in the Supreme Court of N. B.; Duff, J, said: The constitution and continuance of the Local Courts are secured by section 129; which enacts, that, except as otherwise provided by the Act all courts of civil and criminal jurisdiction, and all legal commissions, etc., etc., existing therein, at the time of the Union shall continue in Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, respectively, as if the Union had not been made; subject nevertheless to be repealed, abolished or altered by the Parliament of Canada or by the Legislatures of the respective Provinces, according to the authority of Parliament or of that Legislature, under the Act. The various Provincial Courts are to remain just "as if the Union had not been made." Neither the Legislature, nor any power in the Dominion, is permitted to interfere with them, unless, authority is given to it to do so, by that Act. And inasmuch as, prior to the Union, the administration of justice in the Local Courts was undoubtedly regulated by the Provincial Legislatures, the burthen is upon those who assert that Parliament possesses that power, now to show, where it is given to Parliament. In ex parte Cooey, jr., and The Municipality of the County of Brome (21 L. C. J. 183), Dunkin, J., held: That the 129th section of the B. N. A. Act, 1867, maintained in force the Provincial Temperance Act of 1864 and all laws subsisting at the Union, subject to repeal or amendment as provided by that section. That, since Confederation, the Provincial Legislature has not constitutionally the power to repeal any of the provisions of that Act. That the Temperance Act of 1864 is a measure for the regulation of Trade and Commerce passed by a Legislature having power to that end, and goes to prohibit a specified branch of Trade; and prohibition is an incident of regulation, and can be enacted only by a body having power to regulate. Similar decisions by Caron, J., in Hart & The Corporation of Missisquoi (3 Q. L. R. 170). See ante, p. 123. In Willett v. DeGrosbois (17 L. C. J. 294), Held: That "The Corrupt Practices Prevention Act, 1860" (23 Vict. c. 17), applicable to the late Provinces of Quebec and Ontario, by sections 129 and 41, are still in force-there having been no incompatible legislation thereupon by the Dominion Parliament. cers to Canada. 130. Until the Parliament of CANADA otherwise provides Transfer of Offall Officers of the several Provinces having Duties to discharge in relation to Matters other than those coming within the Classes of Subjects by this Act assigned exclusively to the Legislatures of the Provinces, shall be Officers of CANADA, and shall continue to discharge the Duties of their respective Offices under the same Liabilities, Responsibilities, and Penalties, as if the Union had not been made. new Officers. 131. Until the Parliament of CANADA otherwise provides, Appointment of the Governor General in Council may from Time to Time appoint such Officers as the Governor General in Council deems necessary or proper for the effectual Execution of this Act. 132. The Parliament and Government of Canada shall have all Powers necessary or proper for performing the Obligations of CANADA or of any Province thereof, as part of the British Empire, towards Foreign Countries, arising under Treaties between the Empire and such Foreign Countries. As the Commercial Treaties made by the Imperial Government do not extend to their Colonies it is unnecessary to refer to any but Extradition Treaties. Treaty Obliga tions. |