Parliamentary enactments relating to India may be repealed or altered by Indian legislation. This power is saved by the language used in producing these enactments in the Digest. See e. g. ss. 101, 103, 105. (i) The language of the Act of 1861 is any provisions of any Act passed in this present session of Parliament, or hereafter to be passed, in anywise affecting Her Majesty's Indian territories, or the inhabitants thereof.' See R. v. Meares, 14 Bengal Law Reports, 106, 112. (j) 44 & 45 Vict. c. 58. Under s. 136 of this Act as amended by s. 4 of the Army (Amendment) Act, 1895 (58 & 59 Vict. c. 7), the pay of an officer or soldier of Her Majesty's regular forces must be paid without any deduction other than the deductions authorized by this or by any other Act, or by any Royal warrant for the time being, or by any law passed by the Governor-General of India in Council. Thus the Indian Legislature has power to authorize deductions from military pay, but this power can hardly be treated as power to amend the Army Act. (k) After these words followed in the Act of 1861 the words 'or the constitution and rights of the East India Company.' It will be remembered that the Company was not formally dissolved until 1874. (7) 'Whereon may depend . . . United Kingdom.' These words are somewhat indefinite, and a wide meaning was attributed to them by Mr. Justice Norman in the case of In the matter of Ameer Khan, 6 Bengal Law Reports, 392, 456, 459. In this case, which turned on the validity of an arrest under Regulation III of 1818, the powers of the Indian Legislature under successive charters and enactments were fully discussed. 6 (m) Are the words 'or the sovereignty,' &c., to be connected with whereon may depend,' or with 'affecting'? Probably the latter. If so, legislation to authorize or confirm the cession of territory is placed by these words beyond the powers of the Indian Legislature. The power of the Crown to cede territory in India and elsewhere was fully discussed in the Bhaunagar case, Damodhar Khan v. Deoram Khanji, I. L. R. I Bom. 367, L. R. 2 App. Cas. 332, where the Judicial Committee, without expressly deciding the main question at issue, clearly intimated that in their opinion the Crown possessed the power. This opinion was followed by the high court at Allahabad in the case of Lachmi Narayan v. Raja Pratab Singh, I. L. R. 2 All. 1. See further, Sir H. S. Maine's Minute of 1868 on the Rampore Cession case (No. 79), and the debates in Parliament in 1890 on the Anglo-German Agreement Bill, by which the assent of Parliament was given to the agreement for the cession of Heligoland, and in 1904 (June 1) on the Anglo-French Convention Bill. (n) i. e. a chartered high court. See s. 124. (0) This reproduces 3 & 4 Will. IV, c. 85, s. 46, and is the reason why the sanction of the Secretary of State in Council is recited in the preamble to the Punjab Courts Act, 1884 (XVIII of 1884, printed in the Punjab Code). Business tive meet (p) Any authority in India.' The words of the Act are: the Governors of the Presidencies of Fort St. George and Bombay respectively in Council, or the Governor or Lieutenant-Governor in Council of any presidency or other territory for which a council may be appointed, with power to make laws and regulations by virtue of this Act.' (q) These were the old limits of the East India Company's charter. 64.—(1) (a) At a legislative meeting of the governorat legisla- general's council no business shall be transacted other than the consideration of measures introduced [or proposed to be introduced] (b) into the Council for the purpose of enactment, or the alteration of rules for the conduct of business at legislative meetings. ings. 67, 8. 19. (2) At a legislative meeting of the governor-general's council no motion shall be entertained other than a motion for leave to introduce a measure into the council for the purpose of enactment, or having reference to a measure introduced [or proposed to be introduced] (b) into the council for that purpose, [or having reference to some rule for the conduct of business] (b). (3) It shall not be lawful, without the previous sanction of the governor-general, to introduce at any legislative meeting of the governor-general's council any measure affecting (a) The public debt or public revenues of India or imposing any charge on the revenues of India (c); or (b) The religion or religious rites and usages of any class of His Majesty's subjects in India; or (c) The discipline or maintenance of any part of His Majesty's military or naval forces; or (d) The relations of the Government with foreign princes or States. (4) Provided that the Governor-General in Council may, with the sanction of the Secretary of State in Council, make rules authorizing at any legislative meeting of the governorgeneral's council a discussion of the annual financial state ment of the Governor-General in Council and the asking of questions, but under such conditions and restrictions as to subject or otherwise as may be in the said rules prescribed and declared. No member at any such meeting of the council shall have power to submit or propose any resolution or to divide the council in respect of any such financial discussion or the answer to any question asked under the authority of this section or the rules made under this subsection. Rules made under this sub-section shall not be subject to alteration or amendment at legislative meetings of the council (d). (a) As to the object with which this section was framed, see par. 24 of Sir C. Wood's dispatch of August 9, 1861. (b) The words 'or proposed to be introduced' and 'or having reference to some rule for the conduct of business' are not in the Act of 1861, but represent the existing practice. (c) The words or imposing any charge on the revenues of India' might perhaps be omitted as unnecessary. (d) This proviso reproduces the alterations made by the Act of 1892. Under the existing rules the financial statement must be explained in council every year, and a printed copy must be given to every member. Any member may offer observations on the explanatory statement, the finance member has the right of reply, and the discussion is closed by any observations the president may think fit to make. governor Acts. 65.-(1) When an Act has been passed by the governor- Assent of general's council at a legislative meeting, the governor- general to general, whether he was or was not present in council at [24 & 25 the passing thereof, may declare that he assents to the Act, Vict. c. or that he withholds assent from the Act, or that he reserves the Act for the signification of His Majesty's pleasure thereon. (2) An Act of the Governor-General in Council has not validity until the governor-general has declared his assent thereto, or, in the case of an Act reserved for the signification of His Majesty's pleasure, until His Majesty has signified his assent to the governor-general through the Secretary of State in Council, and that assent has been notified in the Gazette of India. 67, s. 20.] Power of Crown to disallow Acts. [24 & 25 Vict. c. 67, s. 21.] Rules for conduct of business. [24 & 25 Vict. c. 67, s. 18.] 66.-(1) When an Act of the Governor-General in Council has been assented to by the governor-general he must send to the Secretary of State an authentic copy thereof. (2) It is lawful for His Majesty to signify through the Secretary of State in Council his disallowance of any such Act. (3) Where the disallowance of any such Act has been so signified, the governor-general must forthwith notify the disallowance, and thereupon the Act, as from the date of the notification, becomes void accordingly (a). (a) When an Act has been passed by the Governor-General in Council the Secretary of State usually sends a dispatch intimating that the Act has been considered in council and will be left to its operation. But this formal expression of approval is not essential to the validity of the Act. 67. The Governor-General in Council may at legislative meetings of the governor-general's council, subject to the assent of the governor-general, make rules for the conduct of business at legislative meetings of the council, and for prescribing the mode of promulgation and authentication of Acts made at such meetings; but any such rule may be disallowed by the Secretary of State in Council, and if so disallowed has no effect. A bill, when introduced, is published in the official gazettes in English and the local vernacular, with a 'Statement of Objects and Reasons,' and a similar course is usually adopted after every subsequent stage of the bill at which important amendments have been made. Thus a bill as amended in committee is published with the report of the committee explaining the nature of, and reasons for the amendment. The draft of a bill is in some cases published for the purpose of eliciting opinion, before its introduction into the council. When a bill is introduced, or on some subsequent occasion, the member in charge of it makes one or more of the following motions(1) That it be referred to a select committee; or (2) That it be taken into consideration by the council, either at once or on some future day to be then mentioned; or (3) That it be circulated for the purpose of eliciting opinion thereon. The usual course is to refer a bill after introduction to a select com. mittee. It is then considered in council after it is reported by the committee, with or without amendments, and is passed, either with or without further amendments made by the council. make re 68.—(1) (a) The local Government (b) of any part of Power to British India to which this section for the time being applies gulations. may propose to the Governor-General in Council the draft of [33 Vict. any regulation for the peace and government of that part, 2.] with the reasons for proposing the regulation. (2) Thereupon the Governor-General in Council may take any such draft and reasons into consideration, and when any such draft has been approved by the Governor-General in Council and assented to by the governor-general (c), it must be published in the Gazette of India, and in the local official gazette, if any, and thereupon has the like force of law and is subject to the like disallowance as if it had been made by the Governor-General in Council at a legislative meeting. (3) The governor-general must send to the Secretary of State an authentic copy of every regulation to which he has assented under this section. (4) The Secretary of State may by resolution in council apply this section to any part of British India as from a date to be fixed in the resolution, and withdraw the application of this section from any part to which it has been applied (d). (a) This power was conferred by the Act of 1870, with the object of providing a more summary legislative procedure for the more backward parts of British India. The enactment conferring the power was passed in consequence of a dispatch from the Government of India drafted by Sir H. S. Maine. (See Minutes by Sir H. S. Maine, Nos. 67, 69.) The regulations made under it must be distinguished from the old Madras, Bengal, and Bombay regulations, which were made before 1833 by the Governments of the three presidencies, and some of which are still in force. (b) Local Government' is defined by s. 124. (c) It will be observed that the Governor-General in Council cannot amend the draft. (d) The Indian Statute Book has from the earliest times contained ⚫ deregulationizing' enactments, i. c. enactments barring, completely or partially, the application in the more backward and less civilized parts of the country of the ordinary law, which was at first contained in the old 'regulations.' These enactments took varied and sometimes very complicated forms, so that, in course of time, doubts arose, and it became occasionally a matter of considerable difficulty to ascertain what laws were and what were not in force in the different 'dercgu c. 3, SS. I, |