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manner as may seem expedient, subject to these qualifications, 28 & 29 namely―

(1) An entire district may not be transferred from one province to another without the previous sanction of the Crown, signified by the Secretary of State in Council; and

(2) Any notification under this section may be disallowed by the Secretary of State in Council (a).

(a) This section is intended to reproduce the effect of the following enactments :

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3 & 4 WILL. IV, c. 85, s. 38.

It shall be lawful for the said Court of Directors, under the control by this Act provided, and they are hereby required, to declare and appoint what part or parts of any of the territories under the government of the said Company shall from time to time be subject to the government of each of the several presidencies now subsisting or to be established as aforesaid, and from time to time, as occasion may require, to revoke and alter, in the whole or in part, such appointment, and such new distribution of the same, as shall be deemed expedient.'

28 & 29 VICT. c. 17, ss. 4, 5.

'It shall be lawful for the Governor-General of India in Council from time to time to declare and appoint, by proclamation, what part or parts of the Indian territories for the time being under the dominion of Her Majesty shall be or continue subject to each of the presidencies and lieutenant-governorships for the time being subsisting in such territories, and to make such distribution and arrangement, or new distribution and arrangement, of such territories into or among such presidencies and lieutenant-governorships as to the said GovernorGeneral in Council may seem expedient.

'Provided always, that it shall be lawful for the Secretary of State in Council to signify to the said Governor-General in Council his disallowance of any such proclamation. And provided further, that no such proclamation for the purpose of transferring an entire zillah or district from one presidency to another, or from one lieutenant-governorship to another, shall have any force or validity until the sanction of Her Majesty to the same shall have been previously signified by the Secretary of State in Council to the governor-general.'

The power given by the Indian Councils Act, 1861 (24 & 25 Vict. c. 67, s. 47), would appear from the context to be intended to be exercised for legislative purposes only, and is therefore reproduced below, s. 74. That given by the Act of 1865 (28 & 29 Vict. c. 17, s. 4) is wider. The Government of India were advised in 1878 that the Act of 1865 enables the Governor-General in Council to transfer territory from a chief commissionership to a presidency or lieutenant-governorship,

Vict. c. 17, ss. 4, 5.]

Saving as
to laws.
[17 & 18
Vict. c.
77, 8. 3.

24 & 25
Vict. c. 67,
s. 47.]

Power to extend bounda

ries of

presidency towns.

155 Geo. III, c. 84,

s. 1.]

but does not allow the converse. Parliament, it was thought, having enacted 17 & 18 Vict. c. 77, s. 3, must be taken to have been aware of the existence of territories called chief commissionerships, and to have deliberately omitted any mention of these in the Act of 1865.

On April 24, 1883, a proclamation was issued under 28 & 29 Vict. c. 17, s. 4, placing the villages of Shaikh-Othman and Imad, near Aden, under the Government of Bombay. The section has since then been applied to Perim.

58. An alteration in pursuance of the foregoing provisions of the mode of administration of any part of British India, or of the boundaries of any part of British India, does not affect the law for the time being in force in that part.

The power to take territory under the immediate authority of the Governor-General in Council (reproduced by s. 56 above) is qualified by the proviso that no law or regulation in force at any such time as regards any such portions of territory shall be altered or repealed except by law or regulation made by the Governor-General of India in Council (17 & 18 Vict. c. 77, s. 3).

The power to fix the limits of a province given by 24 & 25 Vict. c. 67, s. 47, and reproduced by s. 57 above, is qualified by a similar proviso, that any law or regulation made by the Governor or Lieutenant-Governor in Council of any presidency, division, province, or territory shall continue in force in any part thereof which may be severed therefrom by any such proclamation, until superseded by law or regulation of the Governor-General in Council, or of the Governor or Lieutenant-Governor in Council of the presidency, division, province, or territory to which such parts have become annexed.'

The power exercisable under 28 & 29 Vict. c. 17, s. 4, is not qualified by a similar proviso.

59. The Governor-General in Council, the Governor of Madras in Council, and the Governor of Bombay in Council may, with the approval of the Secretary of State in Council, extend the limits of the towns of Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay respectively; and any Act of Parliament, charter, law, or usage having effect only within the limits of those towns respectively will have effect within the limits as so extended.

This power, which was given by an Act of 1815, appears to be still in force, and not to be superseded by the later enactments reproduced above.

PART VI.

INDIAN LEGISLATION.

Legislation by Governor-General in Council.

tional

60.—(1) For the purposes of legislation, the governor- Addigeneral nominates persons resident in India to be additional members members of his council (a).

of council for legislative

purposes.

[24 & 25

Vict. c. 67,

(2) The number of the additional members of the governorgeneral's council is such as to the governor-general from time to time seems expedient, but must be not less than ten ss. 9, 10, and not greater than sixteen (b).

II.

33 & 34 Vict. c. 3, s. 3.

55 & 56

Vict. c.

(3) At least one-half of the additional members of the governor-general's council must be persons not in the civil or military service of the Crown in India, and if any such 14, s. 1.] additional member accepts office under the Crown in India his seat as an additional member thereupon becomes vacant. (4) The term of office of an additional member of the governor-general's council is two years.

(5) When and so long as the governor-general and his council are in a province administered by a lieutenantgovernor or chief commissioner, that lieutenant-governor or chief commissioner is an additional member of the council, in excess, if necessary, of the maximum number hereinbefore specified of additional members.

(6) The additional members of the governor-general's council are entitled to be present at the legislative meetings of the council, and at no others.

(7) The Governor-General in Council may, with the approval of the Secretary of State in Council, make regulations as to the conditions under which nominations may be made in accordance with this section, and prescribe the manner in which such regulations are to be carried into effect (c).

(a) The Legislative Council of the Government of India is an expansion of the Governor-General's executive council. Its cumbrous

Times and places of

statutory description is the Governor-General in Council at meetings for the purpose of making laws and regulations.' It was constituted by the Indian Councils Act, 1861, in supersession of the legislative body established under the Act of 1853, and its constitution was modified by the Indian Councils Act, 1892 (55 & 56 Vict. c. 14). The qualification of residence in India was added by the Act of 1892.

(b) The number under the Act of 1861 was not less than six nor more than twelve. It was increased by the Act of 1892.

(c) As to the effect of these regulations, see above, pp. 115, 116.

61. (1) The legislative meetings of the governor-general's legislative council are held at such times and places as the Governormeetings. General in Council appoints (a).

[24 & 25 Vict. c.

67, 8. 17.]

Constitution of

of council.

(2) Any such meeting may be adjourned by the governorgeneral, or by the person presiding at the meeting if so authorized by the governor-general (b).

(a) In practice the meetings are held at Calcutta and Simla. There are no legislative sessions, but meetings are held whenever it is considered convenient. A Bill remains in life until it is passed or withdrawn, or is treated under the rules of business as dropped. All the Acts passed in any one calendar year are numbered in consecutive order (Act I of 1897 and so on).

(b) It would be more convenient to make the power of adjournment exercisable by the person presiding, without further authority.

62. (1) At every legislative meeting of the governorlegislative general's council the governor-general, or the president of meetings, the governor-general's council (a), or some other ordinary [24 & 25 member of the governor-general's council, and at least six Vict. c. 67, other members, ordinary or additional, of that council, must be present.

s. 15.]

(2) At every such meeting the governor-general, or in his absence the president of the governor-general's council, or if there is no president, or if the president is absent, the senior ordinary member of the governor-general's council present at the meeting presides.

(3) The person presiding at a legislative meeting of the governor-general's council has a second or casting vote.

(a) See s. 45.

lative

63. (1) The Governor-General in Council has power at Legislegislative meetings to make laws (a)—

power of Governor

(a) for all persons, for all courts, and for all places and General in things within British India (b); and

of

Council. [3 & 4 the Will. IV, c. 85, ss. and 46, 51, 73. 24 & 25 His Vict. c.

(b) for all British subjects of His Majesty and servants Government of India within other parts of India (c); (c) for all persons being native Indian subjects of Majesty or native Indian officers, soldiers, or followers 67, 8. 22. in His Majesty's Indian forces, when respectively in Vict. c. any part of the world, whether within or without His 32 & 33 Majesty's dominions (d); and

28 & 29

17, SS. I, 2.

Vict. c.

98, s. I.

Vict. c.

3, 8. 2. 47 & 48 Vict. c. 38, ss. 2, 3, 5.

(d) for all persons employed or serving in or belonging to 33 & 34 His Majesty's Indian Marine Service (e); and (e) for repealing or altering any laws or regulations for the time being in force in any part of British India over any persons for whom the Governor-General in 55 & 56 Council has power to make laws] (f).

[or

Vict. c.
14, s. 3.]

has 3 & 4
Will. IV,
c. 85.
16 & 17

Vict. c. 95.

Vict. c. 77.

Vict. c.

(2) Provided that the Governor-General in Council not power to make any law repealing or affecting (g)— (a) any provisions of the Government of India Act, 1833, except sections eighty-one, eighty-two, eighty-three, 17 eighty-four, eighty-five, and eighty-six of that Act, or 21 & 22 any provisions of the Government of India Act, 1853, 106. or the Government of India Act, 1854, or the Govern- Vict. c. 46. ment of India Act, 1858, or the Government of India 24 & 25 Vict. c. 67. Act, 1859, or the Indian Councils Act, 1861 (h); or (b) any Act of Parliament passed after the year one thousand eight hundred and sixty, and extending to British India (i); or

(c) any Act enabling the Secretary of State in Council to raise money in the United Kingdom for the government of India; or

(d) the Army Act (j), or any Act amending the same;

and has not power to make any law affecting the authority of Parliament (k), or any part of the unwritten laws or con

22&23

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