whether British subjects or not. See the definition of 'Government' in Act X of 1897, s. 3 (21).

It has been argued that the expression 'British subjects of Her Majesty' was used in the Act of 1865 in its older and narrower sense, as not including persons of Asiatic descent. If so, there would be no power under this enactment to legislate for natives of Ceylon in the Nizam's territories. In practice, however, the questions referred to in this note do not cause difficulty because a wider power to legislate for persons and things outside British India can be exercised under the Foreign Jurisdiction Act. See below, ch. v.

(d) The Indian Articles of War are contained in Act V of 1869, as amended by Act XII of 1894. The words or followers' do not occur in the Act of 1833, but their insertion seems to be justified by the Army Act, which, after a saving for Indian military law respecting officers or soldiers or followers in Her Majesty's Indian forces, being natives of India, enacts (s. 180 (2) (b)) that, 'For the purposes of this Act, the expression "Indian military law means the Articles of War or other matters made, enacted, or in force, or which may hereafter be made, enacted, or in force, under the authority of the Government of India; and such articles or other matters shall extend to such native officers, soldiers, and followers, wherever serving.'

(e) The East India Company used to keep a small naval force, known first as the Bombay Marine, and afterwards as the Indian Navy. This force was abolished in 1863, when it was decided that the Royal Navy should undertake the defence of India against serious attack by sea, and should also provide for the performance of the duties in the Persian Gulf which had been previously undertaken by the Indian Navy. After the abolition of the Indian Navy, two small services, the Bengal Marine and the Bombay Marine, came into existence for local purposes, but were found to be expensive and inefficient, and accordingly the Government of India amalgamated them into the force now known as the Indian Marine. According to the preamble to the Indian Marine Service Act, 1884 (47 & 48 Vict. c. 38), this force was ' employed under the direction of the Governor-General in Council for the transport of troops, the guarding of convict settlements, the sup-. pression of piracy, the survey of coasts and harbours, the visiting of lighthouses, the relief of distressed or wrecked vessels, and other local objects,' and was maintained out of the revenues of India.

6

The ships on this establishment were Government ships, but did not form part of the Royal Navy, and consequently did not fall within the provisions either of the Merchant Shipping Acts on the one hand, or of the Naval Discipline Act (29 & 30 Vict. c. 109) on the other, or of any corresponding Indian enactments. They were in fact in the same kind of position as some of the vessels employed by the Board of Trade and by the Post Office in British waters. Under these circumstances it was thought expedient that the Governor-General in Council should have power to make laws for the maintenance of discipline in their service; and, accordingly, the Indian Marine Service

Act, 1884, was passed for this purpose. It enabled the GovernorGeneral in Council, at legislative meetings, to make laws for all persons employed or serving in or belonging to Her Majesty's Indian Marine Service, but the punishments were to be of the same character as those under the Navy Acts, and the Act was not to operate beyond the limits of Indian waters as defined by the Act, i. e. the old limits of the East India Company's charter. The reasons for the limitation to Indian waters were, doubtless, that it was desirable to maintain the local character of the objects for which, according to the preamble, the establishment was maintained; that if, under exceptional circumstances, a ship belonging to the establishment was sent to English waters, on transport service or otherwise, no practical difficulties in maintaining discipline were likely to arise; and that it was not desirable to give to these ships and to their officers, outside Indian waters, their proper sphere of operations, a status practically equivalent to that of the Royal Navy. The officers of the Indian Marine Service are appointed by the Governor-General in Council, but do not hold commissions from the King, and consequently cannot exercise powers of command over officers and men of the Royal Navy. The ships are unarmed, and therefore are practically of no use for the suppression of piracy. In time of war, however, the King may, by Proclamation or Order in Council, direct that any vessel belonging to the Indian Marine Service, and the men and officers serving therein, shall be under the command of the senior naval officer of the station where the vessel is, and while the vessel is under such command, it is to be deemed, to all intents, a vessel of war of the Royal Navy, and the men and officers are to be under the Naval Discipline Act, and subject to regulations issued by the Admiralty with the concurrence of the Secretary of State for India in Council (47 & 48 Vict. c. 38, s. 6).

Under the power conferred by the Indian Marine Service Act, 1884, the Indian Legislature passed the Indian Marine Act, 1887 (Act XIV of 1887), which established for the Indian Marine Service a code of discipline corresponding to that in force for the Royal Navy, and declared that Chapter VII of the Indian Penal Code, as to offences relating to the Army and Navy,' was to apply as if Her Majesty's Indian Marine Service were comprised in the Navy of the Queen (s. 79).

On the relations between the Royal Navy and the Indian Marine Service, see the evidence given by Sir John Hext and others in the First Report of the Royal Commission on the administration of the expenditure of India (1896).

(f) The words 'or over any persons for whom the Governor-General in Council has power to make laws are not in the Act of 1861, but seem to be implied by the context.

(g) Affecting' would probably be construed as equivalent to 'altering.'

(h) The short titles given by the Short Titles Act, 1896, are substituted in the text for the longer titles used in the Act of 1861. It will be observed that, subject to the exceptions here specified, the

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.

(2) '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. [24 & 25 Vict. c.

67, s. 19. 55 & 56 Vict. c. 14, s. 2.]

(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

[24 & 25 Vict. c.

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 Acts. the passing thereof, may declare that he assents to the Act, 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.]