When was the statute of westminster

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The Statute of Westminster is a British law that was passed on 11 December They now had full legal freedom except in areas of their choosing. It also held overriding authority over those legislatures.

Things began to change after the First World War. The sacrifices of Canada and other Dominions on European battlefields had stirred feelings of nationhood and desires for greater autonomy. Canada began to assert its independence in foreign policy in the early s. See Chanak Affair. In , Canada signed a fisheries treaty with the United States without British involvement.

See Halibut Treaty. In , Canada established an embassy in Washington, DC. Vincent Massey was named its first Canadian minister ambassador. See also Diplomatic and Consular Representations. The Imperial Conference of was a more formal step. It gave legal substance to the Balfour Report from earlier that year. See also Colonial and Imperial Conferences.

That is quite true —I am speaking generally and not speaking for the moment with reference to Southern Ireland—but they are not independent. The very text of the Bill and its restrictions show that they are not independent; indeed, it is their pride that they are interdependent. I heard a phrase used last night at a great Imperial gathering, at which I had the honour to be present, describing the Empire as a league of nations within the Empire. That was a fine constructive phrase but it is not independence, and it shows that these great Dominions depend one upon the other and upon the Mother Country.

No one can go to the Dominions as I have had the honour of going, and move freely about and talk with them, without being conscious of the profound feeling which they have of connection with the Mother Country and with the other Dominions. Of course they feel it and that is what we ought to be proud of and ought to encourage. If the policy of the Party to which I belong prevails, that vital connection between the Dominions and the Mother Country will become stronger.

We are only waiting for the production of the policy of His Majesty's Government and for its carrying out at Ottawa next year in order to have yet another testimony of the close connection there is and ought to be between the Dominions and the Mother Country, between all parts of His Majesty's great Empire.

I said just now that the Bill itself contains restrictions upon the powers of the Bill in reference to almost all the Dominions. In almost every case there are restrictions. Australia and New Zealand are protected so far as their fundamental Constitutions are concerned. Newfoundland is protected. With regard to the last three named Dominions, the Bill, in point of fact, will not operate at all there except by their express wish and desire that it should so act.

Even in the case of South Africa, in regard to which no restriction appears on the face of the Bill, we know that, when the South African Parliament came to deal with the Statute of Westminster, they saw that it was necessary to put in a restriction. By a Resolution of both Houses of Parliament they put in the restriction that the Bill should be restricted in respect to? In regard to every one of His Majesty's Dominions, from the oldest to the youngest, there are restrictive provisions in this Bill in order to protect the integrity of the fundamental Statutes upon which they are based.

There is one exception only—namely, Southern Ireland. There there is no restriction. When I read this Bill on its first appearance and noticed that Southern Ireland was an exception I confess I was astonished.

What has Southern Ireland done that she should occupy this singular position? Is there anything in her history which would convince us that she-was more fit than any other of the great Dominions to occupy this special position?

I confess I was astonished and I ventured—though it may probably have escaped your Lordships' notice—to address a public letter asking what was the explanation for this singular exception.

I therefore read with the greatest attention all that passed in another place, and I listened also as carefully as I was able to do to the speech of the noble and learned Lord upon the Woolsack.

We are told that this Dominion would consider any restriction a reflection on its good faith. There is no such mistake in life, and certainly no such mistake in politics, as to be unduly suspicious, but have we not some grounds for hesitation?

Lot me remind your Lordships that as I am informed, speaking in public on the day on which the Anglo-Irish Treaty was signed, the late Mr. Michael Collins, one of the signatories of the Treaty, said: Get the Treaty Act passed through the British House of Commons, complete the evacuation of British troops from Ireland, and the demand for full Republican rights must be conceded by Great Britain.

Of course that observation was made at a time of great public excitement, and I would not for a moment charge the present statesmen in Ireland with responsibility for that sentence. Still it comes to this. There are elements in Ireland who held, and who hold, that view. Then I say it should not be surprising that we hesitated when we found that Ireland was to be treated in this exceptional manner. Here is what the present Minister of Finance—if he is not the present Minister he was the Minister of Finance two years ago—said in discussing the power of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in Ireland.

He is a Minister of the Crown in Ireland: If private individuals brought an appeal before the Committee, and its decision should reverse the judgment of the Supreme Court of the Free State the Government would take whatever steps were necessary to make the Committee's decision ineffective. Surely that is not a loyal acceptance of the jurisdiction of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. It is hardly necessary after what the noble and learned Lord on the Woolsack has stated to show what I intend to do in a moment but at all events I shall try to reinforce the point.

As the appeal to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council is a part of the Treaty, it does seem a most amazing statement for a Minister of the Crown in Ireland to have made in reference to this Treaty, which is the foundation of the position of the Free State, which, alone amongst the Dominions of the Crown, is subject to no restriction in its treatment under the Bill which we are now discussing.

The question I put is: What is the explanation of this exceptional treatment of the Free State? And I come to the main answer. The main answer is that it is unnecessary to put any restriction in. What was said in another place was that there was the Treaty, and the Treaty was binding whether this Bill passed or did not pass, and, therefore, it was act necessary to put a restrictive clause in this Bill, because so long as the Treaty subsisted the Irish Government were bound whether this Bill were passed or not.

In support of that contention the Secretary of State for the Dominions in another place read a most important letter which had been received. It was a letter from Mr. Cosgrave, who is the head of the Irish Government. I am not going to read the whole of the letter, but your Lordships will allow me to cite one passage. This is a letter which Mr. Cosgrave, the head of the Irish Government, wrote to my right hon.

This situation has been constantly present to our minds, and we have reiterated time and again that the Treaty is an agreement which can only be altered by consent. I have characterised that letter as a most important State Paper, and so it is.

That is a statement by the head of the Irish Government to the head of the British Government as to what he conceives to be the position with reference to the Treaty: that it cannot be modified in any particular except by consent—that is, the consent of both parties to the Treaty. That statement was read by the Dominions Secretary in another place, and if the House of Commons carried this Bill, as it did, and if your Lordships carry this Bill, as I hope you will, it will be relying upon that statement of Mr.

Cosgrave's that this Treaty cannot be modified without the consent of both parties. In order that I should not be thought to have put too much weight upon this passage from Mr. Cosgrave's letter that I have read, I want to remind your Lordships what followed in another place. There was a speech made by my right hon. Baldwin said: I am advised by the Law Officers of the Government that the binding character of the Articles of Agreement will not be altered by one jot or tittle by the passing of the Statute.

So Mr. Baldwin laid it down that nothing we are doing here in your Lordships' House to-night will alter by one jot or tittle the binding character of the Irish Treaty. He went on a little later to say: Thus, the Dail now can only legally"— I hope the noble and learned Lord on the Woolsack will notice that the Lord President of the Council used the word "legally"— modify the Constitution in conformity with the Treaty, which is actually embedded in the Irish Free State Constitution.

And my right hon. So, if your Lordships pass this Bill, you will do so upon the assurance of Mr. Cosgrave that the Treaty cannot be modified in any particular except by consent, and upon the solemn assurance of my right hon. I admit that these answers to my questions go a very long way.

I do not deny that the result of the debate in another place has profoundly affected my view. If we have got this assurance—an assurance without which your Lordships are not asked to carry the Bill—why then we are certainly in a very strong position in reference to the Treaty in the future. In concluding this part of my speech I must say that the efforts which we made—those of us who wrote in the newspapers and those of us who debated in another place—have been abundantly justified, because we have drawn and placed upon record this solemn assurance on behalf both of the British and of the Irish Governments.

I should say that by reason of that, as far as I am personally concerned—of course I am only speaking as a private member of your Lordships' House—I shall not suggest or support any Amendment to this part of the Bill. I am content to remain upon the assurance which we have received.

There is one other matter which I think it is necessary to consider. It being conceded that Mr. Cosgrave has absolutely committed not himself only, but the Irish Government, that the Treaty cannot be modified except by consent, it is important to consider how far that carries the question.

What are the provisions of the Treaty which are essential? Of course the Oath of Allegiance cannot be modified except by consent. That follows directly from the argument which I have addressed to your Lordships and by which I hope I have convinced you. Then there is the question to which I have already referred, the question of the jurisdiction of the Privy Council. I listened as carefully as I was able to the speech of the noble and learned Lord on the Woolsack upon this question.

I confess I got rather mixed up between morally and legally at one period of his speech. I am not quite sure whether he held that the continuance of the Privy Council jurisdiction was morally binding upon the Irish Free State or whether he did not, but I would like to submit reasons why it appears to me to be obviously an essential part of the Treaty. The reason I say that is because of a particular clause in the Treaty with which I am going to venture to trouble your Lordships.

I must apologise to the House for the number of extracts which I have been obliged to read. I know the House does not like quotations. I hope your Lordships will forgive me. This is. Subject to the provisions hereinafter set out the position of the Irish Free State in relation to the Imperial Parliament and Government and otherwise shall be that of the Dominion of Canada, and the law, practice and constitutional usage governing the relationship of the Crown or the representative of the Crown and of the Imperial Parliament to the Dominion of Canada shall govern their relationship to the Irish Free State.

So the position of the Irish Free State towards the Imperial Government and Parliament is made by the Treaty precisely similar to the relations which sub-sisted at that time between Canada and the United Kingdom. That was laid down as an essential part of the Treaty and my right hon.

There cannot be a doubt, of course, that under the present conditions of the relations between Canada and the United Kingdom, under the conditions that existed at that time and still continue, the Privy Council jurisdiction exists.

It exists both to determine any difficulty which may arise us to the interpretation of the Constitution and also as a final Court of Appeal to any aggrieved litigant if the Crown is willing to grant leave to appeal. That no doubt is the condition of things between Canada and the United Kingdom at the present moment. Therefore, it follows absolutely rigidly that the Privy Council's jurisdiction in both these elements, both as a constitutional authority and as the final Court of Appeal for the individual, continues as an essential part of the Treaty between Great Britain and Ireland.

I hope, my Lords, I have convinced you of that. But I would like to add—in order to make quite sure—that this is the interpretation which has always been placed upon the Treaty by British statesmen, and by British statesmen at the time when the Treaty was established.

At that very time there is a passage in a speech by my late noble friend Lord Cave, who was sitting in the very place where the noble and learned Lord now sits. He was discussing, not the Irish Agreement Bill , but the Constitution Bill which immediately followed it. The occasion on which he made this statement was a suggestion that the Irish Appeal Courts might fail to vindicate the authority of the Treaty. He said: It would of course be open to His Majesty in the exercise of his Prerogative, which is saved by the Constitution, and which indeed could not be taken away by the Constitution, to give leave to appeal to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.

So Lord Cave had no doubt at the time the Treaty was passed that the constitutional authority of the Judicial Committee was preserved under the Treaty—for the very reason of course that I have stated, because it exists in the Canadian Constitution, and therefore by the express terms of the Treaty existed in the Irish Constitution as well.

He stated it, and it was upon his assurance at that time that Parliament and your Lordships' House made a great settlement in Ireland. If I turn from the constitutional point—and this I think is the last time that I shall have to quote to your Lordships—to the point of preserving the jurisdiction of the Privy Council as the ultimate Court of Appeal for a litigant, this is what was said in the debate on the Address in , which was the occasion on which the Treaty was ratified in this House.

On that very occasion a speech was made by the then Leader of the House, the late Lord Curzon. He was speaking about the Treaty, and asking you to ratify the Treaty.

He said; The Privy Council remains the final Court of Appeal in Ireland, and if any community or any individual in Ireland feels, for instance, that his or their rights in respect of religion or religious education, as provided for in Article 17 of the Agreement, are infringed by any laws that may be passed in future in Ireland, their remedy lies in an appeal to the Privy Council.

I suggest to your Lordships that in view of the express terms of the Treaty, and of the interpretation put upon the terms at the time when the Irish Constitution was established, there cannot be any doubt that the jurisdiction of the Privy Council is an essential part of the Treaty between Great Britain and Ireland—an essential part of that Treaty which Mr. Cosgrave says cannot be altered without consent, and which the Lord President says remains legally binding whatever the effect may be of this Bill which you are now considering.

I apologise to your Lordships for having troubled you at this length, but I wanted to justify the course which I venture to think you ought to take in passing this Bill, after the very vital announcements which have been made in Ireland and in another place in connection with the passage of this Bill. Let me go back for one moment to where I began. I hope you will carry the Second Reading of this Bill.

I hope it because above all things I would do nothing in the world to chill for a moment the splendid spirit which exists throughout our Dominions. No one can have witnessed, as I have, the loyalty of those Dominions to the Crown and the Empire, without feeling that it is a priceless possession. Now that the Bill has been proposed and submitted to Parliament, to reject it would undoubtedly be an act unwelcome, nay more than unwelcome, almost unfriendly, to those great Dominions.

I hope, therefore, that the Bill will be carried, but I hope it will be carried bearing in mind what exactly we are doing, and that so far as Ireland is concerned we have done no harm to that Constitution or to the safeguards which are embodied in it. My Lords, this is in my humble judgment a most momentous measure. It is not that its actual terms offend any of the relationships existing between ourselves and our Dominions.

It is that it is, as I believe, for the first time, an attempt made to put into the form of an Act of Parliament rules which bind the various component parts of the Empire, and that I regard as a grave mistake. It is to my mind of the utmost importance that you should allow the free independent growth of independent life among all the various elements which together make up our Empire, but that you should avoid as far as possible putting a definition of what the relationships may be into the unyielding form of an Act of Parliament.

That is what this Statute has attempted to do. I often think that people make a great mistake in thinking that Acts of Parliament are some kind of panacea for wrongs. They are frequently nothing of the kind.

They are often a grievous interference with liberty, though frequently necessary, and in my judgment ought to be avoided whenever possible, and wherever we have got anything fluid and living, like the relationships between ourselves and the various parts of our common Empire, we ought to keep it like that and not attempt to put it into a Statute.

I agree that the definitions do not appear to be very irksome or very dangerous, but if you had attempted by any means in your power to put into an Act of Parliament the rules which regulate the Constitution of this country itself, the result would have been disaster of a most appalling kind. The thing which has made this country grow is that it never has had a written Constitution of any sort or kind, and the consequence has been that it has been possible to adapt, from time to time, the various relationships and authorities between every component part of this State, without any serious mistake or disaster.

That is what I think ought to be the ideal aimed at between ourselves and the various other nations which together make up the British Empire. It is not because of the powers that are conferred upon them that I feel uneasy about this. I do not, and for this reason: everybody knows perfectly well that each one of our great Dominions can take to itself whatever powers it wishes.

We are not going to interfere. Nobody believes for a moment that if one of the great Dominions determined to live separately we are going to war. There is an end of it.

The thing which binds us together is not an Act of Parliament and not an ultimate resort to force. It is the fact that we have, as between ourselves and them, a bond the strength of which it is quite impossible to realise unless you happen to go there and can feel and test it for yourself. That is what I desire should be continued, and I feel myself uneasy about the attempt to define their powers in this way. If this Act of Parliament does not need to be construed by some authority, it is the first Act passed by this Legislature which does not have that need.

Supposing it does want to be construed, who is going to do it? There is not a word in the Act about it. Who is it suggested is going to be the authority which is to determine, as between ourselves and the Dominions, what this Statute means?

The omission of something of that kind appears to me to be a very grave omission in the Bill, and I cannot for a single moment think that this measure is going to be unique in its construction and consequence, and that no such question will ever arise.

Anyone who has been privileged to per-form the extremely ungrateful duty of representing your Lordships in the judicial part of the work of this House knows that there is practically no day when a case does not come before you involving the consideration of an Act of Parliament, and frequently it is almost impossible to make out what the Act of Parliament means. We have to do our very best to try and make it rational and give it a sensible operation. There will be something of that kind under this measure, and I want to know how it is going to be settled.

For the moment I have not an idea. Is it suggested that they are going to take proceedings in the Courts over here, and bring it up to the House of Lords and to the Privy Council? What is to be done It appears to me to be a grave omission, and I do suggest that there should be some consideration of that question before this Bill finally becomes law.

I am not going to embark on the question raised by the noble Marquess, Lord Salisbury. I will say this, however, that I do think it is unfortunate that whenever we have to discuss the question of Ireland we always seem to approach it with a suspicious mind. I know, and everyone of us knows, that there were grievous matters in the past which it is hard to forget, and which do temper people's judgments and, it may be, excite their suspicions; but of one thing I am quite satisfied.

If we desire to see Ireland become a strong, loyal component part of the British Empire—and we all do—there is only one way to accomplish it, and that is to show that you trust them. I say no more about the Privy Council, because I may point out to the noble Marquess that the analogy between Canada and Ireland in that respect, although undoubtedly the right of appeal exists, is very difficult to work out, because there is a Dominion Court of Appeal in Canada which does not exist in Ireland at all, and it very materially modifies the right of appeal to the Privy Council.

But I am not saying that for the purpose of suggesting for a moment that the right of appeal to the Privy Council has not been established between ourselves and Ireland. Well, finally, if the Privy Council performs a useful work it will be maintained.

If any part of the British Empire thinks that it can no longer effect any useful service it is not possible that we are going to insist upon its being maintained there, and I believe that is true of each component part of the British Empire.

At the same time I believe there is no doubt whatever that they will all in the future, as in the past, continue to avail themselves of its services whenever occasion arises. I have nothing more to say. I shall support the Bill. Everyone must support the Bill who desires to avoid giving offence to our great Dominions; but I deeply regret that the Bill has become necessary and I feel quite satisfied that the free development of the British Empire would have been less impeded if it had never been introduced.

My Lords, no one has found very much to say in favour of this measure, but there is a point which is perhaps deserving of attention—namely, that we have at last a definition of Dominion status.

So far as the past is concerned that is a matter of academic interest, because, as has been pointed out, it has never occurred to anybody for a long time past that the Imperial Parliament would seek to pass legislation overriding a Parliament of the Dominions. But Dominion status is a matter of importance in connection with the future, and in relation to India, and I cannot help feeling that a definition, and the embodiment in an Act of Parliament, of what precisely is meant by Dominion status, will be a useful guide in considering the Constitution which it may be decided to confer upon India.

It is the result of the embodiment in legislative form of the Declaration of Lord Balfour at the Conference of , and, so far as I am aware, there was no criticism made at that time of the Declaration. It certainly did involve changes in the Dominions—changes that were not expected in some of them—but we are powerless to prevent those changes being carried into effect, and I am quite certain that, since this measure has become necessary, it is far wiser to pass it in no grudging spirit than to attempt to retain powers which, as was pointed out by the noble and learned Lord who spoke just now, if they are not found to fulfil any useful purpose are bound, under our free institutions, to die of their own accord.

I cannot help feeling, therefore, that we shall be wise to follow the advice of my noble friend Lord Salisbury, who advised us to pass this Bill. My Lords, like the noble Marquess who spoke so cogently half an hour ago, I rise, not to oppose the Bill, but to voice my very profound anxiety as to its consequences. If we do not actually oppose this measure it is merely because we do not desire to do anything to offend or hurt the susceptibilities of our Dominions overseas.

I have read all the speeches—remarkable speeches—made in another place, and I confess that I am rather puzzled to know whether, in our anxiety to do what our Dominions desire, we are really very correctly interpreting those desires, and I am going to ask my noble friend who will reply if he could put an end to my bewilderment on that question.

Because, if you examine carefully what every State Parliament in different parts of the Empire has said, you will find a very large common measure of disagreement, and very vehement disagreement. Although I have been warned by the noble Marquess that your Lordships do not like quotations,, perhaps you will give me your indulgence if I do quote one or two views from among those of various State Parliaments.

Here, for instance, is a telegram received by the Agent-General for Tasmania not four days ago: Both Houses of Parliament passed Resolution protesting against passage of Statute of Westminster by Imperial Parlia- ment.

Government urge passage of Statute be deferred with view to full consultation with States. States have never been consulted and desire full opportunity for consideration their views. South Australia telegraphs it supports Tasmanian request Statute be not proceeded with.

These are two statements. We further read of the Attorney-General in Tasmania making a very violent attack on the Statute. Then come to Western Australia, where you find. I think passed unanimously by both Houses of Parliament—I am not quite sure whether it was unanimously, but certainly passed—a Resolution very hostile to the Statute.

The Premier, Sir James Mitchell, added the following very definite words: To abolish the power of the Parliament of the United Kingdom to legislate for the whole British Empire was to weaken the links of Empire without gaining any good whatever 'by the step.

In New South Wales the Leader of the Opposition, supported by practically the whole Opposition as I understand, registered very strong disagreement. And I am informed that the Government of Queensland telegraphed to the Dominions Secretary so late as last July stating its very grave anxiety as to the effect of this measure upon future relations between Australasia and the Mother Country.

So much for the several States of Australia. Coming to the Federal Parliament—it is notorious that Federal Parliaments do not always reflect the views of their component States—the Leader of the Opposition, Sir George Pearce as we know, the Opposition has become the Government or may do so, because there is to be a General Election in Australia said, just as the noble and learned Lord, Lord Buckmaster, said, that what they feared was that once they attempted to lay down in strict legal terms the relationship existing between sister Dominions or between one Dominion and the Mother Country, friction might easily arise.

And he made a speech showing that there was no doubt whatever that he was very strongly opposed to the measure. Latham, the Deputy Leader of the Oppo- sition at Canberra, made a very striking speech, and the well-known leader of the Australia Party, Mr. Hughes, also protested in the most definite terms. He deplored the fact that, the British Government "had listened to men who, in some instances, were newcomers to the table of the Empire, and had acceded to their demand that there should be such a modification of the existing relations between Great Britain and the countries they represented as would permit those countries to pose before the world as independent nations.

Nor was New Zealand's attitude a whit more favourable to the Statute. New Zealand made it perfectly plain chat if they passed the Act, as they did pass it, it was only because they thought the rest of the Dominions wanted it. They made clear provision that should enable New Zealand not to have the benefits of it; in fact, they contracted out of it.

South Africa, which has been supposed to be so very anxious to have this measure, very significantly contracted out in another manner. They were concerned to make special provision that the Act should not derogate from the entrenched provisions, as they are called, of the South Africa. Act, clearly showing that they considered this Statute as it stood involved rot only risk to their Constitution but also to their connection with the Crown.

I do not wish to say a word about the Irish Free State, of which I have too little knowledge; but we remember that in Canada Mr. Bennett, now Prime Minister, showed, when Leader of the Opposition, very grave and serious misgivings. There was no particular welcome for the Statute there any more than in the other parts of the Empire. I entirely agree with what every noble Lord has said in this House; I do not think any one of us would take the responsibility of voting against this measure now that matters have gone so far.

But surely a full Committee of another place, for instance, is never a very good place in which to discuss legal measures. Would it not be better that we should have just this much hesitation and just this much prudence—to refer this measure to a Joint Committee of both Houses, with further consultation, if necessary, with the Dominions?

There can be no question whatever that if the Dominions want this measure no single person in the whole country would say no. But do let us be sure that they want it and that they want, it in this precise form.

Let us be sure that we do not do what the noble and learned Lord, Lord Buckmaster, is afraid we are going to do—put the Empire into a constitutional strait jacket so that all simple ordered progress may be limited and fettered rather than developed. Like the noble and learned Lord, that is what I am afraid of.

I am afraid that we have been too precipitate, pressed forward perhaps by one unit. The Secretary of State for the Dominions recently read in another place a letter, a little surprisingly I thought, in which it was clearly urged that this measure should be passed without delay because the Irish Free State has a General Election.

Are we really to submit to such a paltry argument in regard to legislation affecting the whole future of our Empire? Surely we ought to take a more considered view and submit this measure to a Joint Committee of both Houses so that before it is passed we may be sure of two things: one that the measure is as clear as it can be and the other that we have the assent of and are really doing what our Dominions overseas require. My Lords, may I be allowed as briefly as may be to refer to the question of the Anglo-Irish Treaty which has already been dealt with in a very powerful and impressive speech by the noble Marquess, Lord Salisbury?

One reason for my rising is that I desire to address some questions to the Government, and if the answers are satisfactory they may go some way to alleviate or remove the undoubted deep anxiety that is felt, not only by the minorities in Southern Ireland but in many parts of this country, as to what effect the Statute of Westminster will have upon that Irish Treaty. The Irish Treaty is the most solemn instrument that ever came into existence for regulating the relations between this country and Southern Ireland.

Upon that Treaty the very existence of the Irish Free State was based. It was well described in another place by Mr. Winston Churchill as being the title deeds of the Irish Free State. When the Treaty was being considered before it came into existence, certain restrictions and provisions were considered absolutely essential to be introduced into it, and for two main objects: for the purpose of protecting minorities in Southern Ireland, and for the purpose of protecting British interests after the Treaty came into operation.

May I refer to some of those protections which were considered necessary? As regards minorities, one of the main protections inserted in that Treaty and considered vital at the time, and still so considered, was the right of appeal to the Privy Council. It was declared on the part of His Majesty's Government in another place that this right of appeal was necessarily inherent in the Treaty itself.

That argument was developed by my noble friend Lord Salisbury and I think he satisfied your Lordships that the right of appeal was contained in an article.

That has been reinforced by a high legal authority this afternoon, the noble and learned Lord, Lord Buckmaster. So I take it as absolutely conclusive that that right of appeal, or of applying for leave to appeal, to the Privy Council was an essential part of the Treaty.

That right of appeal has proved most valuable to minorities in Ireland already. I think I am right in saying that there has not been one single case of any importance in which the Privy Council did not reverse the decision of the Supreme Court in Southern Ireland.

There is one case, which might be worth recalling to your Lordships, where the Privy Council prevented the perpetration of a grave injustice upon a class of men whom your Lordships would desire to protect—namely, ex-British civil servants in Ireland.