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The Treaty Making Power in Canada

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 May 2017

N. A. M. Mackenzie
N. A. M. Mackenzie*
Affiliation:
St. John's College, Cambridge
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Extract

The growth of the treaty-making power in Canada is a very interesting subject, but any attempt to state in a legal way the source of this power or to give a clear, juridicial analysis of the international and inter-Empire status of Canada is extremely difficult.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Journal of International Law , Volume 19 , Issue 3 , July 1925 , pp. 489 - 504
Copyright
Copyright © by the American Society of International Law 1925

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References

1 1 Canadian constitutional documents:

(a) Treaty of Utrecht (1713), Chalmers Treaties, vol. 1, p. 380, and Br. Pari. Papers, 1711–1713, No. 1.Google Scholar

(b) Houston (1891), Constitutional Documents of Canada.Google Scholar

(c) Sess. Paper, No. 70. (1883) Canada, Constitutional Documents of the Maritime Provinces.Google Scholar

(d) Sess. Papers, No. 18. (1907). No. 29 C. (1914). Constitutional Documents of Canada.Google Scholar

(e) Joseph Pope (1895), Confederation Documents.Google Scholar

(f) Egerton and Grant (1907), Canadian Constitutional Development.Google Scholar

(g) Sir Charles Lucas (1912), Lord Durham's Report; and British Pari. Papers (1839), vol. 17.Google Scholar

(h) Kennedy, W. P. M., Documents of the Canadian Constitution, 1759–1915.Google Scholar

(i) B. N. A. Act, 1867, 30–31 Vic. C. 3;Google Scholarlatest amendment to B. N. A. Act, 1915, 5–6 Geo. V, C. 45. 489Google Scholar

2 Porritt, Edward, Fiscal and Diplomatic Freedom of the British Overseas Dominions, p. 163 (cites Memo, of Francis Hincks, May 12, 1848).Google Scholar

3 Porritt, op. cit., p. 168 (cites Journals of House of Assembly, New Brunswick, April 24, 1850, p. 340).Google Scholar

4 Porritt, op. cit., p. 165 (cites Biography of William Hamilton Merritt, p. 337, by Merritt, J. P.).Google Scholar

5 Porritt, op. cit., p. 174 (cites Gray, Confederation, p. 315).Google Scholar

6 Porritt, op. cit., p. 179 (cites Gray, Confederation, p. 318). See also, Sess. Pap. 38, 1860, Province of Canada.Google Scholar

7 Treaty of Washington, 1871. Hertskt's Treaties, vol. 13, p. 970.Google Scholar

8 Pope's Memoirs of MacDonald, vol. 2, pp. 94–105.Google Scholar

9 Porritt,op. cit, p. 187.Google Scholar

10 Ibid.,

11 Ibid.,p. 191.

12 Hansard (Canada), 1891, vol. Ill, p. 6312.Google Scholar

13 57–58 Vic. (Canada), C. 2.Google Scholar

14 Br. Pari. Papers, vol. LVI [C. 7753], (1894).Google Scholar

15 German treaty (1865), Hertslet, vol. 12, p. 761;Google Scholarnotice of termination, Hertslet, vol. 20, p. 197.Google ScholarBelgian treaty (1862), Hertslet, vol. 11, p. 66;Google Scholarnotice of termination, Hertslet, vol. 20, p. 328.Google Scholar

16 Japanese treaty, 1906, 6–7 Edw. VII, C. 50 (Canada);Google ScholarJapanese treaty, 1913, 3–4 Geo. V, C. 27, Arts. 19 and 26 (Canada).Google Scholar

17 Br. Pari. Paper (Commercial), No. 7, [C. 8442], (1897).Google Scholar

18 58–59 Vic, C. 34. Hertslet, vol. 20, p. 602.Google Scholar

19 Br. Pari. Papers, vol. LV, 1907 [Cd. 3523], pp. 41, 42, 483, [Cd. 3524], p. 467.Google ScholarSee also, Keith, A. B. in the Edinburgh Review, July, 1923, p. 7, and Keith, A. B., Imperial Unity and the Dominions, p. 268, and the French Treaty, 7–8 Edw. VII (Canada), C. 28.Google Scholar

20 Imperial Conference (1911) Report [Cd. 3745], pp. 97, 134.Google Scholar

21 [Cd. 3745], p. 117.Google Scholar

22 Borden, R. L., Canadian Constitutional Studies, p. 126, and 1–2 Geo. V, C. 28.Google Scholar

23 Borden, op. cit., p. 127.Google ScholarKeith, Imperial unity and the Dominions, p. 270, and Hansard (Canada), 1912–13, vol. IV, pp. 6958–60.Google Scholar

24 [Cd. 5135]; Keith, op. cit., p. 271.Google Scholar

25 Keith, op. cit., p. 272, and [Cd. 5582].Google Scholar

26 [Cd. 5842, and 3336], and Keith, op. cit., pp. 277–289.Google Scholar

27 [Cmd. 325], (1919).Google Scholar

28 Temperley, H. W. V., History of the Peace Conference of Paris, vol. VI, pp. 335et seq. (Be Hughes, p. 342).Google Scholar

29 Borden, op. cit., p. 118.Google Scholar

30 Temperley, op. cit., pp. 335 et seq. (comments on claims of Canadian ministers in this regard, p. 345).Google Scholar

31 MacKenzie, William, The Canadian Magazine, Nov. 1923, and Keith, A. B., Edinburgh Review, July, 1923, p. 9, and Temperley, op. cit., pp. 335 et seq.Google Scholar

32 Sess. Paper (Canada), 41 j, p. 7 (1919 Special Session).Google Scholar See also Treaty of Versailles, Treaty Series, no. 4, 1919. The forms used in preamble, annex to covenant and in signing are:

(a)Preamble.

“The High Contracting Parties represented as follows: His Majesty the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and of the British Dominions beyond the seas, Emperor of India, by: The Right Honourable David Lloyd George, M.P., First Lord of His Treasury and Prime Minister. And, for the Dominion of Canada by: The Honourable Charles Joseph Doherty, Minister of Justice, The Honourable Arthur Lewis Sifton, Minister of Customs.

(b)Annex to Covenant of League of Nations.

Original members of the League of Nations signatories of the Treaty of Peace: United States of America, Belgium, British Empire, Canada, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, India, China.

(c)Signatures: Woodrow Wilson, D.Lloyd George, Chas. J. Doherty, Arthur L. Sifton, etc.

33 Sess. Papers, 41 h and j (Canada) (Special Session). See also Treaty of Versailles, Treaty Series No. 4 (1919), [Cmd. 153].Google Scholar

34 Treaty Series, 1921, No. 28 [Cmd. 1576], p. 365.Google Scholar

35 10 Geo. V (Canada), C. 30.

36 1919 Sess. Paper, 41 h (Spec. Sess.), p. 19 (Canada).Google Scholar

37 Borden,op. cit., p. 130. 11–12 Geo. V (Canada), C. 4.Google Scholar

38 League of Nations Official Journal, 2nd year, pp. 805, 813, et seq., and Reports of 11th and 12th Plenary Meetings of the Assembly of the League.Google Scholar

39 L. of N. O. J., July-Aug. 1921, vol. II, p. 449 (Canada), and L. of N. O. J., 3rd year, p. 70 (Communication transmitted to Newfoundland via Westminster).Google Scholar

40 Treaty Series No. 4, 1919. Treaty between France and Great Britain signed at Versailles, June 28, 1919, Art. V (Assistance to France).Google Scholar

41 Anglo-French Pact, 1922 [Cmd. 2169].Google Scholar

42 Stevenson, J. A. in Foreign Affairs (American), March, 1923, pp. 115, 116, “Canada and Foreign Policy.”Google Scholar

43 Keith, A. B., Edinburgh Review, July, 1923, pp. 4, 5.Google Scholar

44 [Cmd. 1474], pp. 20, 26.Google Scholar

45 [Cmd. 1988], p. 7.Google Scholar

46 Borden, “The British Commonwealth of Nations,” Yale Review, July, 1923, p. 783.Google Scholar

47 12 Geo. V (Great Britain), C. 4, and 13 Geo. V (Great Britain), C. 1.

48 The Irish Treaty has recently been again the subject of discussion. The Free State had it registered on July 11,1924, with the League of Nations. The present British government has refused to have it registered—claiming it is purely a “domestic matter”—over which the League has no jurisdiction. See Times, Dec. 16 and 17, 1924;Google Scholaralso Morning Post, Dec. 17, 1924.Google Scholar

49 Sess. Paper (Canada), 111a (1923).Google Scholar

50 Letter from Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, April 7, 1924, to MacKenzie, N. A. M..Google Scholar

51 Kennedy, W. P. M., Contemporary Review, June, 1923.Google Scholar

52 13–14 Geo. V (Canada), C. 61, and 14–15 Geo. V (Canada), C. 4.Google Scholar

53 Times, Oct. 29, 1924;Google ScholarMail and Empire (Toronto), Oct. 22, 1924.Google Scholar This treaty has been registered with the League of Nations by Canada. Times, Feb. 6, 1925.Google Scholar

54 Times, April 10, 1924; Halifax Herald (Canada), April 6, 1924; Bail Eireann Biosloir-eachtai Pairliminle, Im. 6, uimh. 37, pp. 2920–2949.Google Scholar

55 Times, April 2, 1924; Herald, Halifax, 2, 1924, and British Year Book of International Law (1924), p. 190.Google Scholar

56 Treaty series No. 16, 1923 [Cmd. 1929].Google Scholar

57 Sess. Paper (Canada), No. 232, (1924).Google Scholar

58 Ibid.

59 Hansard (Canada), vol. LIX (June 9, 1924), pp. 3041–3108, inclusive, and (April 2, 1924), pp. 987–990.Google Scholar

60 Transcript (Boston, U. S. A.), May 18, 1924;Google ScholarEvening Mail (Halifax, N. S.), May 29, 1924.Google Scholar

61 Times, July 7, 8, 17, 18 and 19, 1924.Google Scholar

62 [Cmd. 2200], p. 13.Google Scholar

63 Public Opinion, Aug. 1, 1924.Google Scholar

64 Times, Aug. 8, 1924. “Two treaties are to be signed today between Great Britain and Northern Ireland on the one part and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics—the Bolshevist name for Russia—on the other.” Times, Aug. 9 and 12, 1924.Google Scholar

65 Times, Aug. 13, 1924.Google Scholar

66 Times, July 5, 1924.Google Scholar

67 The following are the steps gone through by Canada in negotiating, signing, ratifying and giving effect to political treaties at the present time:

(1) The appointment of the Canadian plenipotentiaries:

(a) By the Canadian Government.

(b) Canadian Order in Council advising the issuing of full powers to these plenipotentiaries.

(c) Full powers issued to the Canadian plenipotentiaries under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

(2) The negotiation of the treaty.

(3) The signature of the Canadian representatives.

(4) Ratification of the treaty:

(a) Resolution by the Canadian Parliament approving of the treaty.

(b) Canadian Order in Council passed advising his Majesty to ratify on behalf of Canada.

(c) Deposit of ratification.

(5) Giving effect to the treaty in Canada:

(a) Canadian legislation enacted by the Canadian Parliament, for the purpose of implementing the treaty.