Review of Periodicals
181
pre-eminently essential to the stability of the
local constitutions. Moreover, the South Africa Act provides that an ordinance of a provincial council shall have efi'ect as long and as far only as it is not repu nt to any Act of Parliament (S. A. 86). urthermore, the power of amending any portion of the South Africa Act lies in the Union Parlia ment (S. A. 152) subject to the restriction that bills abridging powers of provincial councils shall be reserved for the King's pleasure (S. A. 64). Thus it is seen that the province in South Africa is not dignified by a constitution; it has no control over rivate law; its ordinances are subject to the cts of Parliament; and the same agent may with the consent of the Crown shear it of the few powers it possesses." See also Legislative Powers, Police Power, Political Evolution. International Arbitration. "Proposal to Modify the International Prize Court and to Invest it as Modified with the Jurisdiction and Functions of a Court of Arbitral Jus tce." Editorial. 4 American journal of International Law 163 (Jan). "It is . . . ho d that a proposition so reasonable in itse f and based upon precedent will meet with a friendly response, and that not only the International Prize Court but the Court of Arbitral Justice may be established for the consenting Powers at one and the same time. It is impossible to over-estimate the benefits that would accrue from the
state."
establishment of this international tribunal,
"The oo-ordinate legislative authority of the Second Chamber is to be overthrown, not only in the interests of oollectivism, but be cause it represents a formidable barrier against the disru tion of the United Kingdom. . . . "For e even critical years in the middle of the seventeenth century the ple of this country submitted sullenly but silently to the alternate supremacy of an unlimited uni cameral Legislature and a military autoc racy. In due season the mighty autocrat paid the common toll of humanity; the voice of the poo le at last found vent, and with
their first reath they affirmed the historic resolution that ‘the government is and ought tltégse) by King, Lords, and Commons’ (May 1, The House of Commons has, however, its
defenders:— "The House of Lords." By Sydney Brooks. Atlantic Monthly, v. 105, p. 128 (Jan). But this writer inadvertently refutes himself by slipping into a paradoxical statement unawares I—
“The problem before the British people is now to enforce the financial predominance of the House of Commons, to see to it that it can never again be challen ed, and at the
same time to preserve to the ouse of Lords those suspensory and revisory powers which all democracies feel the need of vestin in some institution, and which, in a land w ere Parliament is unfettered and su reme, are
In connection with the British Constitu tion,
Mr.
Lucas’
because,
rmanently in session, it would not
historical article on the
need to g: constituted, it would always be
question whether the King has ever ruled alone under the Constitution may be of inter
open to receive and decide cases submitted to it, and the expenses of the court would be borne by the community of nations, thus obviating the delays in the constitution of the tempora tribunal and the large expense inciden to its operation."
est (see Legal History, infra).
South African Union. "A Comparative Study of the South African Constitution." By Lester H. Woolsey. 4 American journal of International Law 1 (jam)., A ‘q I Add] The fullest and most luminous account we have yet seen of the rovisions of the new Constitution of the
nth
African
"Compulsory Arbitration at the Second Hague Conference.” By Heinrich Lammasch. 4 American journal of International Law 83 (Jan).
Union,
which are set forth with much detail and com pared with the fundamental law of Canada, Australia, the United States, and other typical countries. “We are now perhaps in a better position to discuss the broad question of division of powers which was raised above, and to con sider the position of the provinces in the various constitutional systems. In the first place it will be noted that in South Africa the organization of the provinces and their fundamental laws are to be found in the South Africa Act. They have no local con stitutions such as the provinces in Canada and the states in Australia brought with them into the Union (Aust. 106, Can. 92 (l) ) and still enjoy. Hence the South African prov inces have no power of amendment as is expressly granted to the political divisions of_CanadaJ_and Australia in respect to their
“There was finally a combined English American-Portuguese pro osition to adopt a. list of cases unconditiona ly subject to arbi tration. . . . At the last ballot thirty-two votes were given in favor of and eight against the English-American-Portuguese proposi tion. . . . After the conciliatory propositions of Austria-HungaryI (Mercy) and Switzerland (Carlin and Max
uber) had been re'ected,
the conference agreed on a declaration rafted chiefl by Tornielli. . . . “ though it is true that probably no war would ever have been prevented by adopting the ‘list,’ there is likewise no doubt that its adoption ‘in principle’ would have been of greater value than the high sounding words of the afore-cited declaration. Consequently those who are called ‘peace lovers’ with a cer tain shrug of the shoulders were not the only ones who regretted its rejection."
