Short title. Government commissions not affected by demise of the Crown. Proclamation. Oaths of allegiance to be taken. Continuance in office. Validity of acts done. Rights and prerogative of the Crown saved. DEMISE OF THE CROWN ACT R.S., 1952, CHAPTER 65 An Act respecting the Demise of the Crown (1) SHORT TITLE 1. This Act may be cited as the Demise of the Crown Act. R.S., c. 46, s. 1. 2. (1) Upon the demise of the Crown, it is not necessary to renew any commission by virtue whereof any officer of Canada, any functionary in Canada, or any judge of a Dominion or provincial court in Canada held his office or profession during the previous reign, but a proclamation shall be issued by the Governor General, authorizing all persons in office as officers of Canada who held commissions under the late Sovereign, and all functionaries who exercised any profession by virtue of any such commission, and all judges of Dominion or provincial courts, to continue in the due exercise of their respective duties, functions and professions, and such proclamation shall suffice. (2) The incumbents shall, as soon thereafter as possible, take the usual and customary oath of allegiance, before the proper officer or officers thereunto appointed. R.S., c. 46, s. 2. 3. (1) Upon a proclamation being issued, and an oath taken pursuant to section 2, each and every such officer functionary and judge shall continue in the lawful exercise of the duties and functions of his office or profession, as fully as if appointed de novo by commission derived from the Sovereign for the time being. (2) All acts and things bona fide done and performed by such incumbents in their respective offices, and in the due and faithful performance of their duties, functions and professions, between the time of such demise and the proclamation so to be issued, if the oath of allegiance is duly taken, shall be deemed to be legally done, and valid accordingly. R.S., c. 46, s. 3. 4. Nothing in this Act prejudices or in any way affects the rights or prerogative of the Crown with respect to any office or appointment derived or held by authority from it, or prejudices or affects the rights or prerogatives thereof in any other respect whatsoever. R.S., c. 46, s. 4. (1) Section two of the Senate and House of Commons Act, c. 249 of the R.S., 1952, states that "no Parliament of Canada shall determine or be dissolved by the demise of the Crown". preserved. 5. No writ, cause, action, suit, plea, judgment or process or Judicial any other proceeding whatsoever, whether civil or criminal, in proceedings or issuing out of any court, shall be determined, abated or discontinued by the demise of the Crown, but every such writ, cause, action, suit, plea, judgment, process or other proceeding shall remain in full force and virtue to be proceeded upon or with notwithstanding any demise of the Crown. R.S., c. 46, s. 5. Preamble. Assent to establishment of Royal Style and Titles. THE ROYAL STYLE AND TITLES ACT 1-2 ELIZABETH II, CHAPTER 9 An Act respecting the Royal Style and Titles (1) [Assented to 11th February, 1953.] WHEREAS the Prime Ministers and other representatives of Commonwealth countries assembled in London in the month of December, in the year one thousand nine hundred and fifty-two, considered the form of the Royal Style and Titles, and, recognizing that the present form is not in accordance with present constitutional relations within the Commonwealth, concluded that, in the present stage of development of the Commonwealth relationship, it would be in accord with the established constitutional position that each member country should use for its own purposes a form suitable to its own particular circumstances but retaining a substantial element common to all; AND WHEREAS the said representatives of all the Commonwealth countries concerned agreed to take such action as is necessary in each country to secure the appropriate constitutional approval for the changes now envisaged; AND WHEREAS, in order to give effect to the aforesaid conclusions, it is desirable that the Parliament of Canada should assent to the issue of a Royal Proclamation establishing the Royal Style and Titles for Canada: THEREFORE, Her Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate and House of Commons of Canada, enacts as follows: 1. The assent of the Parliament of Canada is hereby given to the issue by Her Majesty of Her Royal Proclamation under the Great Seal of Canada establishing for Canada the following Royal Style and Titles, namely, "Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God of the (1) The Imperial Conference of 1926 having recommended that His Majesty's title should be "George V, by the Grace of God, of Great Britain, Ireland and the British Dominions beyond the Seas, King, Defender of the Faith, Emperor of India". The Royal and Parliamentary Title Act, 1927 provided for the alteration of the Royal Style and Titles. It was assented to on the 12th of April, 1927 and is found in c. 4 of the Statutes of the U.K. for that year. In 1947 (c. 72), the Assent of the Parliament of Canada was given to the omission from the Royal Style and Titles of the words "Indiae Imperator" and the words "Emperor of India". In 1952-53 the above statute was passed. 2. (1) Paragraph (10) of section 37 of the Interpretation Act, chapter 1 of the Revised Statutes of Canada, 1927, is repealed and the following substituted therefor: "(10) "Her Majesty", "His Majesty", "the Queen", "Her "the King" or "the Crown" means the Sovereign of the United Majesty", Kingdom, Canada and Her other Realms and Territories, and Head of the Commonwealth;" (2) Upon the coming into force of the Revised Statutes of Canada, 1952, paragraph (11) of section 35 of the Interpretation Act, chapter 158 of the Revised Statutes of Canada, 1952, is repealed and the following substituted therefor: etc. "(11) "Her Majesty", "His Majesty", "the Queen", "Her "the King" or "the Crown" means the Sovereign of the United Majesty", Kingdom, Canada and Her other Realms and Territories, and Head of the Commonwealth;" etc. 3. Section 2 shall come into force on the day the Royal Coming Proclamation authorized by section 1 is issued. (2) into force. (2) In 1947 an Act was passed by the Parliament of Canada "to provide for the Alteration of His Majesty's Royal Style and Titles" which was assented to on the 17th of July of that year. The Act read as follows. "WHEREAS the following recital is set forth in the preamble to the Statute of Westminster, 1981: "AND WHEREAS it is meet and proper to set out by way of preamble to this Act that, inasmuch as the Crown is the symbol of the free association of the members of the British Commonwealth of Nations, and as they are united by a common allegiance to the Crown, it would be in accord with the established constitutional position of all the members of the Commonwealth in relation to one another that any alteration in the law touching the Succession to the Throne or the Royal Style and Titles shall hereafter require the assent as well of the Parliaments of all the Dominions as of the Parliament of the United Kingdom"; AND WHEREAS it is proposed that the words "Indiae Imperator" and "Emperor of India" be omitted from the present Royal Style and Titles. THEREFORE, His Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate and House of Commons of Canada, enacts as follows: 1. This Act may be cited as The Royal Style and Titles Act (Canada), 1947. 2. The assent of the Parliament of Canada is hereby given to the omission from the Royal Style and Titles of the words "Indiae Imperator" and the words "Emperor of India". 3. The date on which the said omission becomes effective shall be published in the Canada Gazette." On the 22nd day of June, 1948, appeared the following "Extra" of the Canada Gazette under the heading "Government Notice". "DEPARTMENT OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS Notice is hereby given pursuant to The Royal Style and Titles Act (Canada), 1947, that effective the 22nd day of June, 1948, the words "Indiae Imperator" and "Emperor of India" shall be omitted from the Royal Style and Titles." The effective date of the coming into force of section 2 was 28th May, Short title. Definitions. "Great Seal of the Realm." R.S., 1952, CHAPTER 247 An Act to make provision for the Sealing of Royal SHORT TITLE 1. This Act may be cited as the Seals Act. 1939, c. 22, s. 1. 2. In this Act, INTERPRETATION (a) "Great Seal of the Realm" means the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland for which provision was made in Article XXIV of the Union with Scotland Act, 1706 (6 Anne, A.D. 1706, chapter XI, An Act for an Union of the Two Kingdoms of England and Scotland) and includes the wafer seal; (1) The purpose of The Seals Act, enacted in 1939 was to deal with two separate problems. The first was temporary and was a result of the prospective visit of His Majesty the King. It became necessary to make provision for the performance of the Royal functions in relation to the government of Canada during the period of the King's absence from the United Kingdom and presence in Canada. For the most part, these Royal functions could be performed notwithstanding the King's absence from the United Kingdom and presence in this country. There were, however, exceptional functions, particularly those which required the use of the Great Seal of the Realm and the Signets. During His Majesty's presence in Canada, under existing laws and practice, it would not have been possible to issue Royal Instruments under the Great Seal or the Signet. The Act made provision for passing such instruments under the Great Seal of Canada. The second problem was to make permanent provision for Canadian Royal Seals for use in Canadian matters. At the passing of the Act the following transaction required instruments under the Great Seal or Signets. The following Royal Instruments, relating to Canadian matters, were passed under the Great Seal: Full Powers (authorizing the signature of Treaties and Conven- Instruments of Ratification (of Treaties and Conventions); The following Royal Instruments relating to Canadian matters were issued under the Sign Manual and Signet: Warrants authorizing the issuing of Instruments under the Great Commission appointing the Governor General; Instructions to the Governor General; Exequaturs; Appointment of Lieutenant-Governor of Canada or of an Administrator; Formal granting of leave of absence to the Governor General; Appointment of certain officers of the Public Service of Canada. Both the Great Seal and the Signets are in the custody of certain of His Majesty's Ministers in the United Kingdom, and the procedure governing their use is largely based upon statutes of the United Kingdom. There is conventional recognition of the obligation of such Ministers, in Canadian matters, to use the seals, which are in their custody, in accordance with the |