BRITISH EMPIRE.

I. BRITISH ISLES.

1. UNITED KINGDOM.

[Contributed by CECIL T. CARR, Esq., LL.D.]

DURING the Parliamentary Session of 1920 the Government, even after the representatives of organized labour had parted from the Coalition, still commanded an overwhelming majority. But, though Parliament sat till Christmas, and though 82 Public General Acts were passed, many measures foreshadowed in the King's Speech had to be left for another session or another Government. The abandonment of proposals relating to licensing, electrical power, a minimum wage, the fishing industry, the State acquisition of coal royalties, and the reform of the Second Chamber indicated that either time was too short or circumstance too strong for great schemes of reconstruction. Pleas were heard that the programmes of subsequent sessions should be less exacting. Many important Acts were passed, but the machine was working at too high pressure for the improvement of the statute-book. The moment was unpropitious for progress with statute law revision. The sole measure of consolidation was the Rent Restriction Act, which, though intended to be temporary, has built itself an enduring monument in the law reports.

The motives for legislation in 1920 were various. The storm was over. The ship was still afloat, but not yet in harbour. Her hull was protected and her deck-space encumbered by strange structures which the carpenters, though not proud of their handiwork, were yet loth to jettison. These hasty improvisations required inspection to see whether they could be safely removed or whether they must be renewed or replaced by something more lasting. The Irish situation called not only for permanent political settlement, but also for the temporary suppression of crime and disorder. The mining industry was agitated by questions of prices, profits, wages, and State control. Elsewhere legislation was required to keep pace with high prices, to appease the public resentment at profiteering, and to deal with the menace of unemployment. These were grave additions to a legislative year wherein Parliament might otherwise have resumed the normal activities suspended for the duration of the

war.

Legally the war still endured. The Armistice had been signed in November 1918. Ten days later Parliament had enacted that the war should not be officially ended until such date as His Majesty might by Order in Council determine. The treaties of peace with Germany, Austria, and Bulgaria, concluded during 1919, were not ratified till 1920. The similar treaties with Hungary and Turkey were not even signed till

the summer of the latter year. The date eventually fixed as the termination of the war was August 31, 1921. Meanwhile, in 1920 there were more than sixty Acts of the war period (not to mention other legislation such as the Defence of the Realm Regulations) which would expire upon that as yet undetermined date or at a specified time thereafter. To struggle back from the exceptional and temporary to the normal and permanent, that was the problem. The legislative effort of 1920 is inspired by the natural reaction against war restrictions, the administrative difficulty of cancelling those restrictions with a stroke of the pen in the face of serious domestic uncertainties, and the recognition of the fact that even the much-abused D.R. Regulations had contained elements worth perpetuating in statutory form.

War Laws Continuance. Not only were certain D.R. Regulations temporarily prolonged in modified form-as is to be seen, for example, in the second schedule to the War Emergency Laws (Continuance) Act, in the Shops (Early Closing) Act, and in the Ministry of Food (Continuance) Act. In addition the Firearms Act, the Dangerous Drugs Act, and the Official Secrets Act made permanent certain features which the country had first encountered in the guise of D.R. Regulations 30, 40B, 41, and 45. The life of "Dora " (as the war-time Defence of the Realm Act was familiarly named) being thus prolonged by artificial respiration, there came a moment when, the country being in doubt whether she was alive or dead, something like her ghost passed twice through the Houses of Parliament. In other words, the device of giving the executive an almost unlimited power of making regulations in emergency was twice repeated in 1920.

Emergency Acts.-In October, when the long-threatened strike of miners had begun, both Mr. Bonar Law and Mr. Lloyd George admitted a doubt about the D.R. Regulations. The admission was made on the introduction of a drastic Emergency Powers Bill, which was passed in four days, "to make exceptional provision for the protection of the community." S. 1 (1) of this Act (c. 55 of 1920), which is permanent legislation, though not intended to operate except at a crisis, ran as follows:

If at any time it appears to His Majesty that any action has been taken or is immediately threatened by any persons or body of persons of such a nature and on so extensive a scale as to be calculated, by interfering with the supply and distribution of food, water, fuel, or light, or with the means of locomotion, to deprive the community, or any substantial portion of the community, of the essentials of life, His Majesty may, by proclamation (hereinafter referred to as a proclamation of emergency) declare that a state of emergency exists.

When such a proclamation has been issued, Parliament must be informed forthwith, and, if not sitting, summoned. While the proclamation is in force, there is power by Order in Council to make regulations for securing the essentials of life to the community. The regulations may provide for trial by courts of summary jurisdiction of persons guilty of offences against the regulations, "provided that no such regulations shall alter any existing procedure in criminal cases or confer any right to punish by fine or imprisonment without trial.”

1 These Regulations took effect till the end of the war. On March 31, 1920, Parliament continued some of them in a qualified form till the following August 31. Had it been intended that in September (when the war was after all not yet ended) they should revert to their unqualified operation ?

In introducing the Bill, Mr. Bonar Law said it had been drafted for some months. The Government disclaimed any connection between its proposals and current industrial disturbances. In a keen debate certain amendments were accepted. The Home Secretary consented to limit the duration of a proclamation to one month (without prejudice to the issue of a fresh proclamation at the end of that period) and to add a proviso that the regulations should not make striking or "peaceful persuasion" an offence and should not impose any form of military or industrial conscription.

Parliament retained an unusual degree of control over these regulations, for they were to have no effect after seven days unless both Houses passed a resolution for their continuance. The importance of this check is visible if we compare the episode of the railway strike in 1919 with that of the coal stoppage of 1921. In 1919 the situation was met by action under the Defence of the Realm Regulations; Parliament was not sitting and was not specially summoned. In 1921 the situation was met by proclaiming a state of emergency on March 31. Parliament was sitting, but would have been summoned had it been separated. The proclamation was continued monthly till July, by which time the crisis was over. Regulations, issued on April 1, were approved (with minor modifications) by resolution of Parliament after debates on April 5 and 6 ; they were reissued on April 30 and again on May 27, being debated in each case a few days later on the resolution for their approval. It is hard to see by what better legislative mechanism such situations can be met if we are to preserve a form of Government which, in Lincoln's words, is strong enough to maintain its existence in great emergencies, yet not too strong for the liberties of its people.

R.O.I.A.-The Emergency Powers Act did not apply to Ireland, for which country it had been necessary to pass a not dissimilar measure in August. The Restoration of Order in Ireland Act (c. 31) explains itself:

Where it appears to His Majesty in Council that, owing to the existence of a state of disorder in Ireland, the ordinary law is inadequate for the prevention and punishment of crime or the maintenance of order, His Majesty in Council may issue regulations under the Defence of the Realm Consolidation Act, 1914 for securing the restoration and maintenance of order in Ireland, and as to the powers and duties for that purpose of the LordLieutenant and the Chief Secretary, and of members of His Majesty's forces and other persons acting on His Majesty's behalf, and in particular regulations for the special purposes hereinafter mentioned.

Those special purposes included the constitution of special Courts, and provisions that courts martial might have the powers of justices for binding persons over to keep the peace, enforcing recognizances and compelling witnesses to give evidence and produce documents, that persons sentenced to imprisonment in Ireland might be detained in prisons anywhere in the United Kingdom, that courts of inquiry under the Army Act might perform the duties of coroners and coroners' juries, that High Court or County Court trials in Ireland might take place without juries, and that, if local authorities defaulted in paying compensation for criminal injuries or otherwise, the sums payable to them from public funds might be intercepted and appropriated.

Like those made under the Emergency Powers Act, the R.O.I.A. regulations were to be laid before Parliament as soon as made; but,

unlike the former, they required no positive resolution of approval, but were merely subject to annulment on an address to His Majesty by either House within 14 days. Some three-quarters of the code of regulations ultimately issued consisted of D.R. Regulations as modified and applied to Ireland; the remainder were devoted to the special purposes outlined

above.

Transitional. Two other Acts were necessary to the process of winding up war concerns and liabilities. One incident of the measures taken for the defence of the realm was the acquisition of land. Some of this land had, before it was thus acquired, been subject to restrictive covenants. The Defence of the Realm (Acquisition of Land) Act (c. 79) allowed the Government to dispose of this land free from such covenants. It also provided for resale, etc., and abolished the pre-emptive right of an adjoining landowner to have the first refusal of the site.

Precedents for a Bill of Indemnity at the close of an exceptional period are not wanting. The Indemnity Act of 1920 (c. 48) gave the usual protection against legal proceedings, civil or criminal, for

Any act, matter, or thing done, whether within or without His Majesty's Dominions, during the war before the passing of this Act, if done in good faith, and done or purported to be done in the execution of his duty or for the defence of the realm or the public safety, or for the enforcement of discipline, or otherwise in the public interest, by a person holding office under or employed in the service of the Crown in any capacity.

There were savings to this clause, and there was a right to compensation for acts done under the prerogative or other powers, assessment to be made before a War Compensation Court presided over by a judge of the High Court in England or the Court of Session in Scotland.

The war sentences of military courts or courts in occupied territories were deemed to be and always to have been valid and within the jurisdiction of the court." Laws and ordinances made in administering such territories were similarly confirmed. Retrospective validity was also given to the customs proclamations and Orders in Council affected by Mr. Justice Sankey's adverse judgment in Att.-Gen. v. Brown ([1920] I K.B. 773).

The Mining Industry.—The anxieties of the mining industry may fairly be grouped among the sequela of the war. The Coal Mines (Emergency) Act (c. 4) continued the system of aggregating and pooling profits, the sum for distribution being guaranteed by the State to be at least ninetenths of the pre-war standard. Wages under the Sankey award were treated as a working expense. The pithead-workers' extra pay was prolonged. The Act, passed at the end of March, was a temporary arrangement, as the coal control agreement was to lapse at the end of August.

The Mining Industry Act (c. 50), passed during August, was meant for permanence. It established a Mines Department of the Board of Trade with a Secretary at £1,500 a year who, but for an amendment by the House of Lords, would have been a Minister at £2,000. Advisory committees were established. Power was given (for a year only) to regulate export and supply of coal for bunkering as well as pithead price. Mineowners were ordered to pay a penny a ton annually into a fund to be applied to " purposes connected with the social well-being, recreation and conditions of living of workers in or about coal mines and with mining education and research."

Part II of this Act provided for the setting up (under Board of Trade Regulations) of pit committees, district committees, area boards, and a National Board. The pit committees (who were to have fees for attendance at the mine-owners' expense) could discuss and make recommendations of safety, health and welfare, maintenance and increase of output, disputes (including wages disputes), and other matters. These considerations could be referred upwards and discussed by district and area bodies. The scheme obviously depended on co-operation, and here it failed. S. 17 of the Act provided an unusual feature:

If at the expiration of one year from the passing of this Act it appears to the Board of Trade that the scheme of this Part of the Act has been rendered abortive by reason of the failure on the part of those entitled to appoint representatives as members of the pit and district committees, area boards, and the National Board to avail themselves of such right, the Board of Trade shall issue a report of the circumstances, and that report shall be laid before Parliament, and at the expiration of thirty days during the session of Parliament from the date when it is so laid all the provisions of this Part of this Act shall cease to have effect unless in the meantime a resolution to the contrary is passed by both Houses of Parliament.

At first the miners declined to operate this part of the Act. Later the miners were willing, but the mine-owners were not. The Board of Trade, after tentatively issuing its regulations, had to report on February 7, 1922, that the scheme had been rendered abortive. A resolution that Part II of the Act should not cease to have effect was moved from the Labour benches on March 7 but was negatived next day; and thus this enactment expired.

High Prices. The Profiteering Act of 1919 was amended and enlarged in 1920 (c. 13). Trades were encouraged to submit voluntary schemes for limiting profits. If the Board of Trade considered that such schemes secured an adequate supply for the home market, producers complying therewith could by order be exempted from any general investigation under the Act. The 1919 statute was extended to hire-purchase transactions, and might by Board of Trade order be extended to "any process of manufacture, or the repairing, altering, dyeing, cleaning, washing, or otherwise treating of any article mentioned in the order, or even (after consultation with the Ministry of Transport) to any form of road transport. Books and documents were to be produced on official demand; unreasonable refusal or wilful neglect to comply was made an offence as also was the improper publication of confidential information. There was a general protection against the disclosure of secret processes. To prevent victimization there was a penalty against a person complained of if he unreasonably refused to sell to a complainant any article exposed for sale. The Profiteering Acts expired in 1921.

Profiteering in house accommodation was combated by a consolidating and amending Increase of Rent and Mortgage Interest (Restrictions) Act (c. 17), which covered houses of a rental up to £105 in London, £90 in Scotland, and £78 elsewhere. This Act, limited in duration to June 24, 1923, shows the cumulative complications consequent on interference between landlord and tenant. It recognized a "standard" (i.e. pre-war) rent; on request in writing landlords must furnish a statement of the standard rent. A landlord was permitted to make certain increases of rent, subject in part to their suspension by the County Court, the ground that the house is not in all respects reasonably fit for human

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