Viii ADELAIDE AND VICINITY ^ . Notes on the Constitution of South Australia As Mr. Burge puts it : — "Certain subjects of Elngland, by consent of tlieir Prince, go and possess an iniinhabited desert country ; the common law must be supposed to be their rule, as it was their birthright. When they went thither they no more abandoned their English laws than they did their natural allegiance." And as Governor Pownall puts it : — " The plantations were settled on the King's lands by the King's licence and grant. The Constitution and frame of government was framed by the King's charter and commission, and the colonials, understanding themselves as removed out of the realm, considered themselves in their executive and legislative capacity of government in immediate connection and subordinate to the King, their only sovereign lord "; but " the idea was that all their settlements were the colonial possessions of England," and that the King in his Privy Council was their Sovereign. The Crown, on the advice of the Privy Council, could, prior to the grant of a colonial Constitution, and after such grant, and on the advice of its local " Council of Legislature." either directly or indirectly by its agent the Governor, alter any of these laws and make new ones, provided they were not repugnant to the law of England. It is curious to note that this maxim that no law should be repugnant to the law of England which was originally regarded by colonists as the chief bulwark of their liberties came in later years to be looked upon as an offensive curtailment of their rights of self-government. Historical resume from foundation of the Province to the Constitution Act (1836 to 1856) It is hoped that these preliminary remarks are sufficient to enable the reader to understand the j)osition when South Australia was first " erected and established " as a Province or Colony. The King could probably have "erected and established" South Australia as a Colony without the aid of any Act of the Imperial Parliament, but there were several reasons why it was expedient to invoke that aid, of which two only need be mentioned : — {a) There were grounds for contending that the land comprising the proposed Province was under the jurisdiction of the Government of New South Wales, and if that was so, inasmuch as New South Wales had been established as a British colony long before 1834; and the British Parliament had given a Constitution to that colony ; it would not have been competent for the King to abrogate that Constitution and to grant a new Constitution to and make new laws for South Australia. {b) The practice initiated in 1791 of obtaining Imperial Acts for the establishment of colonies had become established. Accordingly in 1834 an Imperial Act was passed authorising His Majesty, with the advice of his Privy Council, to " erect and establish " South Australia into a British Province, and to authorise and empower one or more persons resident in such Province to make such laws and to impose such taxes and to constitute such courts as might be •necessary for the peace, order, and good government of the people of the Province. This Act also gave power to the King, with the advice of the Privy Council, to aj)point Colonisation Commissioners, who were to have the control of the lands of the Crown in the Province.
