his being." They did not however absorb him. His legal activities were immense, and he had a strong penchant for literary work which recently he displayed in compiling biographical sketches of wardens, parliamentary representatives, judicial and other officials of the County of Lambton from 1852 till 1918. The book of these sketches also contains the history of the County of Lambton, which originally belonged to the celebrated district of Hesse, and it has been published by the authority of the County Council. The deceased Judge certainly leaves a great void which it will be hard to fill, for his interests were diversified and wide, his talents were eminent, and his character was high. What better encomium can we pass than say all was well done to which Judge McWatt put his hand? In this is the solace of those whom he loved and served. COL. A. H. MACDONALD, K.C. Col. Archibald Henry MacDonald, K.C., County Crown Attorney of Wellington, was in his 72nd year when he died; and he did not acquire the title of Colonel by any participation in the recent war. His penchant was towards the Military Profession from early manhood. He was a graduate of the Royal Military College, and joined the Wellington Rifles in 1864. In 1870 he was a Lieutenant, then a Captain, in 1880 Major of the Wellington Field Battery, and in 1900 he was awarded the rank of Colonel, having been officer in command from 1881 till 1886, when he was placed on the reserve list. He participated in the Fenian Raid of 1866. Outside the Legal Profession of which he was a distinguished and successful member, he had many fields in which he exerted his splendid talents for the advancement of the locality in which his lot was cast and for the country in general. He was proud of his Canadianship and looked forward confidently to Canada attaining great prestige and position as a Nation. VOL. XL. C.L.T.—11+ GOODWIN GIBSON. Mr. Gibson, who died the other day at the age of 72, is another Scotchman who attained distinction in Canada, to which he came in his very early boyhood. He got his education here, at Upper Canada College, and the University of Toronto, from which he graduated with the honour of a Gold Medal in Classics. As a Barrister and Solicitor he began his practice as a partner in the firm of Robinson, O'Brien and Gibson. Later he joined himself with Jones, Leonard & Gibson. Through life he was a man of esteemed character and repute; and he leaves a widow and four sons and one daughter. One other of his sons was killed in France in the late war. Mr. Gibson was another of the class of men who never allowed the pursuit of the Law to crush out the taste for Literature, and the culture of Literary study. CHARLES F. RITCHIE. Mr. Ritchie was only 34 at the time of his death which ensued from pneumonia. He had been a partner for several years in the firm of Ritchie, Ludwig and Ballantyne, and a brilliant career was fairly before him when cut off peremptorily by the mandate to which all must render obedience. He had a wide circle of friends among whom he was popular and highly esteemed for the many qualities which characterized him and gave to his personality a charm all its own. His widow is a daughter of the late Judge MacDougal; and though none can really share her sorrow, yet thousands are stricken with a very kindred grief at the early death of him whom she loved and they esteemed. LIEUT.-COL. J. H. Moss, K.C. Lieut.-Col. J. H. Moss, K.C., was for many years a leading and conspicuous figure in legal and military circles in Toronto, where he was born in 1869. He was admitted to the Bar in 1892 and became a member of the firm of Aylesworth, Wright, Moss & Thompson. His father was the late Chief Justice Moss, much of whose legal ability and acumen was inherited or transmitted to the son. His uncle was the late Sir Glenholme Falconbridge, whose death we also record in this issue. In 1908 he was made a K.C., and those who knew him looked forward to his attaining the highest rewards of the great profession of which he was a distinguished member. He was a Lieut.-Col. of the Mississauga Horse, Toronto. Many social and religious interests engaged his attention. He was a member of the Anglican Church, of the Toronto and Ontario Clubs and of the Toronto Golf Club; and for a considerable time during the War he was member of the Military Service Council at Ottawa. But death commands and we must obey! RECENT NOTABLE CASES. Dominion Property: B. N. A. Act, 1867, sec. 108. Attorney-General of Canada v. Ritchie Contracting Company, Limited,' is a remarkable case pertinent to the question discussed in an Article in this issue, namely, "the division of the assets between the Province and the Dominion." This case affirms the contention that the Dominion got nothing at Confederation except what was allotted to it by sec. 108; and that even if there was a Dominion legislative control over some Provincial asset, the Privy Council said "it has often been pointed out that the domain of legislation is quite a different matter from proprietary right." This is another clincher that the Province is essentially and a priori the proprietor of all except what is specifically given to the Dominion. This case however shows the aggressive propensity of the Dominion. It was an action to restrain the removing of sand from "Spanish Bank" lying athwart English Bay at the outer entrance to Burrard Inlet, or Vancouver Harbour as it is called. This is the open sea; nothing has been done to make English Bay a harbour, though it is utilizable as such if needed. Meantime the Spanish Bank bounds it in a sense. The Dominion, without spending a cent on it, asserted an ownership that it was a Public Harbour and belonged to it under section 108, and though defeated in the B. C. Courts, and in the Supreme Court by unanimous decisions, it went to the Privy Council, where it met an affirmative fate though it was a direct negative of all for which the Dominion contended. Initiative and Referendum: Provincial Status and Rights. The decision of the Privy Council in Re Manitoba Act, 6 Geo. V. c. 59,2 on the constitutionality of that 1 1919, A. C. p. 999. 2 1919, A. C. p. 935. Act, establishing in Manitoba the system of Initiative and Referendum by direct vote of the electors, is a momentous declaration upon our Constitutional rights. It not only declares these innovations to be inconsistent with the British Constitution, but with the Constitution provided for Canada by the B. N. A. Act, 1867. The Judgment of Lord Haldane in this case is also affirmative of the Articles which have appeared in the CANADIAN LAW TIMES on the nature and rights respectively of the Provinces and the Dominion under that Act. What is contended for in these Articles and in a supplement to them in this issue, Lord Haldane expresses by a gratifying coincidence in these words: "The scheme of the Act passed in 1867 was not to weld the Provinces into one, nor to subordinate Provincial Government to a central authority, but to establish a central Government in which these Provinces should be represented, entrusted with exclusive authority only in affairs which they had a common interest. Subject to this, each Province was to retain its independence and authority only and to be directly under the Crown as its head. Within these limits its local legislature so long as the Imperial Parliament did not repeal its own Act conferring that status was to be supreme." This knocks out the Suzerainty and Sovereignty of Canada depicted in an Article in this issue of CANADIAN LAW TIMES, and established respectively over Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta by the Dominion. Section 4, Statute of Frauds. Receipt as Memorandum. In Auerbach v. Nelson, the Court of Appeal had once more what is a sufficient memorandum of a verbal contract for the sale of property to exclude the prohibitory operation of section 49 of the Statute of Frauds. Here there was a receipt "Received from Mr. Auerbach £10 on account of House being sold for £500 from Mr. M. Nelson. Maurice Nelson, 21/11/ 1918." 8 L. R. 1919, Vol. II. Ch. p. 383. |