Manuel and Others v. Attorney-General

Abstract

States — British Commonwealth — Canada — Independence of Canada — British North America Act 1867 — Statute of Westminster 1931 — Canada Act 1982 — Whether Statute of Westminster deprived United Kingdom Parliament of power to legislate for Canada otherwise than in accordance with its terms — Whether Canada Act contrary to Statute of Westminster — Requirement of consent of Canada to legislation — Whether courts or Parliament to determine whether consent actually given — Whether Act passed in contravention of the Statute of Westminster invalid — Separation of the Crown in Canada from the Crown in the United Kingdom — Obligations of the Crown to the Indian peoples of Canada — Whether obligations of the Crown in Canada or the Crown in the United Kingdom

State succession — Treaties — Canada — Succession of Crown in right of Canada to treaty obligations of Crown in right of the United Kingdom — Whether a matter of international law or constitutional law — Date at which succession took place

Jurisdiction — Territorial — Legislation — Whether United Kingdom Parliament has power to pass legislation applying to foreign countries — Whether English courts may declare legislation invalid on the ground that it purports to apply to a foreign country — Whether act of English court in determining validity of foreign law within foreign State an assertion of extraterritorial jurisdiction.

Relationship of international law and municipal law — Recognition and enforcement of foreign laws — Whether English courts will determine validity of the law of an independent State within that State

Treaties — Parties — Agreements between British Crown and Indian tribes in Canada — Agreements concluded during eighteenth and nineteenth centuries — Whether agreements between States — Whether treaties in international law — The law of England