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The Nolan Case
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 November 2014
Extract
This paper owes its origin to pure curiosity on the part of the writer about the construction placed upon the National Emergency Transitional Powers Act, 1945, by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. It is somewhat remarkable that eleven eminent Canadian jurists out of thirteen should agree substantially in their interpretation of this Canadian statute and that their opinions should be decisively, one might say emphatically, rejected by the Committee.
The Nolan Case, as it is commonly known, came before the Chief Justice of the Trial Division of the Court of King's Bench of Manitoba in March, 1948. The question to be determined was whether the Canadian Government, acting through the Wheat Board, could legally appropriate 40,000 bushels of western barley belonging to a grain merchant named Nolan under the powers conferred upon it by the National Emergency Transitional Powers Act. The trial judge in a closely argued opinion held that the federal administration had exceeded its powers. This decision was appealed by the Government in the Manitoba Court of Appeal where the five justices, unanimously and in strong terms, upheld the verdict of the trial court. On a further appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada five Supreme Court justices, including the Chief Justice, out of seven who sat on the appeal, rejected the contentions of the Government.
- Type
- Research Article
- Information
- Canadian Journal of Economics and Political Science/Revue canadienne de economiques et science politique , Volume 19 , Issue 2 , May 1953 , pp. 141 - 150
- Copyright
- Copyright © Canadian Political Science Association 1953
References
1 Western Weekly Reports, Calgary, vol. 1, 1948, 945–94.
2 W.W.R., vol. 1, 1949, 599–625.
3 Supreme Court Reports, 1951, 81–115.
4 Statutes of Canada, 2nd sess., 1949, c. 37.
5 W.W.R., July 5, 1952, 23–38.
6 P.C. 1292, April 3, 1947.
7 Winnipeg Free Press, May 2, 1947.
8 W.W.R., vol. 1, 1948.
9 Winnipeg Free Press, May 23, 1947.
10 Statutes of Canada, 1945, c. 25.
11 Revised Statutes of Canada, 1927, c. 206.
12 Quoted by Hon.St. Laurent, Louis, Canada, House of Commons Debates, 2nd sess., 1945, 691.Google Scholar
13 Canada, H. of C. Debates, 2nd sess., 1945, 690.Google Scholar
14 Ibid., 8.
15 Mr.Diefenbaker, , member for Lake Centre, Canada, H. of C. Debates, 2nd sess., 1945, 2459.Google Scholar
16 Introduction, prepared by the Economic Research and Development Branch, Department of Trade and Commerce, Canada Year Book, 1948–1949, xxix.Google Scholar
17 Debates, 2844.
18 Ibid., 2459.
19 Ibid., 3000.
20 Ibid., 3010.
21 W.W.R., vol. 1, 1948, 979.
22 Ibid., vol. 1, 1949, 604.
23 Ibid., 625.
24 S.C.R., 1951, 95.
25 W.W.R. vol. 1, 1949, 613.
26 W.W.R., July 5, 1952, 34.
27 S.C.R., 1951, 83.
28 Ibid., 88.
29 Ibid., 104.
30 W.W.R., July 5, 1952, 36.
31 Ibid., 34.
32 Ibid., 34.
33 Ibid., 36.
34 Rt. Hon.Hewart, Lord, The New Despotism (London, 1929), 11.Google Scholar
35 Haldane, Viscount, in Constitutional Issues in Canada, 1900–1931, ed. Dawson, R. M., (London, 1933), 338.Google Scholar
36 For instance see Ottawa Journal, editorial, Feb. 22, 1912, reprinted in Constitutional Issues in Canada, 1900–1931, 343.