By an act passed in the eighteenth year of his present Majesty’s reign, the British parliament has also the power of making any regulations which may be found expedient, respecting the commerce and navigation of the province, and also of imposing import and export duties; but all such duties are to be applied solely to the use of the province, and in such a manner only as the laws made in the council and assembly direct.
LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL.
The legislative council of Lower Canada consists of fifteen members; that of Upper Canada of seven. The number of the members in each province must never be less than this; but it may be increased whenever his Majesty thinks fit.
The counsellors are appointed for life, by an instrument under the great seal of the province, signed by the governor, who is invested with powers for that purpose by the King. No person can be a counsellor who is not twenty-one years of age, nor any one who is not a natural born subject, or who has not been naturalized according to act of parliament.
Whenever his Majesty thinks proper, he may confer on any persons hereditary titles of honour, with a right annexed to them of being summoned to sit in this council, which right the heir may claim at the age of twenty-one; the right, however, cannot be acknowledged if the heir has been absent from the province without leave of his Majesty, signified to the council by the governor, for four years together, between the time of his succeeding to the right and the time of his demanding it. The right is forfeited also, if the heir takes an oath of allegiance to any foreign power before he demands it, unless his Majesty, by an instrument under the great seal of the province, should decree to the contrary.
If a counsellor, after having taken his seat, absent himself from the province for two years successively, without leave from his Majesty, signified to the council by the governor, his seat is also thereby vacated.
All hereditary rights, however, of sitting in council, so forfeited, are only to be suspended during the life of the defaulters, and on their death they descend with the titles to the next heirs[[32]].
[32]. No hereditary titles, with this right annexed, have yet been conferred on any persons in Canada by his Britannic Majesty.
In cases of treason, both the title and right of sitting in the council are extinguished.
All questions concerning the right of being summoned to the council are to be determined by the council; but an appeal may be had from their decision to his Majesty in his parliament of Great Britain.