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“… this statute ( the Treason Act, 1351) (to clear any doubt) extends to all persons, as well ecclesiastical as temporal (including Ministers of State and Justices) and so has it ever been put into execution…If any levy war… against any statute … without warrant: this is levying war against the king: because they take upon them royal authority, which is against the king… …if they had risen of purpose to alter religion established within the realm, or laws…this is a levying of war… because the pretence is public and general, and not private in particular.”
Lord Chief Justice Sir Edward Coke, ‘The Institutes of the Laws of England Third Part, pages 4 and 9.
“1. If any person or persons whatsoever … shall, within the realm or without, compass, imagine, invent, devise, or intend death or destruction, or any bodily harm tending to death or destruction, maim or wounding, the king, heirs and successors, or to deprive or depose him or them from the style, honour, or kingly name of the imperial crown of this realm, or of any other of his majesty’s dominions or countries; or to levy war against his majesty, his heirs and successors, within this realm, in order, by force or constraint, to compel him or them to change his or their measures or counsels, or in order to put any force or constraint upon, or to intimidate or overawe both houses, or either house of parliament; or to move or stir any foreigner or stranger with force to invade this realm, or any other his majesty’s dominions or countries, under the obeisance, of his majesty, his heirs and successors; and such compassings, imaginations, inventions, devices or intentions, or any of them, shall express, utter, or declare, by publishing any printing or writing, or by any overt act or deed … shall be deemed, declared, and adjudged to be a traitor … and shall suffer pains of death …”
The Treason Act, 1795
“ Be it … enacted, that all and every the herein before recited provisions (the Treason Act, 1795) which relate to the heirs and successors of his majesty, the sovereigns of these realms, shall be and the same are hereby made perpetual.” The Treason Act, 1817 The Royal Styles and Titles Act , 1953, No.32 of 1953 (3), was an Act creating a Style and Title for the Queen, as Head of the (British) Commonwealth, in relation to constitutional relationships within the British Commonwealth of Nations, to reflect the special position of the Sovereign as Head of the Commonwealth.
The Imperial Parliament by the passing of the Statute of Westminster Act, 1931, (4) granted the Dominions the authority to pass a Styles and Titles Act for the ‘Head of the Commonwealth’ in recognition of that new legal entity that had been created the “British Commonwealth of Nations.”
It was recognized, by the various Prime Ministers of the British Commonwealth of Nations, during the Imperial Conferences of 1926 and 1930, that the Style and Title of the King of the United Kingdom, as Head of the Commonwealth, was for some Member countries no longer appropriate.
However, whilst the aforesaid Statute conferred authority upon the Parliaments of the Dominions to create a Style and Title for the Head of the Commonwealth, Section 8 specifically denied any such authority for a change in the Style and Title of the Queen referred to under the Constitutions of the Commonwealth of Australia and New Zealand.
Sections 8 and 9 of the Statute of Westminster, 1931, are most explicit and state as
follows:
“8. Nothing in this Act shall be deemed to confer any power to repeal or alter
the Constitution or the Constitution Act of the Commonwealth of Australia or
the Constitution Act of the Dominion of New Zealand otherwise than in
accordance with the law existing before the commencement of this Act.”
6
“9. - (1) Nothing in this Act shall be deemed to authorize the Parliament of the
Commonwealth of Australia to make laws on any matter within the authority of the
States of Australia, not being a matter within the authority of the Parliament or
Government of Australia”.
Statute of Westminster Act, 1931
The above Sections of the Statute of Westminster, 1931, make it abundantly clear that the
authority conferred upon the Parliaments of the Dominions related only in regards to the
constitutional relationships within the British Commonwealth of Nations, and do not
extend beyond those, nor could they have any effect upon the authority conferred upon
those Parliaments under their respective Constitutions prior to the commencement of the
Statute of Westminster Act. This point of law was clearly echoed by the late Prime Minister
Sir Robert Menzies in the House of Representatives during the Second Reading of the
Royal Style and Titles Bill, 1953. (5)
“….. Therefore, in the literal, legal sense the Queen is Queen of Canada and of South Africa and of New Zealand, and so on, because she is the Queen of the United Kingdom.” page 55, Hansard, House of Representatives, 18 February, 1953
“… The fact is that in section 8 of the Statute of Westminster, the relevant sections of which we adopted by legislation in 1942, there is a provision which reads: - Nothing in this act shall be deemed to confer any power to repeal or alter the Constitution or the Constitution Act of the Commonwealth of Australia ..…”
“….. If we look at the Constitution Act, and what are now called the covering
clauses
of it, we find two interesting things ..… Section 2 of that act states: _
The provisions of this Act referring to the Queen shall extend to Her Majesty’s
heirs
and successors in the sovereignty of the United Kingdom, we must remember
that the Queen is our Queen because, in point of legal right, she succeeded to the
throne under the Act of Succession ..…’
page 56, Hansard, House of Representatives, 18 February,
1953
Please keep in mind, that the Head of Commonwealth, is at all material times a totally
different legal entity, even though it is the same person, to that of the King or Queen in the
sovereignty of the United Kingdom. Only the King or Queen of the United Kingdom and
Northern Ireland holds the powers under our Constitution, the Australian Constitution Act,
1900. Therefore the Governors of the States, and Governor-General must at all material
times be appointed by the Sovereign in Council, and the Sovereign in Parliament at
Westminster, Elizabeth II by the Grace of God of the United Kingdom and Northern
Ireland Her other Realms and Territories, Defender of the Faith.