operation of this Act, the Council shall have legislative authority in respect to the several matters following: (a) The relations of Australasia with the islands of the Pacific: (b) Prevention of the influx of criminals: (c) Fisheries in Australasian waters beyond territorial limits: (d) The service of civil process of the courts of any colony within Her Majesty's possessions in Australasia out of the jurisdiction of the colony in which it issued: (e) The enforcement of judgments of Courts of law of any colony beyond the limits of the colony: (f) The enforcement of criminal process beyond the limits of the colony in which it is issued, and the extradition of offenders (including deserters of wives and children, and deserters from the imperial or colonial naval or military forces): (g) The custody of offenders on board ships belonging to Her Majesty's Colonial Governments beyond territorial limits: (h) Any matter which at the request of the legislatures of the colonies Her Majesty by Order in Council shall think fit to refer to the Council: (1) Such of the following matters as may be referred to the Council by the legislatures of any two or more colonies, that is to say,-general defences, quarantine, patents of invention and discovery, copyright, bills of exchange and promissory notes, uniformity of weights and measures, recognition in other colonies of any marriage or divorce duly solemnised or decreed in any colony, naturalisation of aliens, status of corporations and joint stock companies in other colonies than that in which they have been constituted, and any other matter of general Australasian interest with respect to which the legislatures of the several colonies can legislate within their own limits, and as to which it is deemed desirable that there should be a law of general application: provided that in such cases the Acts of the Council shall extend only to the colonies by whose legislatures the matter shall have been so referred to it, and such other colonies as may afterwards adopt the same. Every Bill in respect of the matters marked (a), (b), or (c), shall, unless previously approved by Her Majesty through one of Her Principal Secretaries of State, be reserved for the signification of Her Majesty's pleasure. 16. The Governors of any two or more of the colonies Power to Governors to may, upon an address of the legislatures of such colonies, refer questions refer for the consideration and determination of the Council for determinaany questions relating to those colonies or their relations tion of Council. with one another, and the Council shall thereupon have authority to consider and determine by Act of Council the matters so referred to it. 17. Every Bill passed by the Council shall be presented, Royal assent to Bills passed by for Her Majesty's assent, to the Governor of the colony Council. in which the Council shall be sitting, who shall declare, according to his discretion, but subject to the provisions of this Act and to Her Majesty's instructions, either that he assents thereto in Her Majesty's name, or that he withholds such assent, or that he reserves the Bill for the signification of Her Majesty's pleasure, or that he will be prepared to assent thereto, subject to certain amendments to be specified by him. has assented in 18. When the Governor assents to a Bill in Her Power to Her Majesty's name, he shall, by the first convenient oppor- allow Act to Majesty to distunity, send an authentic copy of the Act to one of Her which Governor Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State, and if her Majesty, Her Majesty's within one year after receipt thereof by the Secretary of name. State, thinks fit to disallow the Act, such disallowance (with a certificate of the Secretary of State of the day on which the Act was received by him) being signified by such Governor by message to the Council, or by proclamation in the "Government Gazette of all the colonies affected thereby, shall annul the Act from and after the day of such signification. of Her 19. A Bill reserved for the signification of Her Majesty's Bill reserved pleasure shall not have any force unless and until within for signification one year from the day on which it was presented to the Majesty's Governor for Her Majesty's assent such Governor signifies, pleasure. Acts of Council when assented to to have force of law. Publication of Acts of Council to supersede Colonial enactments. Standing orders business. by message to the Council, or by proclamation published as last aforesaid, that it has received the assent of Her Majesty. 20. All Acts of the Council, on being assented to in manner herein-before provided, shall have the force of law in all Her Majesty's possessions in Australasia in respect to which this Act is in operation, or in the several colonies to which they shall extend, as the case may be, and on board all British Ships, other than Her Majesty's ships of war, whose last port of clearance or port of destination is in any such possession or colony. 21. Every Act assented to in the first instance shall be proclaimed in the "Government Gazette" of the colony in which the session of the Council at which it was passed was held, and shall also be transmitted by the Governor assenting thereto to the Governors of the several colonies affected thereby, and shall be proclaimed by them within the respective colonies of which they are Governors. 22. If in any case the provisions of any Act of the Council shall be repugnant to, or inconsistent with, the law of any colony affected thereby, the former shall prevail, and the latter shall, so far as such repugnance or inconsistency extends, have no operation. 23. The Council may from time to time make and for conduct of adopt such standing rules and orders as may be necessary for the conduct of its business, and all such rules and orders shall be binding on the members of the Council. Committees of Officers and Mode of defraying ex penditure of Council. 24. The Council may appoint temporary or permanent committees of its members, to perform such duties, whether during the session of the Council or when the Council is not in session, as may be referred to them by the Council. 25. The Council may appoint such officers and servants as may be necessary for the proper conduct of its business, and may direct the payment to them of such remuneration as it may think fit. 26. The necessary expenditure connected with the business of the Council shall be defrayed in the first instance by the colony wherein the expenditure is in curred, and shall be ultimately contributed and paid by the several colonies in proportion to their population. The amounts payable by the several colonies shall be assessed and apportioned, in case of difference, by the Governor of the colony of Tasmania. contributions 27. It shall be the duty of the Governor of each colony Payment of to direct the payment by the Colonial Treasurer, or other by colonies. proper officer of the colony, of the amount of the contribu tion payable by such colony under the provisions of the preceding section. 28. Whenever it shall be necessary to prove the pro- Evidence of ceedings of the Council in any court of justice, or other- proceedings. wise, a certified copy of such proceedings, under the hand of the clerk or other officer appointed in that behalf by the Council, shall be conclusive evidence of the proceedings appearing by such copy to have been had or taken. 29. The Council may make such representations or Power to make recommendations to Her Majesty as it may think fit with representations to Her Majesty. respect to any matters of general Australasian interest, or to the relations of Her Majesty's possessions in Australasia with the possessions of foreign powers. 30. This Act shall not come into operation in respect of Commencement of Act in respect any colony until the legislature of such colony shall have of any colony. passed an Act or Ordinance declaring that the same shall be in force therein, and appointing a day on and from which such operation shall take effect, nor until four colonies at the least shall have passed such Act or Ordinance. determine 31. This Act shall cease to be in operation in respect Power to to any colony the legislature of which shall have passed operation of an Act or Ordinance declaring that the same shall cease Act in any to be in force therein: Provided, nevertheless, that all Colony. Acts of the Council passed while this Act was in operation in such colony shall continue to be in force therein, unless altered or repealed by the Council. 32. This Act shall be styled and may be cited as the Short title. Federal Council of Australasia Act, 1885. CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF BRAZIL. 24 FEBRUARY, 1891. [Translation in "British and Foreign State Papers," vol. 83 (1891), pp. 487-509.] TITLE I.-OF THE FEDERAL ORGANIZATION. Preliminary Provisions. Art. 1. The Brazilian nation adopts as a form of Government under the representative system the Federal Republic proclaimed on the 15th November, 1889, and constitutes itself, by the perpetual and indissoluble union of its former provinces, into the United States of Brazil. Art. 2. Each of the former provinces will form a State, and the former neutral municipality will constitute the Federal District, and continue to be the capital of the Union, until the provisions of the following Article shall have been carried out. Art. 3. [A zone to be marked out on the central plateau for the foundation of a capital therein.] Art. 4. The States may become incorporated one with another, may be subdivided or dismembered in order to annex themselves to others, or to form new States, with the assent of the respective Legislative Assemblies granted at two successive annual sessions, and with the approbation of the National Congress. Art. 5. It is incumbent on each State to provide at its own expense for the needs of its Government and Administration; the Union, however, will afford assistance to any State which, in case of public misfortune, may apply therefor. Art. 6. The Federal Government cannot intervene in matters exclusively affecting the States, except for the purpose of 1. Repelling foreign invasion, or the invasion of one State by another; |