THE SOVEREIGNTY OF THE DOMINIONS        4*
the Parliament. It is true that it is hardly probable Chapter
that any Dominion Government would act in the    	L
matter without the assent of its Parliament, but the
power to act remains, and it is clear that, whatever
the views of the Parliament, an Imperial Act might
be made to apply to a Domini on on the request of the
Government of the day. It must, however, be noted
that there is no compulsion on the British. Parliament
to act on a mere request from a Government, and that
in all probability no Act would be passed save with
the assent of the Dominion Parliament. Moreover, any
Act so passed can, of course, be varied or repealed by
the Dominion Parliament in virtue of the powers
granted by Section 2 of the Statute. It cannot, how-
ever, be said that this is a complete protection to a
Dominion against unwise action by a Government, for
the process of legislation is often difficult and lengthy,
and, even if the lower house of the Parliament were op-
posed to the work of a Government, it might be unable
to secure repeal through the opposition of the upper
house. In view of this fact, the action of the Common-
wealth in safeguarding the powers of the Parliament
appears to be definitely, more satisfactory than the
acceptance by the other Dominions of the right of
the Government to act. The wording of the clause is
curious in demanding both a request and a consent to
imperial legislation, but it is clearly not proposed that
there should be two stages of the procedure; legisla-
tion is to be based on prior intimation of Dominion
desire, and not to be brought forward without such
intimation.
The necessity of the retention of the power is clear
in the case of Canada, whose constitution cannot be