THE SOVEREIGNTY OF THE DOMINIONS 33
portant particulars in 1920, but the Privy Councilx held Chapter
that the limits of 1890 still remained applicable to the __L
Dominion courts, and left it uncertain whether these
limits could be extended by Dominion legislation or by
imperial legislation only. It was clear that the doubt
could not be left unsolved, and the Statute, by author-
ising the repeal of Imperial Acts by the Dominions,
enables any Dominion to legislate as it pleases. More-
over, by Section 6 it removes the necessity of reserva-
tion or the insertion of a suspending clause in Dominion
legislation and the requirement of the approval of the
King in Council for rules made by Dominion Courts.
The sovereignty of the Dominions is thus asserted in
a matter of the highest importance, and of inter-
national interest, for Admiralty jurisdiction affects
vitally foreign as well as British shipping wherever
registered.
In the field of Admiralty jurisdiction as of shipping
generally there is clearly the utmost desirability of
securing uniformity of action in change of law. Just as
the Dominions have been urged to make effective the
International Conventions reached in 1929-30 on the
subject of Safety of Life at Sea and Loadlines, as
Canada did in 1931, so they are invited to accept
the Brussels Conventions on the Limitation of Ship-
owners' Liability and on Maritime Mortgages and
Liens. It is plain that, if each part of the Empire
acts in isolation, there must be serious discrepancy
of results arrived at in shipping cases, and it is to
be hoped that Dominion autonomy in legislation may
evoke a hearty desire to co-operate with the other
1 The Yuri Maru, The Woron, [1927] A.C. 906; Keith, The Sove-
reignty of the British Dominions, pp. 239-42.
D