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The capitulation of Quebec introduced into Canadian government a new factor—the sovereignty of the British crown. The general relations existing between the sovereign and a colony were the product of the British colonial system and had been evolved many years before Canada became a British possession. While these relations were a most important factor in the government of the colony, they find but a very inadequate expression in its constitution; they were presupposed in the constitution and were, in fact, considered as superior to it. Sovereignty was exercised in a two-fold manner—by the king in council and by the king in parliament. Executive and administrative acts were the expressions of the king in council, while legislative functions were performed at times by the king in council, though normally by the king in parliament.

In the transaction of the executive duties connected with the colonies the crown operated through the office which in later years became popularly known as Downing Street. For many years before the conquest of Canada, a commission, appointed by the crown and bearing the name of the Board of Trade and Plantations, existed for the purpose of collecting information relating to colonial affairs, and, when required, of tendering advice to the crown. Executive responsibility was borne by the secretary of state for the Southern department until 1768, when a separate secretary of state was appointed for the management of colonial affairs. In 1782 a complete change was made in the administrative system. The Board of Trade and Plantations and the office of secretary of state for the Colonies were alike abolished, and the oversight of the Colonies was assumed by the secretary of state for Home Affairs. Four years later an advisory committee of the Privy Council was created for Trade and Foreign Plantations. In 1794 a further reorganization was effected, when colonial affairs were brought under the newly created office of secretary of state for War—a department which a few years later became officially known as that of the secretary of state for War and the Colonies. During the remainder of the period here considered this office continued to be the channel of communication between the crown and the colony.

The sovereignty of the king in council was most prominently manifested in the appointment and control of the colonial governor. The selection of the governor was in all cases subject to the approval of the king, and the position was held only during the royal pleasure. The governor’s commission, and the instructions which determined his administrative policy, though issued in the name of the king, were prepared by the Board of Trade and Plantations. The more minute instructions on the detail of administrative policy were contained in the correspondence between the colonial secretary and the governor, which expressed the opinions of the king’s responsible advisers.

In the appointments to colonial offices, particularly during the period immediately following the Conquest, the control of the crown was conspicuously exercised. The chief justice, the attorney-general, the receiver-general, and the collector of customs were appointed directly by the crown. The exercise of this prerogative was later greatly modified, and appointments to important stations in the province, though in the name of the king, were in reality made by the governor.

In the actual administration of colonial affairs the crown exercised a most effective control. This was particularly manifested in the administration of the provincial finances. The revenue of the colony was derived from several sources. The casual and territorial revenue and the seigneurial dues, which in New France had been paid to the king, by the cession became vested in the British crown. Customs dues, productive of a very considerable revenue, were levied by various British statutes, and in particular by the Quebec Revenue Act of 1774. The funds derived from these various sources were paid to the receiver-general of the province and were accounted for to the commissioners of His Majesty’s Treasury. After the expense of collection had been deducted, the proceeds were appropriated for the expenses of the government of the province on the warrant of the lord high treasurer or the commissioners of the Treasury. In actual practice, however, the warrant of the governor was considered sufficient authority for the payment of funds in the possession of the receiver-general. At no time during the early history of the colony were these resources adequate to meet the expenditure of the province, and the balance was paid from funds at the disposal of the imperial parliament. Thus the revenue of the province was created by the British parliament and was appropriated by the officers under the immediate control of the crown.

During the period between the Conquest and the promise of a representative legislature in 1763, the king in council exercised supreme legislative power in Canada. The legislative supremacy of the crown was still further expressed in the right to conclude treaties affecting the interests of the colony and to disallow colonial legislation.

Supremacy in ecclesiastical affairs, in the creation of parishes, in the erection of rectories and in the appointment to ecclesiastical benefices was formally claimed by the crown. While the free exercise of their religion granted to the Roman Catholic subjects by the Quebec Act was subject to the king’s supremacy, the actual exercise of the royal supremacy was, for political reasons, permitted to rest in abeyance during the first half century of British rule. It was only when later years introduced new political factors that the question of ecclesiastical supremacy became of practical importance.

The defence of the colony was a particular concern of the crown. Control of the militia raised in the colony was lodged with the governor, while the commander-in-chief of the North American army exercised command over the regular force stationed in the province. The presence of several regiments of the army thus introduced the authority of an officer who seldom resided within the colony, and whose policy not infrequently clashed with that of the civil governor.

The prerogatives already considered had been exercised by the king in council. Supreme legislative authority in Canadian affairs was, after 1763, vested in the king in parliament. In a statute of 1766, which related particularly to the American colonies, the right of the imperial parliament to make laws binding on the colonies ‘in all cases whatsoever’ was asserted.^[1] This authority was exercised in the regulation of colonial questions in general, in determining issues of supreme importance to particular colonies, and in the regulation of the trade and commerce of the colonies. The American Revolution resulted in a revision of the attitude of the British parliament towards the regulation of colonial commerce. The Declaratory Act of 1778^[2] abandoned the right to levy taxes from a colony for the purpose of a revenue, limited the exercise of legislative authority in the imposition of customs dues to the necessary regulation of commerce, and authorized the appropriation of the proceeds for the use of the colony from which they had been collected. This act remained a guarantee against taxation of the colonies by the imperial parliament.

[1]	6 Geo. iii, cap. 12.

[2]	18 Geo. iii, cap. 12.