3.
P42.
MR. WELLS:
LORD MORRIS:
MR. WELLS:
Yes, that is one illustration, and of course another illustration that my learned friend gave in the course of his argument was the case of Cox v. Green, where it was a dispute as to medical ethics. I think one of your Lordships observed that the case would have been decided differently today, but nevertheless it is another sphere in which I apprehend that at least the courts were slow and might still be slow in saying that it came within their province; but this, in my submission, is not that case. Here the case is a question of law, a question whether a certain document, a bill, if enacted is ultra vires a United Kingdom statute or not. In those circumstances, my Lords, in my submission it is not in a sense, with respect, for me to say that this case comes within the category of cases where the court will intervene by granting relief, declaratory or otherwise. It is for those who assert the contrary to establish it. Here is a question undoubtedly of ultra vires action. Two of your Lordships have said this morning that quite obviously on the face of it the draft Ordinance is ultra vires.
In those circumstances, my Lords, my submission is that there can be no doubt that this is a question of law and a question of law affecting a statute which the United Kingdom Parliament passed for the protection amongst others, or one may say mainly for the protection, of its subjects, and it is a question of a construction of a particular document in the light of that Act, and, when we have so powerful an authority as that of Lord Wilberforce saying that where ultra vires action is threatened the right course is to prevent it from being carried out, then, my Lords, in my submission this is certainly not a case where your Lordships should decline to exercise jurisdiction whatever the result of your findings in the end may be.
I think the sentence I had in mind when I put the question was a sentence from the judgment of Lord Justice Bankes in the Hannay case at page 572.
Yes, I remember the passage.
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