Page:Remarks on Some Late Decisions Respecting the Colonial Church.djvu/9

 dependent Legislature. The judgment contains the following passages:—

Doubts, not wholly unreasonable, may, I conceive, be suggested as to the exact force and extent of this decision. The force of a decision depends on the jurisdiction of the Court; the extent of it depends, not on the language employed, but on the question presented for adjudication. No Court can decide a question not brought before it; nor can language the most laboriously positive transform a dictum into anything more than an expression of opinion. The question submitted by Dr. Colenso to Her Majesty in Council was, whether Dr. Gray had, or had not, authority to deprive him. Authority to deprive may exist (a) by law; (b) by virtue of a contract previously entered into by the person deprived; (c) by the terms of a trust, of which the person deprived claims the benefit. Whether, in adjudicating on the petition, Her Majesty in Council assumed jurisdiction as