No doubt it does, but in practice the person aggrieved might
have very great difficulty in making the remedy effective. He must
obtain a decision in his favour from the Judicial Committee of the Privy
Council, at no small cost of money and personal odium; and the decision
of that "alien" tribunal (as it would be called) must then be enforced
under the jurisdiction of a Government which (on the hypothesis which we
are considering) would be unfriendly, by judges and executive officers
appointed and perhaps removable by that authority, and in the midst of a
population hostile to "foreign" interference. Is it extravagant to
suppose that the complainant would not gain much by his appeal to
Caesar?
And even if we suppose the Irish Legislature and Executive to confine
themselves within the letter of the Act, are the checks of any real
value? The Irish Parliament might still interfere with contracts, or
might validate contracts now held to be void as contrary to public
policy. They might defeat the Mortmain Acts. They might deal as they
thought fit with internal trade; and the great industries of Belfast and
its neighbourhood might find their views on trade questions of no avail.
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