Viscount Haldane:—

These are consolidated appeals from judgments of the Supreme Court of British Columbia. The Attorney-General for the Dominions and the Attorney-General for the Province have intervened.

By the first of the judgments the appellant company was restrained at the suit of the respondent Wharton from carrying on business in the Province until the company should have become licensed under Part VI of the British Columbia Companies Act. By the second judgment the appellants' action against the respondent Duck for goods sold and delivered was dismissed. The real question in both cases is one of importance. It concerns the distribution between the Dominion and the Provincial Legislatures of powers as regards incorporated companies.

The appellants are a company incorporated in 1907 by Letters Patent issued by the Secretary of State for Canada under the Companies Act of the Dominion. The Letters Patent purported to authorize it to carry on throughout Canada the business of a dealer in agricultural implements. It has been held by the Court below that certain provisions of the British Columbia Companies Act have been validly enacted by the Provincial Legislature. These provisions