Viscount Haldane:-

This is an appeal from a judgment of the Supreme Court of Canada answering certain questions put to the judges by a reference from the Government of the Dominion. The questions so referred were as follows :

1. Are Ss. 4 and 70 of the Insurance Act, 1910, or any and what part or parts of the said sections, ultra vires of the Parliament of Canada?

2. Does S. 4 of the Insurance Act, 1910, operate to prohibit an insurance company incorporated by a foreign-state from carrying on the business of insurance within Canada, if such company does not hold a license from the Minister under the said Act, and if such carrying on of the business is confined to a single province?

Section 4 is in these terms :-

"In Canada, except as otherwise provided by this Act, no company or underwriters or other person shall solicit or accept any risk, or issue or deliver any receipt or policy of insurance, or grant any annuity on a life or lives, or collect or receive any premium, or inspect any risk, or adjust any loss, or carry on any business of insurance, or prosecute or maintain any suit, action, or proceeding, or file any claim in insolvency relating to such business, unless it be done by or