Viscount Haldane:-

This is an appeal from the Supreme Court of Canada, before which were brought, under statute, questions relating to the constitutional validity of the Acts above mentioned. As the six judges who sat in the Supreme Court were equally divided in opinion, no judgment was rendered. The Chief Justice and Anglin and Mignault, JJ., considered that the questions raised should be answered in the affirmative, while Idington, J., Duff and Brodeur, JJ., thought that the first question should be answered in the negative and that therefore the second question did not arise. These questions were raised for the opinion of the Supreme Court by a case stated under Section 32 of the Board of Commerce Act, 1919, and were (1) whether the Board had lawful authority to make a certain order; and (2) whether the Board had lawful authority to require the Registrar, or other proper authority of the Supreme Court of Ontario, to cause the order, when issued, to be made a rule of that Court.

The order in question was to the effect that certain retail dealers in clothing in the City of Ottawa were prohibited from charging as profits on sales more than a certain percentage on cost, which was pres