The central legal point established in the judgment is the validation of provincial regulation of trade within the province and the validity of licence fees for local regulation and revenue purposes.

Lord Atkin:-

This is an appeal from a decision of the Court of Appeal for British Columbia reversing a decision of Manson J. who had given judgment in the action in favour of the plaintiffs, the present appellants. The appellants were dairy farmers carrying on their business in the Province of British Columbia and were affected by a Milk Marketing Scheme approved by the Lieutenant-Governor in Council under the Natural Products Marketing (British Columbia) Act, Ch. 34 of the Statutes of 1936. The scheme set up the Lower Mainland Diary Products Board (the defendants) and in the action the plaintiffs claimed a declaration that the Act was ultra vires of the Legislature of the Province: and that the plaintiffs were under no obligation to obtain licences from the defendants or comply with any of their demands : and further claimed an injunction to restrain the defendants from interfering with them. In the proceedings the Attorney-General for the Province intervened, and he alone was represented as respondent before this Board. The learned trial Judge decided in favour of the plaintiffs. The Court of Appeal reversed his decision following judgments they had delivered on a reference to them by the Lieutenant-Governor in Council asking whether the Act in question was ultra vires of the Legislature of the Province. Having answered the question in the negative they without further discussion allowed the appeal. The legislative history of the impugned statute is as follows. In November 1934, the Legislature of British Columbia passed an Act entitled the Natural Products Marketing (British Columbia) Act providing that the Lieutenant-Governor in Council might constitute a British Columbia Marketing Board and arming the Board with powers to act in co-operation and conjointly with the Dominion Marketing Board constituted under the Dominion Act, the Natural Products Marketing Act, 1934. In November 1935, the Governor-General in Council had referred to the Supreme Court of Canada the question whether the Dominion Act was ultra vires of the Dominion Legislature. On 17th June 1936, the Supreme Court held in In re Dominion Natural Products Marketing Act, 1934, (1936) SCR 398 that it was ultra vires and their decision was affirmed by this Board on 28th January 1937: (1937) AC 377. Meantime, in April 1936, the Legislature of British Columbia had amended the Provincial Act of 1934, which now is in the form enacted in the Revised Statutes of British Columbia 1936, c. 165, together with an additional clause as to severability enacted in an Amendment Act of 1937, c. 41. It is not necessary to set out all the provisions of the Act in question, but reference should be made to the following definitions :

'Marketing' includes buying and selling, shipping for sale or storage and offering for sale : and in respect of a natural product includes its transportation in any manner by any person. 'Natural product' means any product of agriculture or of the forest, sea, lake or river and any article of food or drink wholly or partly manufactured or derived from any such product.

Section 4 (1) of the Act provides:

The purpose and intent of this Act is to provide for the control and regulation in any or all respects of the transportation, packing, storage and marketing of natural products within the province including the prohibition of such transportation, packing, storage and marketing in whole or in part.

The scheme of the Act is to enable the Lieutenant-Governor in Council to set up a Central British Columbia Marketing Board to establish or approve schemes for the control and regulation within the province of the transportation, packing, storage and marketing of any natural products, to constitute marketing boards, to administer such schemes, and to vest in those boards any powers considered necessary or advisable to exercise those functions. In particular the Lieutenant-Governor in Council may vest in any marketing board the powers [S. 4 (2) (d)], to fix and collect