Royal Succession and the Canadian Crown as a Corporation Sole: A Critique of Canada’s Succession to the Throne Act, 2013
Constitutional Forum 23, No. 1 (April 2014): 17-26
10 Pages Posted: 9 Apr 2014
Date Written: April 4, 2014
Abstract
The Crown of Canada is a sui generis, non-statutory corporation sole. A corporation sole by definition refers to one person and his successors incorporated into a particular office. However, this corporation sole, and one legal person, contains two "capacities", the office in its corporate capacity and the office-holder in his individual or natural capacity. The office and office-holder are inseparably fused in law into the corporation sole, even though the two capacities remain distinct.
The mixture of statutory and common-law rules governing the succession to the Canadian Crown therefore by definition pertain to "the office of the Queen" under section 41(a) of the Constitution Act, 1982, since a the Crown is a corporation sole and since a corporation sole includes the successors to the office in order to ensure a perpetual legal personality.
The Succession to the Throne Act, 2013, which "assented to" the British Succession to the Crown Act, 2013, did "not" alter the rules governing succession to the Canadian Crown.
Keywords: Corporation sole, Crown, succession
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