Posted on 07/02/2003 7:27:52 AM PDT by Loyalist
An Ontario court judge has dismissed an unusual lawsuit that sought to impose the Canadian Charter of Rights over a 300-year-old British act establishing the Rules of Succession to the Crown because it bars Catholics from ascending the throne.
Rejecting the case against the Queen brought by a former Toronto city councillor, Justice Paul S. Rouleau of the Ontario Superior Court suggested such a change could see a return to the bloody past when civil wars raged over who would inherit the throne.
"If the courts were free to review and declare inoperative certain parts of the rules of succession, Canada could break symmetry with Great Britain, and could conceivably recognize a different monarch than does Great Britain," he writes in his decision, released last week.
"In fact, Canada could arguably reanimate the debate regarding the heir to the throne, an argument that was resolved by the Act of Settlement. This would clearly be contrary to settled intention, as demonstrated by our written Constitution, and would see the courts changing rather than protecting our fundamental constitutional structure."
Tony O'Donohue, a Canadian Catholic of Irish descent, launched the lawsuit after his 22-year letter-writing campaign failed to convince politicians to quash sections of the Act of Settlement, 1701, a British statute that is part of Canada's constitution.
It limits succession to the British throne to the "Protestant line, for the happiness of the nation." It says: "All and every person ... [who] shall hold communion with the see or Church of Rome, or should profess the popish religion, or marry a papist, should be excluded, and are by that Act made for ever incapable to inherit, possess or enjoy the Crown and government of this realm."
It was enacted when the childless King William III was seriously ill and his sister-in-law, Anne, who was the prospective replacement, had lost her only surviving child.
The issue of succession was keenly watched not only by the royal family but also by supporters of James II, the exiled king.
By declaring that only the Protestant heirs of Princess Sophia, Electoress of Hanover, were eligible for the throne, the act was responsible for the accession of the House of Hanover to the throne in 1714.
Mr. O'Donohue said the act is offensive and counter to the equality provisions of Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
"I thought these medieval laws, based on discrimination of religion and race and property and creed, had all melted away," he said. "But, no, there it is."
He vows to continue his fight and to appeal the ruling. "A lot of changes have happened in the past 300 years. It's time we cleaned up our act. It should have been scrapped a long time ago. I know it is going to change sometime, but it is a question of who is going to have the ability to change it."
The ruling deals only with the mechanics of the claim, not the merits of its arguments.
ahumphreys@nationalpost.com
© Copyright 2003 National Post
Hmmm, maybe there was a reason for that after all.
She was protecting you from "life in the goldfish bowl" lived by Diana and the rest of the royal family by removing you from the line of succession.
I guess this frees up some time for my run for the governorship.
I know it is but what is Russia? And what are Serbia, Bulgaria and Romania, for that matter? How about Greece?
England must become a Catholic country once again, then the constitution should be changed, not to open the throne to Muslims, Hindus, etc., but to make the Catholic religion mandatory for the monarch.
"Religious liberty" is a concept that has proven disastrous for the Catholic faith -- although it has been equally disastrous for Protestants in formerly Protestant countries. Every faith, and every nation, should recognize the evil of religious liberty.
So does that mean no more whining from the RC here when Russia kicks out one or two priests?
Ultimately we want every country to be a Catholic country.
I do appreciate your honesty and what you say is entirely consistent with the history of your church.
"Tavener has been a leading British composer since the Beatles released his cantata, "The Whale," on their Apple label in 1968. With his conversion to the Greek Orthodox Church a few years later, he forswore the avant-garde and Modernism, but he has developed a wide following for his mystically enveloping, slow-moving, exotically ecstatic music, and his "Song for Athene," performed at Princess Diana's funeral, made him a celebrity. Prince Charles is the patron for "The Veil of the Temple," which is also sponsored by the City of London Festival."
Those are Orthodox countries.
So does that mean no more whining from the RC here when Russia kicks out one or two priests?
You haven't heard any whining from me.
Oh, Canada!
Y'know ... come to think of it ...what business is it of Canada's anyway?
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