AbstractsEconomics

In the first place, the thesis has collected, summarized and examined a large number of cases of grant and refusal of dissolution, especially in the overseas Empire, which seem never to have been recorded before except in the original official documents. Second, it has done the same for a considerable number of discussions of hypothetical cases of dissolution in the United Kingdom. Third, it presents the first complete and accurate record, and the most thorough critical analysis which has yet appeared, of the highly important Canadian crisis of 1926 (including the very interesting, though by no means unprecedented, temporary Government of Ministers without portfolio). Fourth, it subjects the pronouncements of statesmen and text-writers on the subject of dissolution of Parliament to rigorous criticism, in the light of the basic principles of the British parliamentary system. Fifth, it argues that a proper and resolute exercise of the Crown's reserve power in regard to dissolution of Parliament is an essential safeguard of constitutional liberty. [...]