Sir George Grey's plea that the Act 3 and 4
Victoria, cap. 54, providing that " it shall be lawful " to do as he has done, left him no discretion in the matter is clearly unsound. These words are not " a legal term implying a regular obligation and not a per- mission." In certain cases, no doubt, where the context requires it, the expression is so construed—but, as a general rule, it is merely permissive. There is nothing in this Act to make the expression obligatory, and it has never judicially been so con- strued. Sir George Grey, of course, prefers to place that con- struction upon it, and has " uniformly" done so, because it saves him a very disagreeable responsibility ; but, after all, the " uniformity " referred to appears to reduce itself to a single instance, in which there seem to have been none of the strong objections to that course which there were in Townley's case.
