# Why does the Queen of England hang on? Why can't she retire so Charles can be King? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 3, 2006, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-queen-of-england-hang-on-why-cant-she-retire-so-charles-can-be-king/367112 "2006-08-03T00:42:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2006, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-queen-of-england-hang-on-why-cant-she-retire-so-charles-can-be-king/367112/121 "2006-08-12T05:44:30Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > (Victoria was the last monarch to sign a bill in person.). > [@Rysto](#): > > What about the [Canada Act,1982](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada_Act#Enactment_of_the_Act)? [QUOTE=alphaboi867] Okay no _British_ monarch has signed a bill in person, but _Canadian_ monarchs have. [/QUOTE] The wiki article on the [Canada Act 1982](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada_Act#Enactment_of_the_Act) is incorrect. Her Majesty did not sign the _Canada Act 1982_ into law on the steps of the Canadian Parliament in Ottawa. Most of that Act had come into force the moment Royal Assent had been given in the name of the Queen in the British Parliament the previous month. The general rule is that an Act of Parliament comes into force on the day of Royal Assent, unless the Act itself sets a different date - either an Act can come into force on a later set date, or it can come into force on a date approved by a subsequent Royal proclamation. The _Canada Act 1982_ does not have a section dealing with the date it came into force, so that means that most of it came into force on the date of Royal Assent in the British Parliament - which the note in italics under the title and citation for the Act indicates was March 29, 1982. Immediately from that date forward, the bulk of the _Canada Act 1982_ was in force, meaning that the British Parliament no longer had any authority to enact any law for Canada. However, a part of the _Canada Act 1982_ did not come into force on Royal Assent. Section 1 of the _Canada Act 1982_ provides that Schedule B to the _Canada Act 1982_ only came into force via the process set out in the Schedule itself. Schedule B to the _Canada Act 1982_ sets out another Act: the [_Constitution Act, 1982_](http://laws.justice.gc.ca/en/const/annex_e.html), which contains the _Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms_, the amending formula, and so on. Schedule B obtains its legal authority as part of the _Canada Act 1982_, so the Royal Assent of March 29, 1982 would apply to it as well, but it did not come into force immediately. [Section 58 of the _Constitution Act, 1982_](http://laws.justice.gc.ca/en/const/annex_e.html#VII) provides that the Schedule was to come into force > [@s. 58](#): > > … on a day to be fixed by proclamation issued by the Queen or the Governor General under the Great Seal of Canada. A Royal proclamation setting the date for bringing legislation into force is not the same as Royal Assent. That’s what the picture in the wiki article shows: Her Majesty is not giving Royal Assent to the _Canada Act 1982_. That was done the previous month in the U.K. Parliament, and doesn’t involve signing - it’s usually just oral confirmation that the Crown assents. What Her Majesty was doing was signing the [Proclamation of the Constitution Act, 1982 into force](http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Proclamation_of_the_Constitution_Act_1982). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-queen-of-england-hang-on-why-cant-she-retire-so-charles-can-be-king/367112.md?page=6)