Constitutional interpretation of "persons" includes women, making them eligible for Senate membership under the British North America Act.
The term "persons" in section 24 of the British North America Act, 1867 was construed to include women, because a constitutional instrument must receive a large and liberal interpretation and its text did not expressly exclude them. Historical common-law exclusion of women from public office was treated as non-conclusive, and the Act's internal drafting showed that where male limitation was intended it was stated expressly. On that construction, women were eligible to be summoned to and become members of the Senate of Canada.
Issues: Whether the word "persons" in Section 24 of the British North America Act, 1867 includes women, so that women are eligible to be summoned to and become members of the Senate of Canada.
Analysis: The word "persons" is capable of including both sexes and the Act is a constitutional instrument intended to establish a working constitutional order for a developing country. Historical exclusion of women from public office at common law was treated as a product of older conditions and was not conclusive for construing the Act. The internal structure of the Act also pointed against a male-only limitation: where Parliament intended to confine a provision to males, it said so expressly, as in Sections 41 and 84. Other provisions used the word "person" in contexts where females were necessarily included. The qualifications for senators in Section 23 did not compel exclusion of women, and the constitutional instrument was to receive a large and liberal interpretation.
Conclusion: Section 24 includes women within the expression "qualified persons" and women are eligible to be summoned to and become members of the Senate of Canada.
Ratio Decidendi: A constitutional term of general import must be construed in a large and liberal manner, and where the text does not expressly exclude women, the word "persons" may include women if that construction best accords with the structure and purpose of the instrument.
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