from the Supreme Court to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom, sitting in London. The Judicial Committee served as the highest court for the British Empire and Commonwealth. Many federal reference questions were appealed to the Judicial Committee, which had the final say and could overrule the decision of the Supreme Court. Reference jurisdiction of the provincial courts The provincial governments, under their respective Constitutional Questions Acts, are able to submit questions to the provincial Superior Court or Court of Appeal. The process is very similar to the federal government reference questions. Once the provincial Court of Appeal has given its decision on the reference question, the government or other parties to the reference have the right under the Supreme Court Act to appeal the decision to the Supreme Court of Canada. Prior to 1949, appeals lay directly from the provincial courts of appeal to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. This right of direct appeal allowed litigants to by-pass the Supreme Court, so many provincial reference cases were never heard by the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court was then required to follow the decision of the Judicial Committee. Constitutionality of the reference jurisdiction There have been challenges to the power of the federal government to confer the reference jurisdiction on the Supreme Court, but these challenges have been rejected, most recently in the Reference re Secession of Quebec in 1998. Pursuant to the ruling of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in Attorney-General of Ontario v. Attorney-General of Canada (References Reference) [1912] A.C. 571, the role of the courts in references is not judicial as such, but one of advising the executive branch of government. Federal reference questions There have been over 75 federal references to the Supreme Court since 1892. Prior to the abolition of appeals to the Judicial Committee, many of the earlier federal references went on appeal from the Supreme Court to the Judicial Committee. Since the abolition of appeals, the Supreme Court decision is the final say on a federal reference. Decisions by the Supreme Court Reference re Senate Reform, 2014 SCC 32 Reference re Supreme Court Act, ss. 5 and 6, 2014 Reference re Securities Act, 2011 Reference re Same-Sex Marriage, 2004 Reference re Secession of Quebec, [1998] 2 S.C.R. 217 Reference re David Milgaard Conviction, [1992] 1 S.C.R. 866 (April 14, 1992) Reference re Ng Extradition,