Fauteux J. noted that a declaration of the Tariff Board under s. 57 of the Excise Tax Act as to the taxability of a particular article was, subject to appeal by leave on a question of law only, final and conclusive potentially against anyone in Canada and therefore potentially precluded subsequent access by that person to the Exchequer Court, and went on to state (at pp. 1062-1063):
"That section 57 thus affords a substantial alteration of the general system of the law and particularly the other provisions of the Act dealing with the recovery of taxes is manifest. In like circumstances, the construction of this subsequent enactment, section 57, is subject to the rule that a Legislature is not presumed to depart from the general system of the law without expressing its intention to do so with irresistible clearness, failing which the law remains undisturbed."