How is it Governed?

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21718, 27 February 1936, Page 4 (Supplement)

How is it Governed?

L—GREAT BRITAIN

Readers have asked for a morel the Dominion Parliaments to pass detailed wcount Of the government separate acts making such . Imof Great Britain than the one which „ . . _ . +> ._ 1/v , al appeared in “The Press Junior” last l L T^h week. The series which this article § 18 except, in the Irish begins will consist of short notes State and toe Union of South on toe methods of governing various the King, on the advice countries in toe world. Tie notes of toe Imperial Government, to veto on the component parts of toe Brit- ®Hy Dominion act; but just _as cusish Empire will come first and will to 1? has made the prerogative of be mane detailed than the later veto m Imperial law-making obsonotes on other parts of the world. let f> so custom has made the Royal veto of Dominion acts into a legal i,ne lunpira or constitutional fiction. It never The. British Empire consists of:— happens and probably will never (I.) Great Britain and Northern happen. Ireland, Channel Islands and Isle This brings us to a consideration of Man. of toe British constitution which is (II.) The Irish Free State, India, something that has grown and dethe Dominions, Colonies, Protector- vcloped during more than 1000 ates, mandated territories and De- years of British history. Some pendencies. ' countries have constitutions that are At toe Imperial Conference of 1928 written legal enactments; British the United Kingdom (that is, Great Dominions have constitutions that Britain and Northern Ireland) and are cut and dried, fairly easily set

the Dominions were declared to be “autonomous (self-governing) communities within the British Empire, equal in status, in no way subordin-ate-one to another in any aspect of their domestic or external affairs, thobgh united by a common allegiance to the Crown and freely associated as members of toe British Commonwealth of Nations.” In general rus» these two terms, “British Empire” and “British Commonwealth of Nations" mean the same thing; but the first seems to embrace, the United Kingdom and the self-governing Dominions and the Colonies, Protectorates, Dependencies and mandated territories that have from time to time been added to toe kingdom of England to build J t inter a huge empire; and the second term seems to emphasise the nefcrand exalted status of the nation HrS- °? tfot empire. The Statute of , Westminster, which became law on December 111931, after it had be«i submitted for approval to the Governments, made legal that which had been customary Jor many years: That no act of the Parliament qf the United Kingdom may become part of the law of anv L - It Is usual for

out in Black and white; these constitutions are the bodies of laws and rules by which the various countries are governed. They may have certain customs of government they follow from year to year, customs that are known as conventions, traditional usages or principles. But their constitutions, their collections of rules for government, are largely accepted written laws. The constitution ’ of England has grown into the constitution of the Unitqd Kingdom, and from that into the constitution of the British Empire. It has been so long growing, and has so widely altered from century to century, that it has become a collection of conventions or customary usages and of legal rules very puzzling and difficult to untangle. If we examine, the methods and manner of governing the Empire and its various parts we should form shme idea of the nature of the constitution which provides for toe law-making and law-giving and the task of providing for the general , welfare of the people,Great Britain The Kingdom of Great Britain, which includes England, Scotland, and Wales, is governed by toe central government known as Parliament, consisting of toe House of Commons and the House of Lords, working under a Cabinet with a Ministry of heads of Departments controlling the Civil Service. The Ministers advise the King m_ all matters and are responsible to Farment; that is, they have not autocratic or despotic powers of government, but must answer to toe representatives of the people for alf their actions. It Is not the King who must answer to toe people for the rightness of any action; for the King can do no wrong. This is.one of the maxims oar fundamental principles—“the King never dies” is another—of the constitution. . The King’s Ministers and

all the members of the staffs working under them are controlled by Parliament. We shall consider the Crown, the Privy Council. Cabinet, the Ministry, the Civil Service, and both Houses of Parliament. A note on Party Government will- be included with notes on Cabinet. It will lie seen how many of the modem forms of government, including the exchequer and the courts, have developed from the Saxon Witanagemot and the old common council. The Crown; This is dealt with elsewhere on this page. But there are very many points of interest about the powers and privileges of the King which will appear as the many government offices are described. The laws of England are made by the King in Council or by the King, by and with the advice of the lords, spiritual 'and temporal, in Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same. This phrase “by the authority of the same” reminds us that every enactment of Parliament, and many Proclamations, and Orders-in-Coundl must bear the signature of the sovereign. Others may be issued under the Great Seal on fhe authority of a Minister. The use of the Signet for sealing orders and warrants was abolished in 1851—it is still used with the signature of the King on instructions to a colonial Governor. During King George V.’s serious illness in 1928 a Commission was appointed to sign for him. The Privy Council: This Is still known as his Majesty's Honourable Privy (or private) Council. It goes back in the history of the English constitution to the Normans; it became important in the reign of Richard ll.' (1377-1399). It became a secret and powerful Council working for the King’s peace and governing the land in many ways. Under this King Richard 11. the councillors held office for one year; but after this they held office for life or according to the King’s pleasure. The Council was dissolved at the King’s death. But now we have the legal maxim or convention that "The King never dies” and Parliament is never dissolved at the death Of a sovereign; no Ministers or bfficers of the Crown leave office: the royal power is continuous. The saying “Le Roi est mort: yive le Roi” is connected with this maxim. The Privy Council was in the beginning a committee of the King’s Council (known as the Curia) which had developed from the Ordinary Council or Commune Concilium. Gradually the Privy Council became more and more powerful and was attended by more members. A s its work grew, especially in Tudor times, it shared the law-giving (the executive powers) and its judicial work with new courts. Of these a most important one was the Court of Star Chamber which was a very strict Court of Justice. It was so called because its meetings were held in the starred chamber. A picture of it would probably show a room decorated with stars. This court whs abolished in 1640 after Charles I: and his- Ministers had debased it by using it to persecute their opponents. It is a particularly interesting court historically because our modem Judicial Committee of the Pnvy Council is a relic of it .By the middle of the Stuart period the Privy Council had grown until « had 50 members; mis number was too large for secret work ahd an inner secret committee was set up. This committee of five .members, Clifford, Ashley, Buckingham, Arlington and Lauderdale/ was mown as the Cabal. It is said that it was called so because the first letters of the names spelt .this word; hut this is probably not true'as the word Cabal comes from an old word

meaning secret society and was used in England as early as 1643 with this meaning. The Buckingham Cabal was formed in 1672, The committee of the Privy Council gradually came Under the control of the House of Commons; the King’s; power declined, especially when the Hanoverian George 1. failed to take much interest In the work of the committee because as he did not speak English, he could not understand what went on. Before the time of George I. this committee was composedof the most powerful men .in Parliament, but now came the days of party-gov-ernment with' the Tories out of under the early Georges. So developed- the - Cabinet under the leadership of Walpole. The Privy Council grew ever , larger until ft

now consists of 250 to 300 me _ _ who never assemble at one and who are appointed in rec go tion of colonial or distinguished^ power and the Whigs invice in some branch of s^f JJLj’gnts dustry or art. The a PP^ n are made by the King on the recw mendation of his Hamsters. _ jjy hers of the Royal . . J2gS are Councillors. Certain of State are aINV .^ s atl m S& of the Privy Council-all Ministers, all others holding portfolios all inet Ministers and actually dignitaries. The Cabinet.is J*gJg, an informal committee of tne cil; it will be seen how far power of the committee , 0 f that of the huge, unwieldy boay^ the Council. The Priyy 'rfifew power to form any number m committees which themselvesire have great power; notable ones« e the Judicial Committee Committee of Scientific and trial Research. >he CouncU Sgrf en^f^ id c2uS« y »f. quorum. ~ (To be continued). „