THE PRIVY COUNCIL

Dominion, Volume 19, Issue 88, 8 January 1926, Page 3

THE PRIVY COUNCIL

ITS POWERS AND DIGNITY PAST AND PRESENT “Through Privy Councillors, and through them alone,” says Professor Dicey, “can the Monarch act, and hence the powers of the Crown are in a sense the powers of the Council, ’they have risen, they have flourished, they have declined together. They are vague and undefined. They are each _ encircled with the halo of a great antiquity, and point to a past greatness of which the might has departed without taking away the dignity.” The honours conferred on the Right Hon. J. G. Coates, P.C., Prime Minister of New Zealand, and the Right Hon. Sir Francis Bell, P.C., by the King, serve to draw attention once again to the body on whose advice, and in whose name, all acts of His Majesty are done (writes “E.C.W.”). Constitutional historians have sought for the origin of the Privy Council in the witanagemot of the Anglo-Saxons, while others again have not considered it necessary to go back beyond the Cura Regis I the King’s Council of William the Conqueror). From this Coun-' cil were selected by the King, personally, a chosen few who formed an inner or Permanent ' Council. This Permanent Council, which possessed practically the powers of the King, _ formed the central legislative, executive and judicial body of the realm. It yas indeed the instrument for carrying out the King’s will. The term “Privy Council” was first used in the reign of Henry VI, and the powers of the body were enormous. Until the time of Edward IV, when Commoners were first introduced, the Privy Council was composed of nobles and great magnates. In his reign (1553) its size grew from 12 to 40, and included two judges and 22 Commoners. To-day there are over 400. Privy Councillors. Then, it ..worked in five committees, the most important, being the Committee of State, of 20, including seven peers. To-day the important committees ol the Privy. Council are the Cabinet and the Judicial Committee, . The Privy Council attained its greatest power in the Tudor and Stuart periods. Prior to 1041, when the most ot its powers were swept away, it was made the instrument for the many illegal acts of the King. Two of its branches were the Star Chamber and the Court of High Commission. Under the first two Stuart Kings it controlled all the ■ administration and issued proclamations and ordinances. With the King as president it. was also the supreme tribunal. So important a pet' sonage was a Privy Councillor that it was declared a felony for any of the King’s servants to conspire against his life and between 1711 and I<2B to assault a Privy Councillor, in the execution of the duties of his office was made a felony without benefit of clergy. . . ... , Such was the Privy Council in the days of its importance. It still retains a nominal importance, in executive matters, but its chief importance to-day actually '.lies in its judicial position,' the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council being the. Court of Appeal from the Ecclesiastical Courts of England and from the Courts of the colonies and dependencies of the Empire. .Theoretically and legally, it is still the advisory body of the King. All members of the English Cabinet are Privy Councillors, and it is as Privy Councillors only that they, are known to the Constitution. Technically proclamations anfl Orders-in-Council are issued by the Privy Council; actually they are issued by the Cabinet. In other words, the Privy Council, for purposes of state, has become merely a registering body. The appointment is for life or until removal by the King or at one’s own request. There are three classes of Privy Councillors: (1) Cabinet Ministers; (2) holders of importants posts such ns Ambassadors, Governors, etc.; . (d) persons eminent in law, literature,’ and science. The holder is entitled to use the phrase “Right Hon. ourable,” and the dignity ranks officially next to that of peerage.

The Privy Council is never summoned as a whole except on the demise of the Crown. It has no legislative authority. It may, and does, proclaim law on special occasions, though its proclamations cannot make anything lesjil or illegal which is not so throng higher authority. The summons to call Parliament is by means of writs, where in it is stated that the King is acting on the advice of his Privy Council. Bishops paying homage to the King for their sees do so in Council, and it is in Council that Ministers take the oath and receive the seals of office. “Tt is as members of the Privy Council,” says Sidney Low, “that Cabinet Ministers are hung on to the legal constitution. Otherwise they are merely departmental officers of greater or less dignity. There is no such thing as the ‘Cabinet Minister’s oath of office.’ To the Cabinet Ministci the oath is a serious matter. The pledge t omaintain secrecy cannot be deemed a mere form. It is not merely the King’s secrets that the Minister swears to keep, but also, and particularly, t.ie secrets of his colleagues. Under this provision everything which passes nt a Cabinet meeting is strictly confident'al. It cannot be divulged, save with the express permission of the Sovereign, which is -mly granted in very exceptional cases on the advice of the Prime Minister. As its power, save for certain formal / ceremonial purnoses, has been transferred to the Cabinet, the Priyv Council _ is merely a name. “Most of these Right Honourable gentlemen who form what 1.-ow calls an ‘honorific mob,’ can take their oath with a clear conscience, since thev are not likely to have ths opportunity of breaking it. They cal safelv swear not to divulge State seersts, for they will not hear any ” ■