Symbol of People's Sovereignty

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22725, 11 May 1937, Page 14 (Supplement)

Symbol of People's Sovereignty

HE Pre-eminence, Power and Authority I of the King of England." These resounding words are the title of an Act passed in 1534, the twenty-fifth year of Henry VIII., denying any jurisdiction of the Pope in England. In stately language the majesty of the King and the duty of subjects to him are proclaimed: "By divers sundry old authentic histories and chronicles it is manifestly declared and expressed that this Realm of England is an Empire, and so hath been accepted in the world, governed by one supreme Head and King, having the dignity and royal state of the Imperial Crown of the same. Unto whom a body politic compact of all sorts and degrees of people divided in terms and by names of spirituality and temporality, being bounded and owen to bear next to God a natural and humble obedience." Then the power and authority of the King are set forth: "He being also institute and furnished by the goodness and sufferance of Almighty God with plenary, whole and entire power and preeminence, authority, prerogative and jurisdiction, to render and yield justice and final de-

termination to all manner of folk, residents or subjects, within this his Realm, in all causes, matters, debates, contentions, happening to occur, insurge or begin within the limits thereof, without restraint, or provocation to any foreign princes or potentates of the world." The declaration is as true in theory to-day as it was when it was written, but with a tremendous difference in its practical application. The political sovereignty has become vested in the people at large. And while the pre-eminence, power and authority of the King remain, they are exercised by him not as an absolute Monarch, but as constitutional Sovereign on the advice of the Cabinet supported by Parliament —in a word, as the Crowned Head of a democratic system of government, embracing not only the United Kingdom, but every Dominion and dependency in the vast and complex political system of which the United Kingdom is the heart. Whether it was due to the predilection of British genius for constitutionalism, or to haphazard but happy chance, the Monarchy has thus been made at once the symbol of the people's sovereignty and the instrument of the people's will. There are two forms of sovereignty—the legal and the political. Legal sovereignty is the power to make laws; politi-

cal sovereignty is the power to say what laws shall be made. The first is vested in the Parliament ; the second is vested in the people. Legal sovereignty is, consequently, subordinate to political sovereignty. For Parliament, in the long run, is virtually incapable of making laws of which the people disapprove. And the instrument by which the decrees of Parliament —being the will of the people, so f&l as it can be ascertained at a general election -—are given effect to is the King, as chief of the executive. In this connection "the will of the people," really means the political will, for the time being, of the majority of the electoral body of the Nation. The political will of the entire community never finds, and perhaps never can find, unanimous expression at the polls. "Many men of many minds." It is always broken up into conflicting party opinions. But the Sovereignty of the People, rightly interpreted, signifies more than that—far more than that. Embraced in it are all classes of the community, all religions, all shades of political opinion. It means the entire people collectively, and not the Party that may temporarily be in the ascendant. It is the thing that makes a nation separate and distinct from all other nations—the national conscience and character, the common principles and ideals, the ruling sentiment or passion of all. This is the high sovereignty which the King personifies.