THE PRIVY COUNCIL

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21167, 17 July 1940, Page 2

THE PRIVY COUNCIL

HISTORY AND FUNCTION DETAILS OF MEMBERSHIP The Privy Council, to which the Prime Minister (Mr P. Fraser) was ! recently appointed, is descended from : i the Court of the Norman Kings, and { was then a general feudal assembly i performing all the functions of cen- j j tral government without differenti- ] | ating between them. Out of this ; ! Court developed the King’s Council, i | w’hich by the time of King Henry j I VII had become an important instru- 1 i ment of the Crown, with a conciliar ! oath and a more determinate mem- • bership. | In Tudor times there was a furi ther division of functions, and out of : the King’s Council grew chiefly “the j council at court” and “the King's 1 Council in the Star Chamber.” The | former body became the Privy Coun- ■ cil. The membership has grown i from about 20 in the Middle Ages to | over 300. , Members of the Council are en- ! titled to be designated “the Right j Honourable,” and consist mostly of : dignitaries who have held, or hold, ; high political, judicial or ecclesiasti- ! cal office in Britain, the dominions or ; the colonies. Office lasts for the life of the Sovereign and six months after, but it is the modern custom for the new King to renew the appointment. Members of the British Cabinet a*e necessarily Privy Councillors and they principally form the acting Privy Council on such rare occasion.: as it is required to function. The Council is summoned to act “with others” upon the death of the King, i i The Lord President of the Council, . ' a position occupied at present by . Mr Neville Chamberlain, is the Fifth Great Officer of State, and as such i is always a prominent member of ) the Cabinet. The Chief Justice, Sir Michael Myers, and Messrs J. G. Coates and G. W. Forbes are other New’ Zealand members of the Privy Council, and two former Governors-General of the Dominion, the Earl of Liverpool and Lord Bledisloe, are also “counsellors." __ -