expiring annually, obliges the Crown to summon Parliament regularly, and observe the conventional laws of the constitution.

Present State of the Prerogative.-At the present day, then, the king is nominally the supreme executive power, and all executive acts are done in his name. He summons, dissolves, and prorogues Parliament, and is also the titular head of the Church, the army, and the law. He confers all titles, honours, and distinctions, and has the power of declaring peace or war, of making treaties with foreign nations, and regulating this country's relations with them by means of ambassadors. He exercises the right of pardoning offenders after conviction, confers peerages and other titles and honours, and appoints bishops and judges. It must be understood, however, that in the exercise of all these prerogative rights the Crown acts on the advice of his ministers, who are responsible to Parliament (and in the case of illegal acts to the law) for the proper exercise of the prerogative. There is, in fact, no executive act of the Crown for which some one of his ministers or officers is not responsible.

The Crown also enjoys many legal privileges and exemptions. From the maxim that the king can do no wrong flows the result that no action can be brought against him in criminal suits, or in civil causes arising out of tort; in civil cases arising out of contract the subject must proceed by the special method of Petition of Right, which is granted as of grace and not upon compulsion, the procedure being now principally governed by the Petitions of Right Act, 1860.`(z) Also from the maxim Nullum tempus occurrit regi flows the result that no negligence or laches can be attributed to the Crown, but in suits relating to the recovery of land (except liberties and franchises which may be prescribed for at common law) the Crown is barred under the Nullum Tempus Act, 1769, by the lapse of sixty years, (a) in informations for usurping corporate offices or franchises by the lapse of six years, (b) and an indictment for treason (except for an attempt to assassinate the king) must be brought within three years. (c) The Crown

(z) 23 & 24 Vict. c. 34. As to actions against the Crown and its servants generally, see p. 37, ante.

(a) 9 Geo. III. c. 16.

(b) 32 Geo. III. c. 58.

(c) 7 & 8 Will. III. c. 3.

also enjoys the right of granting safe conducts to foreign subjects (generally unnecessary except in case of war); the right (in so far as it is not obsolete) of recalling subjects from beyond the seas by letters under the Great Seal; (d) but he cannot, it seems, compel a subject to leave the realm (at any rate in time of peace) for war or any other purpose (Broadfoot's case, (1743)) (e), except on process of outlawry, or by writ of ne exeat regno, which is now generally used in the case of absconding debtors; the right to the custody and care of infants, idiots, and lunatics, now entirely regulated by statute and delegated to the Chancery Division of the High Court of Justice, and the Lunacy Commissioners respectively; regulation of weights and measures (now dealt with entirely by statute); the giving of currency to coins; together with many prerogative rights in relation to property, such as the right to escheat and forfeiture of land (which latter has been entirely abolished by the Forfeiture Act, 1870, except on outlawry); the right to royal mines of gold and silver; the right to the foreshore (except in the Duchy of Cornwall, where it belongs to the Prince of Wales, and except where it has been granted out to the lords of manors), and to lands formed by alluvion, or left bare by diluvion; the right to hold its property exempt from taxation (except when expressly named in statutes, and except as to statutory private estates); the right to bona vacantia, or goods in which no one can claim a property, such as the personal estate of persons dying intestate and without next of kin, or personal estate vested in trustees for beneficiaries all of whom are dead, wreck not claimed within a year, treasure trove, waifs (viz. stolen goods thrown away by a thief in flight), estrays (viz. wandering animals where the owner cannot be found); and the right to royal fish (viz. whales and sturgeons caught within territorial waters), and royal swans (viz. swans swimming in open and common rivers, and unmarked).

(d) By Magna Carta all persons unless under sentence of outlawry or imprisonment, were to be free to enter or leave the realm by land or sea (see Stubbs' Sel. Chart., 8th Ed., p. 301). See, per contra, Bl. Com., 14th Ed. 270, which may, however, be doubted.

(e) Broadfoot's case (1743), Fost. 154. There is authority for restraining persons from leaving the realm in time of war by proclamation. See 3 Co. Inst. 179.

CHAPTER II.

THE PRIVY AND CABINET COUNCILS AND THE

MINISTRY.

The Privy Council.

Functions of the Privy Council.-The consultative and advisory functions which were formerly exercised by the Privy Council have now devolved upon the Cabinet or the heads of the various departments, (a) and the duties of the Privy Council (except where it acts through committees such as the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, the standing committees to advise on questions relating to the universities of Oxford and Cambridge and Scottish Universities, and on constitutional matters relating to the Channel Islands, and charters for municipal corporations (b)) are now for the most part confined to formal executive acts. In the first stages of its development the Cabinet system was viewed unfavourably by Parliament, as it was thought that the practice of seeking advice from a group of ministers who occupied no definitely recognized place in the Constitution, and whose names were often unknown, would tend to bring the conduct of the executive more immediately under the personal influence of the Sovereign, whilst the responsibility to Parliament for the advice given to the Crown would be lessened from the uncertainty upon whom to fix it. A provision was accordingly inserted in the Act of Settlement (c) to the effect that "matters which had formerly been transacted by the Privy Council

(a) The Board of Trade, the Local Government Board, the Board of Education, and the Board of Agriculture were all originally Committees of the Council.

(b) As to the standing committees on the universities, see the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge Act, 1877 (40 & 41 Vict. c. 48), ss. 3–6 ; the Universities (Scotland) Act, 1889 (52 & 53 Vict. c. 55); as to charters, the Municipal Corporations Act, 1882 (45 & 46 Vict. c. 50), ss. 210, 211. (c) 12 & 13 Will. III. c. 2, s. 3 (4).

should continue to be transacted there." This provision was, however, repealed in the reign of Anne, before it could come into force, (d) and the Cabinet system left to develop unhindered.

In purely executive matters, also, the Privy Council has lost much of its former importance, the duties of some of the former committees of the Council having been handed over to various departments (such as the Board of Trade, the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries, and the Board of Education), whilst in such formal executive matters as it does transact, it acts for the most part upon the responsibility of a department. Apart from the business transacted by the various committees mentioned above, the Privy Council now acts generally merely as the formal medium for giving expression to the measures determined on by the Crown on the advice of its ministers in the exercise of those executive functions which it possesses either by virtue of the prerogative or of statutory authority, e.g. matters relating to the government of Crown colonies and protectorates, the declaration of peace or war, treaties, etc., and the vast importance of the business which is thus transacted without Parliamentary sanction or discussion

in such matters either by order in Council or by proclamation. Orders in Council are used when new rules and regulations are approved and passed by the king in Council. Proclamations are used where it is required to give publicity to such matters as the summons, dissolution, or prorogation of Parliament, or declaration of peace or war. Three members of the

the

Council form a quorum, and the orders of the Council are authenticated by the signature of the clerk to the Council. administration of official oaths, the appointment to and resignation of offices under the Crown, homage by bishops, and the selection of sheriffs.

Other matters transacted by the Privy Council include the

to the Council in ordinary, and, except at meetings of the Meetings of the Privy Council are summoned by the clerk

various

committees when it is unconstitutional for him to be

present, (e) the king presides.

The ordinary civil and criminal jurisdiction which the

(d) 4 Anne, c. 8, ss. 24, 25.

(e) See Parliamentary Debates, 3rd Ser., vol. clxxv., 251.

Council formerly exercised were handed over for the most part to such courts as the Star Chamber, the Court of High Commission, and the Court of Requests, and have now become merged in that of the ordinary civil courts. The appellate jurisdiction is now exercised by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, established in 1833. (ƒ)

Composition of the Privy Council.-The Privy Council at present (1913) consists of the lord president, appointed by declaration of the king in Council, and some three hundred members, and these are chosen by the Crown from amongst noblemen of high rank, persons who have held or hold high political, judicial, or ecclesiastical office, distinguished persons in colonial politics, and occasionally eminent persons in science or letters. Such dignitaries as the prime minister and other members of the cabinet, the lord chancellor, lord chief justice, lords of appeal in ordinary and lords justices of appeal, the two archbishops, and the Bishop of London, together with near relatives of the Sovereign, are invariably privy councillors. Privy councillors are called to office by the invitation of the king, and may be removed by him. On becoming members of the Council they must take the oath of allegiance and the privy councillor's oath, and their office lasts for the life of the Sovereign and six months after, (g) the old members being generally reappointed by a new Sovereign.

Unless naturalized under the Naturalization Act, 1870, (h) it is provided by the Act of Settlement (i) that no person born outside the British Dominions, although he be made a denizen, except he be born of British parents, is capable of becoming a privy councillor.

Status of Privy Councillors.-Privy councillors are entitled by letters patent (granted by James I.) to the style of "Right

(ƒ) As to the composition of this body, see post, p. 313. (g) Succession to the Crown Act, 1707 (6 Ann. c. 7 Ruff.) s. 8; see the Demise of the Crown Act, 1901 (1 Ed. VII. c. 5), s. 1 (1).

and

(h) 33 & 34 Vict. c. 14. It is provided by s. 7 that a person naturalized under the Act is to enjoy all political and other rights, powers and privileges of a natural-born British subject, except when within the limits of his own country, unless he has ceased to be a subject of such country under the laws of the same.

(i) 12 & 13 Will. III. c. 2.