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[The king's will is the sole constituent of a privy councillor, and regulates also the number of his councillors. In antient times, the number of privy councillors was twelve or thereabouts; but afterwards it increased to so large a number, that it was found inconvenient for secrecy and dispatch. And therefore King Charles the Second, in 1679, limited it to thirty, of whom fifteen were to be the principal officers of state and councillors virtute officii, and the other fifteen were ten lords and five commoners of the king's choosing; but since that time the number has been again much augmented, and now continues indefinite.] No inconvenience, however, arises in modern times from this extension of the number, for with the exception of such of them as are cabinet ministers, the privy councillors are not now ordinarily summoned to advise the king; and the cabinet ministers (or cabinet council) are those privy councillors who, being more immediately honoured with the king's confidence, actually conduct the business of the government, and assemble for that purpose from time to time, as the public exigencies require. And it is this council of the cabinet, and not the privy council at large, that is always understood when mention is made of the king's "administration,”—though strangely enough the cabinet is a body unknown to the law, and one whose members are never officially made known to the public, and whose proceedings are not recorded (k), except in communications to the king in the shape of a cabinet minute. The members of the cabinet are usually the principal officers of state, namely, the lord high chancellor, the first lord of the treasury, the lord president of the council, the first lord of the admiralty, the chancellor of the exchequer; and the five principal secretaries of state (1), viz.—the secretary for the home department, for

(k) Macaulay, Works (8 vol., 1879), vol. i., p. 166.

(7) As to the office of secretary of state, see Entick v. Carrington

(1765), 2 Wils. K.B. 275, at p. 289, and 19 St. Tr. 1030. This case decided that a secretary of state has no right to issue general

foreign affairs, for the colonies, for the war department (m), and for India (n). The lord privy seal and the president of the board of trade have been members of all the most recent cabinets. The lord lieutenant of Ireland or the chief secretary, one or other, is also always in the cabinet.

Privy councillors are made by the king's nomination, without either patent or grant. On taking the necessary oath or making the necessary affirmation (0), they immediately become privy councillors (with the title of "right honourable ") during the life of the monarch that chooses them, subject to removal at his discretion.

[The duty of a privy councillor appears from his oath of office (p), which is -1. To advise the king according to the best of his cunning and discretion. 2. To advise for the king's honour and good of the public, without partiality through affection, love, need, doubt, or dread. 3. To keep the king's counsel secret. 4. To avoid corruption. 5. To help and strengthen the execution of what shall be resolved. 6. To withstand all persons who would attempt the contrary. And lastly, in general.

warrants or search warrants to seize the papers of the alleged author of a seditious libel. He may, however, issue a warrant of arrest for high treason (R. v. Oxford (1840), 4 St. Tr. (N.s.) 497). By the Government of India Act, 1858, s. 4, any four of her Majesty's principal secretaries of state, and any four of the under secretaries, may sit and vote as members of the House of Commons; but not more than four of either may sit in the House at the same time. See also the House of Commons (Vacation of Seats) Act, 1864.

(m) The office of secretary for the war department was created

in 1854 on the occasion of the Crimean war. Before that time there was a secretary at war (abolished by the Secretary at War Abolition Act, 1863); but he was not a principal secretary of state. And see generally (as to the secretary for the war department) the Ordnance Board Transfer Act, 1855; the War Office Act, 1870; Order in Council, 21st November, 1895.

(n) The Government of India Act, 1858, s. 3.

(0) The Oaths Act, 1888.

(p) The Promissory Oaths Act, 1868, s. 14.

[7. To observe, keep, and do, all that a good and true counsellor ought to do to his sovereign lord.] There is no salary or allowance attached to the position of a privy councillor, as such.

The privy council at large does not, as we have said, in general assemble to advise on public affairs, but only on occasions of state and ceremony, such as the opening of a new reign. Formal meetings of the council for the discharge of official business are, however, held about eight times a year, the summonses in these cases being confined to a small number of the members of the council. [It forms part of the jurisdiction of the privy council to inquire into all offences against the government, and to commit the offenders to safe custody, in order to take their trial in some of the courts of law. But its jurisdiction herein is only to inquire, and not to punish ; and all persons committed by it are entitled to their habeas corpus by the 16 Car. I. (1640), c. 10, as much as if they had been committed by an ordinary justice of the peace. By the same statute, the Court of Star Chamber and the Court of Requests, both of which consisted of privy councillors, were dissolved; and it was declared illegal for the council to take cognizance of any matter of property belonging to the subjects of this kingdom.] In addition to its inquisitorial powers, the privy council has also, in certain cases, the judicial authority of a court of justice, that is to say, in causes from the colonies and other British possessions, in appeals from the admiralty and vice-admiralty courts, prize courts, and ecclesiastical courts (7), in applications to prolong the term of patents

(7) As to the general jurisdiction of the privy council in these matters, see the Privy Council Appeals Act, 1832, and the Judicial Committee Acts, 1833 and 1843. As to the admiralty jurisdiction of the privy

council, see more especially the Vice-Admiralty Courts Act, 1863, and the Colonial Courts of Admiralty Act, 1890. Appeals in admiralty matters lie to the King in Council from the Vice-Admiralty Courts of India and

for new inventions (r), or in petitions for a grant of a compulsory licence to work a patent or (in the alternative) for a revocation of the patent (s), in cases arising out of the Copyright Act, 1842 (s. 5), and in applications by persons aggrieved by schemes prepared for the regulation of endowed schools (t).

[As to colonial causes, it is to be observed, that the jurisdiction of the privy council is both original and appellate. For whenever a question arises between two provinces out of the realm, as concerning the extent of their charters and the like, the king in council exercises original jurisdiction therein, upon the principles of feudal sovereignty; and so, likewise, when any person claims an island or a province, in the nature of a feudal principality, by grant from the king or his ancestors, the determination of that right belongs to the king in council,-as was the case of the Earl of Cardigan and others, as representatives of the Duke of Montague, with relation to the Island of St. Vincent, in 1764 (u).] But the jurisdiction of the

certain British possessions, as also from the Colonial Courts of Admiralty and the Courts acting as Colonial Courts of Admiralty outside the King's dominions (e.g. in Cyprus, Constantinople, China). The admiralty jurisdiction of the privy council in appeals from the former High Court of Admiralty (the jurisdiction of which is now vested in the Admiralty Division of the High Court of Justice) was transferred (except as to prize cases) by the Supreme Court of Judicature Act, 1873, s. 18, to the Court of Appeal, from which an appeal lies to the House of Lords. As to appeals in prize cases (which lie to the King in Council from all Prize Courts, whether at home or abroad) see the Naval Prize Act, 1864, and the Prize Courts Act,

1894. As to ecclesiastical appeals (which lie to the King in Council from ecclesiastical courts both at home and abroad) see more particularly the Church Discipline Act, 1840, the Public Worship Regulation Act, 1874, and the Clergy Discipline Act, 1892.

(r) Patents, Designs and Trade Marks Act, 1883, s. 25, vide sup. p. 29.

(s) Patents Act, 1902. Petitions under this Act are presented, in the first instance, to the Board of Trade, which may refer them to the Judicial Committee (vide inf., p. 473).

(1) Endowed Schools Acts, 1869 and 1873.

(u) For recent examples of the Crown in council deciding intercolonial differences of the kind referred to in the text, see the

privy council is, for the most part, appellate, an appeal lying to it in the last resort from the judgment or sentence of every court of justice in the colonies, dependencies, and all other British possessions (including the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man), as also from the judgment or sentence of the various courts established by virtue of the Foreign Jurisdiction Acts (a), e.g., the Supreme Court for China and Corea (formerly Japan) at Shanghai, the Supreme Court of Cyprus, the Supreme Consular Court for the dominions of the Sublime Ottoman Porte, and many others. Under the provisions of modern statutes, all the judicial authority of the privy council is now exercised by a select number of its members, called the judicial committee, who hear the allegations and proofs, and make their report thereon to his Majesty in council, whose order in council finally determines the matter.

The judicial committee was constituted by the Judicial Committee Act, 1833, which has been amended by various subsequent statutes (y). At the present time the judicial committee comprises (1) (by the Judicial Committee Act, 1833, s. 1) the lord president of the council, the lord keeper or first commissioner of the great seal of Great Britain, all privy councillors who have held these offices, and "two other persons being privy councillors appointed under sign manual; (2) (by the Judicial Committee Act, 1833, s. 30, and the Appellate Jurisdiction

case of Pental Island (Order in Council, January, 1872), and the boundary dispute between the Provinces of Ontario and Mani. toba in 1884.

(x) Consolidated by the Foreign Jurisdiction Act, 1890.

(y) The principal Act (the Judicial Committee Act, 1833) has been considerably altered and extended by the Judicial Committee Acts, 1843, 1844, 1871 and 1881, and by the Appellate Jurisdiction

These Acts

Acts, 1876 and 1887.
also contain a variety of regula-
tions as to the manner of pro-
ceeding before the judicial com-
mittee, and particularly on appeals
from India and the colonies. The
procedure before the Judicial
Committee is largely regulated
by the Orders in Council of the
13th June, 1853, 24th March,
1871, 26 June, 1873, and 6 March,
1896.

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