article of impeachment against the Spencers, that they would not suffer the great men of the realm to speak with the king, or to come near him.

3. But the principal council of the sovereign is the Privy Council; which consists of such persons as he wills to be of his council; and is presided over by the lord president, who has precedence next after the lord chancellor and lord treasurer.

The duty of a privy councillor appears from his oath of office : 1. To advise the crown according to the best of his discretion. 2. To advise for the king's honour and good of the public, without partiality through affection, 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, 7. To observe, keep, and do all that a true councillor ought to do to his sovereign lord.

The office of a privy councillor is to advise the sovereign in the discharge of those executive, legislative, and judicial duties which the constitution has reposed in him. The former have, since the accession of Queen Anne, been entrusted to responsible advisers; and it has consequently become the practice to summon to the meetings of the council those members of it only, who are the ministers of the crown.

Its legislative functions are exercised with reference to our colonies and other dependencies. Ordinances are made here for those colonies and settlements which do not possess representative assemblies; and the legislative acts of most of the other dependencies are herein approved or disallowed.

From some of our courts, and in matters of lunacy or idiocy, an appeal lies to the sovereign in council; and from all the dominions of the crown, excepting Great Britain and Ireland, a similar appellate jurisdiction. This authority is exercised by the judicial committee of the privy council; who make their report to the sovereign, by whom the judgment is finally given.

The privy council may inquire into all offences against the government, and commit the offenders for trial; but their jurisdiction is only to inquire, and not to punish.

Its dissolution depends upon the sovereign's pleasure; and he

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may, whenever he thinks proper, discharge any particular member, or the whole of it, and appoint another. At common law it was dissolved ipso facto by the demise of the crown; but to prevent the inconvenience of having no council in being at the accession of a new prince, it is enabled by statute to continue for six months after, unless sooner determined by the successor.

CHAPTER VI.

OF THE SOVEREIGN'S DUTY.

Or the duties incumbent on the sovereign by our constitution the most important is to govern his people according to law. “The King,” says Bracton, who wrote under Henry III., “ought "not to be subject to man, but to God, and to the law; for the "law maketh the king. Let the king therefore render to the 66 law, what the law has vested in him with regard to others; "dominion and power: for he is not truly king, where will "and pleasure rules, and not the law." And again, “the king "also hath a superior, namely, God, and also the law, by which "he was made a king." For "the laws of England, 12 & 13 "Will. III., c. 2, are the birthright of the people thereof; and "all the kings and queens who shall ascend the throne of this "realm ought to administer the government of the same according to the said laws."

The terms of what is called the original contract between king and people, are contained in the coronation oath, administered by one of the prelates, to every sovereign who succeeds to the crown in the following terms:

"Will you solemnly promise and swear to govern the people of this kingdom of England, and the dominions thereto belonging, according to the statutes in parliament agreed on, and the laws and customs of the same? The king or queen shall say: I solemnly promise so to do. Archbishop or bishop: Will you to your power cause law and justice, in mercy, to be executed in all your judgments? King or queen: I will. Archbishop or bishop: Will you to the utmost of your power maintain the laws of God, the true profession of the gospel, and the Pro

testant reformed religion established by the law? And will you preserve unto the bishops and clergy of this realm, and to the churches committed to their charge, all such rights and privileges as by law do or shall appertain unto them, or any of them? King or queen : All this I promise to do. After this, the king or queen, laying his or her hand upon the Holy Gospels, shall say: The things which I have here before promised I will perform and keep: So help me God: and then shall kiss the book.'

This is the coronation oath. But in what form soever it be conceived, it is a fundamental and express contract; though doubtless the duty of protection is impliedly as much incumbent on the sovereign before coronation as after: in the same manner as allegiance becomes the duty of the subject immediately on the descent of the crown, before he has taken the oath of allegiance, or whether he ever takes it at all. The reciprocal duty of the subject will be considered in its proper place. In the sovereign's part of this contract are expressed all that a monarch can owe to his people: viz., to govern according to law; to execute judgment in mercy; and to maintain the established religion.

CHAPTER VII.

OF THE ROYAL PREROGATIVE.

ONE of the bulwarks of civil liberty, is the limitation of the prerogative by bounds so certain and notorious, that it is impossible the sovereign should ever exceed them, without the consent of the people, on the one hand; or without, on the other, a violation of the original contract between prince and subject. We shall consider this prerogative minutely, to demonstrate its necessity, and mark out its extent and restrictions: from which this conclusion will follow, that the powers vested in the crown by the law are necessary for the support of society, and do not intrench any further on our natural, than is expedient for the maintenance of our civil liberties.

By prerogative we understand that special pre-eminence which the crown has, above all other persons, and out of the ordinary

course of the law, in right of the regal dignity. It signifies something that is required or demanded before, or in preference to, all others. And hence it can only be applied to those rights and capacities which the sovereign enjoys alone, in contradistinction to others, and not to those which he enjoys in common with any of his subjects.

Prerogatives are either direct or incidental. The direct are such positive parts of the royal authority, as spring from the sovereign's political person; as, the right of sending ambassadors, of creating peers, and of making war. The incidental bear a relation to something else distinct from the person of the sovereign, and are exceptions, in favour of the crown, to those rules that are established for the rest of the community; such as, that the sovereign can never be a joint-tenant; and that his debt shall be preferred before a debt to any of his subjects.

These direct prerogatives which we are, at present, to consider, may be divided into three kinds: being such as regard, first, the royal character; secondly, the royal authority; and, lastly, the royal income. In the present chapter we shall confine ourselves to the two first, which relate to the sovereign's political character and authority; or, in other words, his dignity and regal power. The royal revenue will receive a distinct examination.

Under every monarchical establishment, it is necessary to distinguish the prince from his subjects, not only by outward pomp, but by ascribing to him certain qualities, distinct from and superior to those of any other individual. The law therefore ascribes to the sovereign in his political character, certain attributes of a transcendent nature, which enable him to carry on the business of government.

1. The law ascribes to the king the attribute of sovereignty or pre-eminence. He is said to have imperial dignity; his realm is said to be an empire, and his crown imperial. Hence it is, that no action can be brought against the sovereign, even in civil matters, because no court can have jurisdiction over him. Hence it is, likewise, that the person of the sovereign is sacred, even though the measures of his reign be tyrannical: for no jurisdiction upon earth has power to try him; much less to condemn him to punishment.

Are then, the subjects of England without remedy, if the

crown should invade their rights, either by private injuries, or public oppressions? Certainly not; for the law provides a remedy in both cases.

As to private injuries; if any person has a just demand upon the crown, he must petition him in one of his courts, where his judges will administer right as a matter of grace, though not upon compulsion. For the end of such action is not to compel the prince to observe the contract, but to persuade him. And, as to personal wrongs, it is well observed by Locke, "the harm " which the sovereign can do in his own person not being likely " to happen often, nor to extend itself far; nor being able, by "his single strength, to subvert the laws, nor oppress the body "of the people, the inconveniency, therefore, of some particular “mischiefs, that may happen sometimes when a heady prince "comes to the throne, are well recompensed by the peace of the "public and security of the government, in the person of the "chief magistrate being thus set out of the reach of danger."

As to cases of ordinary public oppression, where the constitution itself is not attacked, the law also assigns a remedy. For, as a sovereign cannot misuse his power without the advice of evil counsellors; the constitution provides, by means of indictments and parliamentary impeachments, that no man shall dare to assist the crown in contradiction to the laws of the land.

2. The law ascribes to the king, in his political capacity, absolute perfection. The king can do no wrong; which means, first, that whatever is exceptionable in the conduct of public affairs is not to be imputed to the sovereign, nor is he answerable for it personally; and, secondly, that the prerogative extends not to do any injury; it is created for the benefit of the people, and therefore cannot be exerted to their prejudice.

For the sovereign is not only incapable of doing wrong, but even of thinking wrong. And therefore, if the crown is induced to grant any privilege to a subject prejudicial to the commonwealth or to a private person, the law will not suppose the sovereign to have meant either an unwise or an injurious action, but declares that he was deceived in his grant; and thereupon such grant is rendered void, upon the ground of fraud and practised deception either by or upon those agents whom the crown has thought proper to employ.