PRIVY

The principal council belonging to the king of England. In its origin it appears as a small permanent committee, or minor council, consisting of members selected by the king himself out of the great council of the kingdom. The latter body is supposed to have been originally composed of all the immediate tenants of the crown; and it was occasionally summoned as late as the reign of Ric. II., and seems then to have comprised nearly all the prelates, nobles, and bannerets of the kingdom, ''etautres sages." When the privy council was formed out of it has not been ascertained. It appears ' in early rolls of parliament as the permanent or continual council; and as its powers under the Plantage net kings were very extensive, so parliament exercised considerable influence in controlling the appointment of its members, although always vested in the crown as an e ential prerogative. The privy council under these sovereigns usually consisted of the five great officers of state, the two archbishops, and from ten to fifteen other individuals, spiritual or temporal. It sat continually as a court, both to expedite the executive part of the administration, and to provide equitable relief in cases submitted to it, thus controlling the courts of common law. (See Sir F. Palgrave's E ay on the Original Authority of the King's Council, 1834; and the Preface to the Records of the p. C, edited by Sir H. Nicolas.) There were also under the Tudors councils, portions of the privy council, exercising like powers in various parts of England. The increasing power of parliament on the one hand, and the extended equitable jurisdiction of the lord chancellor on the other, gradually encroached upon the ancient dignity and importance of both the councils. The decline in power of the privy council was, however, extremely gradual. The Star Chamber and Court of Requests, di olved in the reign of Charles I., were both committees of the privy council. By stat. 16 C. 1. its direct jurisdiction in England in civil cases was taken away. Privy councillors are made by the king's nomination, without patent or grant. Their number, having greatly increased under the Tudor princes, was restricted by Charles II. to thirty; but soon became indefinite again, and has so continued. But no privy councillors attend except such as are specially summoned. The privy council continues in office six months after the demise of the crown, unle sooner di olved by the succe or. The separation of the functions of the privy council from the more important political duties of the cabinet council seems to have been chiefly effected in the reign of W. III. The jurisdiction of the privy council is of several sorts: 1. The king in council may i ue proclamations binding on the subject, if consonant to the laws of the land. He i ues also orders in council for the temporary regulation of various matters relating to trade and international intercourse. 2. The privy council has power to inquire into offences against government, and commit offenders to take their trial according to law. 3. Appellate jurisdiction in the last resort from all his Majesty's dominions, except Great Britain and Ireland, is vested in the privy council. By 3 & 4 W. 4. c. 41. a judicial committee of the privv council is constituted, to which are entrusted appeals from the prize and admiralty courts, and courts in the plantations abroad, and all other appeals which might before have come before the king in council. The judicial committee may direct feigned i ues to be tried at common law. The lord president of the council is the fourth great officer of state. The office must probably have been cotemporaneous with the origin of the council itself; but the title is comparatively recent. It w»s created by Hen. VIII., and revived by Charles II. in favour of the Earl of Shaftesbury. COUNt' [s. 306]