MINISTRY, the office of a minister (q.v.) in all its mean ings, political and religious, or the body of persons holding such an office and performing its duties ; more particularly the body of persons who, in theory the servants at the head of the State, act as the responsible executive over the whole sphere of govern ment. The word "ministry" is also in some cases applied to a par ticular department of government with its responsible head and permanent officials or staff.
In England, ever since the introduction of monarchical insti tutions the sovereign has always been surrounded by a select body of confidential advisers to assist the Crown in the govern ment of the country. At no period could a king of England act, according to law, without advice in the public concerns of the kingdom ; the institution of the Crown of England and the insti tution of the privy council (q.v.) are coeval. In the earlier stages the king's councillors, as confidential servants of the monarch, were present at every meeting of parliament in order to advise upon matters judicial in the House of Lords; but in the reign of Richard II. the privy council dissolved its judicial connection with the peers and assumed an independent jurisdiction of its own. In the reign of Henry VI. the king's council first assumed the name of privy council, and it was during the minority of this sovereign that a select council gradually emerged from the larger body of the privy council, which ultimately became the modern cabinet. Since the revolution of 1688, and the development of parlia mentary government, the privy council has dwindled into com parative insignificance, and the power which it once swayed is now exercised by that unrecognized select committee of the coun cil known as the cabinet (q.v.).
At first government by cabinet was as unpopular as it was irregular, and until the formation of the first parliamentary min istry by William III. the ministers of the king occupied no rec ognized position in the House of Commons; it was, indeed, a moot point whether they were entitled to sit at all in the lower chamber, and they were seldom of one mind in the administration of matters of importance. Before the revolution of 1688 there were ministers, but no ministry in the modern sense of the word; divisions in the cabinet were constantly occurring, and it was no uncommon thing to see ministers opposing one another in parliament upon measures that in modern times would be sup ported by a united cabinet. As the change from government by prerogative to government by parliament consequent upon the revolution of 1688 developed, and the House of Commons be came more and more the centre and force of the State, the ad vantage of having ministers in the legislature to explain and defend the measures and policy of the executive Government began to be appreciated, and it became absolutely necessary that the ad visers of the sovereign, who were responsible for every public act of the Crown, as well as for the general policy they had been called upon to administer, should have seats in both houses of parliament. These changes also introduced the practice and con
ception of having a leading minister who was to become known as the prime minister (q.v.). But political unanimity in the cabinet was not yet recognized as indispensable.
In 1812 an attempt was made to form a ministry consisting of men of opposite political principles, who were invited to accept office, not avowedly as a coalition government, but with an offer to the Whig leaders that their friends should be allowed a major ity of one in the cabinet. This offer was declined on the plea that to construct a cabinet on "a system of counteraction was incon sistent with the prosecution of any uniform and beneficial course of policy." From that date it has been an established principle that all cabinets are to be formed on some basis of political union agreed upon by the members when they accept office together. It is now also distinctly understood that the members of a cabinet are jointly and severally responsible for each other's acts, and that any attempt to distinguish between a particular minister and his colleagues in such matters is unconstitutional.
During the 19th century the power of ministers was greatly extended, and their duties became more distinctly marked out. As now interpreted, the leading principles of the British Consti tution are the personal irresponsibility of the sovereign, the re sponsibility of ministers, and the inquisitorial and controlling power of parliament. At the head of affairs is the prime minister, with the more important members of the administration con stituting the cabinet. Certain of the subordinate members of the administration are occasionally invited to join the cabinet, while others are never in it.
For further details the articles CABINET, PRIVY COUNCIL, Gov ERNMENT DEPARTMENTS, should be consulted, as well as the separate treatment of the more important offices under their own headings, as PRIME MINISTER, LORD HIGH CHANCELLOR, SECRE TARY OF STATE ; and FOREIGN OFFICE, ADMIRALTY, WAR OFFICE.
The corresponding lists of officers in the United States will be found under the title CABINET, a name which is universally used in that country.