PRIVY COUNCIL, in England, the body of advisers of the sovereign which formally sanctions those acts of government not properly the province of Parliament. Privy councillors are nominated, without patent or grant, at the pleasure of the Crown, excepting certain per sons appointed ex officio. They hold- office for life, or for the life of the sovereign, so that at the accession of a new sovereign the council must be — nominally at least reconstituted. The number of privy councillors is not limited by law.
Jurisdiction.— The duty of the council, in general, is to advise the king on affairs of state. The Lord President of the Council is required by statute (to manage the debates in Council, to propose matters from the sovereign at the Council Table, and to report to the sovereign the resolution of the Council thereon.° This function, however, is largely theoretical, as there are in fact no debates in council, this body merely giving formal sanction to orders in council, by which the king, on the advice of his ministers, expresses his pleasure with re spect to various administrative matters, as for instance the bringing of treaties into effect, grants of charters, the government of colonies and the regulating of departmental business. So, too, the Privy Council performs certain ceremonial functions. For instance, in council a bishop does homage for the temporalities of his see, a minister takes the oath of office and the sheriffs for counties are chosen. The coun cil has, besides, important duties of an adminis trative or judicial nature which it performs by committee or commission. Several of these committees have only a theoretical connection with the council, acting to all intents and pur poses independently. The Cabinet itself, the executive of the United Kingdom, is such a committee, composed of ministers belonging to the Privy Council, but it has complete y out grown the parent body in political importance, having practically superseded it in the functions which this formerly performed. The Board of Trade, now under its own president and re garded as a distinct department of state, was from the first a committee of the Privy Council. The Local Government Board of Agriculture and the Board of Education are similar developments from the council, while the universities commit tee, the committee the consideration of char ters of incorporation under the Municipal Cor porations Act° of 1882 are still subordinate to the main body. The judicial functions of the Privy
Council are carried on by its judicial committee, which includes the Lord Chancellor and the four Lords of Appeal in Ordinary. It is con cerned chiefly with appeals from the dominions and colonial and Indian courts, has ecclesiasti cal jurisdiction and decides concerning petitions for extension of letters patent, copyright, etc. The Privy Council is summoned on a notice of 44 hours. Only on very extraordinary occa sions is there a full attendance, the presence of six members being sufficient to constitute a council. Privy councillors have the title of (right honorable° and rank immediately after Knights of the Garter. The premiers of the self-governing colonies are called to the Privy Council.
History.—The Privy Council developed out of the curia regis (king's council) of the Nor man period, which exercised judicial legislative and administrative functions. Out of the curia grew the courts of law and equity and the houses of Parliament besides the Privy Council After the time of Edward I appeared the con cilium ordinarium, or ordinary council of the king, which in the 15th century gained the name Privy Council. The Select Council, ultimately the Cabinet, began to emerge from the larger body about the same time. In the time of Edward III the Privy Council was occasionally merged in one assembly with the House of Lords, and in 1640 the Long Parliament reduced the powers of the council In 1679 Sir William Temple made an unsuccessful attempt to reor ganize it, but since then it has dwindled into insignificance when compared with its early authoritative position, and its governmental duties have been assumed by the Cabinet. Ire land has a separate Privy Council Bodies, somewhat similar and bearing the same name, formerly existed in several of the American colonies and States. Consult Macqueen, 'Ap pellate Jurisdiction of the Privy Council' (1842); Finlason, 'The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council' (1878) ; Dicey, 'The Privy Council' (new ed., 1887) ; Gneist, 'History of the English Constitution' (1891) ; Anson, 'Law and Custom of the Constitution' (1892).