REGENT, REGENCY. These words, like contain the same element as rego " to rule," regens, " ruling ;" and denote the person who exercises the power of a king without being king, and the office of such a person, or the period of time during which he possesses the power. Wherever there has been hereditary sovereignty, or an hereditary kingly office, it has been found necessary sometimes to have recourse to the of appointing a regent. The cases are chiefly those of (1) the crown devolving on a minor ; (2) mental inca pacity of the person in whom the kingly is (3) temporary illness, and incapacity in consequence ; (4) absence from the realm. In the first case the regent has been called in England by the name of Protector : the latest instance being the minority of Edward VI.
The occasional absences of George I. and George II. on visits to their continental dominions rendered the appointment of regents a matter of convenience, if not of necessity. Sometimes the power was put, so to speak, in commission, being held by several persons jointly; but queen Caroline sometimes possessed the functions of regent during the absence of George II.
The nature of this part of the English constitution was however so little understood, and the practice was so imperfectly defined, that when George IlL was incapacitated for discharging the duties of royalty on the first occasion when his malady became the subject of public notoriety, a question arose, on which the chief constitutional and political authorities of the time were divided in their judgment.
The question was this—whether the heir apparent, being of full age, and the king's eldest son, did not become of right regent. One party, led by Mr. Fox, contended that he did. On the other side, it was maintained that it lay with parliament to nominate the person who should be regent. No regent was at that time appointed, the recovery of the king intervening. When the king was a second time incapaci tated, all parties agreed in conferring the title, office, and privileges of regent on the Prince of Wales, then heir apparent. But it was done by parliament, who laid certain restrictions upon him during the first year ; but in the event (which event did happen) of the continued incapacity of the king, he was to enter into the full possession of all rights and privileges of king, as if the king were dead, using however only the name of regent, not king : so that in reality the constitution of the country remained unaltered.
The time when the Prince of Wales held the office of regent is the period of English history usually called "the regency," just as " the regency" in reference to French history denotes the time of the mino rity of Louis XV., when the duke of Orleans was regent.