CABINE T. Certain officers who, taken collectively, form a council or advisory board ; as the cabinet of the president of the United States, which is composed of the secretary of state, the secretary of the treas ury, the secretary of the interior, the secre tary of war, the secretary of the navy, the secretary of agriculture, the attorney-gener al, the poStmaster-general, the secretary of commerce and the secretary of labor. See DEPARTMENTS.
"Then president—not the cabinet—is re sponsible for all the measures of the admin istration, and whatever is done by one of the heads of department is considered as done by the president, through the proper executive agent ;" 1 Cooley's Bla. Corn. 232. The cabinet, as such, has no legal existence. In passing the act (1913) creating the depart ment of labor, a provision that the incum bent should "be a member of the cabinet" was stricken out.
In case of the removal, death, resignation or inability of both the president and vice president of the United States, then the members of the cabinet shall act as presi dent until such disability is removed or a president elected, in the following order: the secretary of state, secretary of the treas ury, secretary of war, attorney-general, post master-general, secretary of the navy, and secretary of the' interior ; 24 Stat. L. p. 1. No provision is made for the succession of the remaining (and more recently created) secretaries.
These officers are the heads of their re spective departments; and by the constitu tion (art. 2, sec. 2) the president may re quire the opinion in writing of these officers upon any subject relating to the duties of their respective departments. These officers respectively have, under different acts of congress, the power of appointing many in ferior officers charged with duties relating to their departments. See Coast. art. 2, sec. 2.
The cabinet meets frequeuNy at the ex ecutive mansion, by direction of the presi dent. No record of its doings is kept; and it' has, as a body, no legal authority. action is advisory merely ; and the presi dent and heads of departments in the exe cution of their official duties may disregard the advice of the cabinet and take the re sponsibility of independent action.
See Lerned, The President's Cabinet.
In Great Britain, the members of the Ministry are the heads of various executive departments of the government. The Prime Minister and his associates, having been se lected from the party in power in the House of Commons, may be said to be in control of the House. If they lose their majority in the House, they resign office in a body and a new Ministry is then chosen from the new party in power.
The head of the Cabinet and of the Min istry is the Prime Minister, who is selected by the Crown. He chooses his colleagues, but his choice really extends rather to the division of offices and to the choice of min isters; he is in effect limited to the promi nent parliamentary leaders of his own party. He almost invariably holds the office of First Lord of the Treasury, unless he is a Peer, and then that office is held by the govern merit leader of the House of Commons. His resignation dissolves the Cabinet. Other members of the Cabinet are: Lord Chancel lor ; the Chancellor of the Exchequer; the five Secretaries of State ; the First Lord of the Admiralty ; the Lord President of the Council; the Lord Privy Seal ; the Attorney General; the Presidents of the Board of Trade, the Local Government Board and the Board of Education (of late years); the Chief Secre tary for Ireland (except when the Lord Lieu tenant is a member) ; the Secretary for Scot land; and the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (usually). The President of the Board of Agriculture, and the Postmaster General are often members ; the First Com missioner of Works and the Lord Chan cellor of Ireland (occasionally). The tenden cy now is said to be towards including the head of any considerable branch of the ad ministration. Lowell, Gov. of Engl.
The king, under the British constitution, is irresponsible; or, as the phrase is, the king can do no wrong. (See that title.)' The real responsibility of government in that country, therefore, rests with his ministers, some of whom constitute the cabinet. The king may dismiss his ministers if they do not possess his confidence; but they are sel dom 'dismissed by the king. They ordinarily resign when they cannot command a majori ty in favor of their measures in the house of commons.