The functions of the Monarch may be distinguished into those she has (1) in relation to Parliament and those she has (2) in relation to the Executive department of Government. In both respects she is always held to act upon the advice of her Cabinet Ministers, who are responsible to Parliament. She has the power, however, of choosing or dismissing these Ministers as she pleases, though it is not now customary for the Sovereign to choose or retain Ministers displeasing to the Houses of Parliament. The Cabinet Ministers are presumedly responsible to the Houses of Parliament for every public Act to which the Crown is a party. No Parliament can be legally assembled or prorogued or dissolved without the authority of the Queen. If she die, the Parliament, if sitting, lasts for six months longer, unless prorogued or dissolved by the succeeding Sovereign. If the Queen die after the dissolution of a Parliament and before the day appointed for the meeting of a new Parliament, the last preceding Parliament shall meet and continue for a period of six months. A Parliament continues for seven years unless sooner dissolved. In fact Parliaments generally last between three or four years. When a Parliament comes to an end, or is dissolved, all the Members of the House of Commons have to be elected afresh. When it is prorogued, they have merely to be summoned afresh to meet again. It is now the custom for Parliament to meet every year from early in February till early in August. This is necessary because the Parliament has yearly to make grants of public money and to fix the amount and mode of taxation for the general expenses of Government. The Queen (acting by the advice of her Ministers) can prorogue or dissolve Parliament whenever she pleases. The assent of the Sovereign is necessary for every Bill which has passed the two Houses of Parliament to become Law. No occasion now ever occurs in which the Sovereign withholds her consent, but this used to happen in former days. As to the Functions of the Monarch in her Administrative Capacity. Acting always under the advice of her responsible Minister: 1. She appoints Ambassadors to Foreign States, and conducts negociations with those states. 2. She makes War or Peace, being dependent however 3. She makes Treaties with Foreign States. 4. She has the supreme Command of the Army and Navy, In Judicial Matters. The Queen is said to be the "Fountain of Justice." This means that, with the advice of her responsible Ministers : 1. The Queen appoints all Judges, of all sorts and degrees, 2. All prosecutions for crime are undertaken in her name, 3. She can pardon all offences except in case of an Im- The Queen can pardon all offences whatever after trial and sentence. The only classes of cases in which this privilege is exercised at the present day are the following: 1. Political offences, when the feeling which led to them 2. Offences, as to which evidence turns up after the trial i 3. Offences as to which it appears after the trial that improper evidence, that is, untrustworthy evidence, was received at the trial. The privilege of pardoning offences is exercised by the Home Secretary, in the name of the Queen. In certain Miscellaneous Matters. The Sovereign is said to be the "Fountain of Honour." This means that : 1. All degrees of nobility are derived from grant of the Crown. 2. All "Corporations," - that is, bodies of persons united together so as to have certain legal privileges, -are created directly by grant of the Crown, or indirectly so, by compliance with the terms of certain Acts of Parliament. The Sovereign alone can coin money and impress what stamp upon it she chooses and makes its legally current value what she chooses. The establishment where the coin is made is called "The Mint." The Sovereign is said to be the "Head of the National Church." This means that a special form of religion is held to be the public or national religion of this country. The Sovereign appoints all the Bishops and Archbishops, that is, the chief governors of the National Church. The following special rules apply to the King or Queen :They cannot be punished by any legal process, nor can any action at law be brought against them. It has already been seen that though the English King or Queen still retains some slight influence in choosing one set of Ministers rather than another, yet this influence is little more than nominal; and in all the above matters the really active and responsible persons are the Cabinet Ministers, who are practically chosen by Parliament, and only hold their places during the pleasure of Parliament. THE HOUSE OF LORDS. The House of Lords is at present composed of 476 Members. They are divided into the following classes: 1. 4 Peers of the Blood Royal, that is, close relations of 20 "Dukes," the highest title or dignity in the country. 109 "Earls," the next highest. 23 "Viscounts," -the next highest. 231 "Barons," the next highest. 2 Archbishops) Heads of the Church and representing 24 Bishops the National Religion. 16 representative Peers for Scotland, -chosen for each 28 representative Peers for Ireland, -elected for life. The Dukes, Marquises, Earls, Viscounts, and Barons only differ from one another in order of precedence, that is, they are ranked in the above order. They have no other necessary points of difference. They are very old names, and in the early history of the country probably all represented important offices in the Government of the country; but this is no longer so. The titles are now all honorary, except so far as they imply that the holder has a seat in the House of Lords, and they give a bare claim to precedence. The Queen can make as many new Peers as she chooses, and can give them any of the above titles she chooses. When once a person has been summoned to Parliament to sit in the House of Lords, and has actually taken his seat, or when a person has been created a Peer by the Queen's "letters patent," his descendants inherit the right to sit, the eldest son succeeding first on his father's death, and his eldest son again succeeding to the exclusion of the brothers. The order of succession is exactly the same as that to the Crown, except that women may succeed to the Crown in default of men of equal nearness to the last Sovereign. Women cannot sit in the House of Lords, though women may be Peeresses by Royal grant, or even in some Peerages, by descent. No Peers can be created for life, though it has been desired to allow this. The Lord Chancellor, who is an eminent lawyer, and is always made a Peer, presides over the debates in the House of Lords. At one time, that is about 800 years ago, the House of Lords was the only Legislative and Executive body in the country. It was composed of the most important persons in the kingdom, whether as holding estates of land from the King, and owing him military services in return, or as having distinct offices in the government of the country. There was then only one Chamber, or House of Assembly, and the King presided, as at a Great Council. Two important changes then took place, -one the separation of some of the chief officers of state from the Great Council, so as to form a smaller council, or "King's Council," -the other the separation of the lesser Peers, that is the poorer and less important ones, from the richer and more eminent ones. By this separation a Second Chamber, or new House of Assembly, was created, which was the beginning of the present House of Commons. Later on, only a few of the smaller "Barons " 'Knights," that is the smaller tenants of land from the crown were chosen to represent the rest; and later on, that is in the year 1265, Boroughs or Towns were permitted to be represented by Members in the House of Commons, as well as the Counties or County Divisions. ΟΙ At the present day, very little business is done in the House of Lords, though the consent of that House is needed for any Bill to become law. When much interest attaches to a Bill there is often a considerable attendance and a warm debate, but they very seldom throw out or much alter a Bill which has been deliberately passed by a good majority of votes in the House of Commons. Sometimes Bills are proposed in the House of Lords, but never Bills affecting taxation, and such Bills, if coming up from the Commons, are never altered in the Lords' House, though they are occasionally thrown out. Some members of the Cabinet always sit in the Lords' House (that is some peers are made members of the Cabinet) and, of course, the Lord Chancellor. The House of Lords is a Court of Justice in two capacities. 1. In the case of an "Impeachment," -a proceeding which is almost disused at the present day, and in which some public personage is accused of offences injurious to the whole State, -by the House of Commons, the House of Lords acts as the Judicial Tribunal before which the accused is brought. This proceeding is one mode of making Ministers responsible for giving bad advice |