Everything about Privy Council totally explained
A
privy council is a body that advises the
head of state of a respective nation, typically, but not always, in the context of a
monarchic government.
The word "privy" means "private" or "secret" thus a privy council was originally a
committee of the monarch's closest advisors to give
confidential advice on affairs of state.
In non-monarchical nations (for example the
United States) the equivalent body is the "
cabinet" although some nations have both a privy council organized around the monarch and a cabinet organized around the prime minister, such as the
United Kingdom although in this case the Cabinet is technically a committee of the Privy Council.
United Kingdom and Commonwealth
In the
United Kingdom, the Privy Council, formally
Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, consists of all the members of the
Cabinet, former Cabinet ministers, and other distinguished persons appointed by the Sovereign. Its functions include issuing
Orders-in-Council, granting
Royal Charters, and acting as a court of appeal from British Courts in overseas territories.
The
Cabinet remains formally a committee of the Privy Council.
Historically, the privy council was the main council of government, but gradually was replaced in this by the "cabinet council", later the Cabinet, first established by Charles I.
England and
Scotland once had separate Privy Councils, but the
Act of Union 1707, which united the two countries into
Great Britain, replaced both with a single body.
Ireland, on the other hand, continued to have a separate Privy Council even after the
Act of Union 1800. The Irish Privy Council was abolished in
1922, when the
Irish Free State separated from the United Kingdom; it was succeeded by the
Privy Council for Northern Ireland, which became dormant after the suspension of the
Parliament of Northern Ireland in
1972.
Privy Council members in the UK are called Privy Counsellors and are addressed as
The Right Honourable (shortened to Rt Hon). If they're members of the
peerage, they're entitled to use the post-nominal letters
PC.
Commonwealth
The equivalent organ of state in most
Commonwealth Realms and some
Commonwealth Republics and their constituent provinces or states is called the
Executive Council.
The
British Privy Council is also the ultimate
judiciary body — equivalent to a
Supreme Court — for many
Commonwealth countries that were formerly part of the
British Empire (for example
Jamaica,
Belize,
Trinidad and Tobago) and Britain's continuing overseas territories (for example
Bermuda,
Falkland Islands). Privy Council decisions are not binding on courts in England, but as the judges of the Privy Council are usually the same judges who sit in the
House of Lords, the decisions are considered highly persuasive.
Canada
Canada has had its own Privy Council — the
Queen's Privy Council for Canada — since
1867 (though while the Canadian Privy Council is specifically "for Canada," the Privy Council discussed above isn't "for the United Kingdom"), the members of whose Privy Council advise the
Governor General on the exercise of the royal
prerogative of mercy.
France
The French term
conseil privé corresponds to several royal councils around the king of France during the
Ancien Régime designed to prepare his decisions and give him advice.
Others
Denmark and island-nation monarchy
Tonga also have Privy Councils (see
Privy Council of Denmark and
(External Link
)), as did Germany (see
Geheimrat).
Russia and
Sweden used to have Privy Councils in the past (see
Supreme Privy Council and
Privy Council of Sweden).
Brunei has both a
cabinet and a privy council.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Privy Council'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://privy_council.totallyexplained.com">Privy council Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
