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peerage of their country, but for life. The Irish spiritual peers sit in rotation.

The king is not only at the head of the executive; he is also the head of the church, the commander of the army, the dispenser of all titles of honor, and even, by a fiction of the law, the person of whom all the landed property in his dominions is held. The queen has the same power as a king.

In the right of appointing the bishops, the judges, the lords lieutenant, and justices of peace of counties, the officers of the army and navy, and many officers and public servants, the king possesses a large amount of patronage, which conduces, in no small degree, to the maintenance of his authority. He has also the sole right of declaring peace or war, though, in the latter instance, he is effectually controlled by the House of Commons, which may give or withhold the requisite funds, as it sees proper.

Out of respect for the hereditary principle and the royal character, it is held that the king cannot of himself do any wrong, or be personally called to account for his actions. The responsibility for the performance of his functions rests with a body of servants chosen by himself, and designated his ministers, who cannot continue in that character without the approbation of parliament, and are liable to be impeached by that body if they commit any grievous error.

Twelve of these officers, named the First Lord of the Treasury, the Lord Chancellor, the Lord Privy Seal, the President of the Council, the Secretary of State for the Home Department, the Secretary of State for the Foreign Department, the Secretary of State for the Colonies, the Chan

cellor of the Exchequer, the First Lord of the Admiralty, the Master-General of the Ordnance, the President of the Board of Control, and the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, usually constitute what is called the Cabinet Council, or Council of the King's Cabinet, to deliberate upon all matters of importance.

Besides this body, the king has a Privy Council, consisting of persons eminent from rank, office, or personal character, who may be at variance with the Cabinet Council, but take no share in the government, except when summoned by the royal authority. They are then in the same situation with the Cabinet Ministers, and responsible for the advice they give.

CHAPTER XLIII.

Legislature and Judiciary of Great Britain.

THE two houses of Parliament usually sit, during a considerable portion of every year, in deliberation upon the affairs of the country, and for the enactment of new, or the repeal of old laws. Any member of either house may propose a new law; but this duty is chiefly undertaken by the king's ministers, and it is in the lower house, that new laws are usually proposed.

When a proposed law has been introduced in the shape of a bill, and sanctioned in one house, it passes on to the other, which may receive, reject, or modify it. If it passes both, it is submitted to the king, who may give or withhold his approba

tion. When it has received the sanction of all the three branches of the legislature, it is called an Act of Parliament, and becomes part of the laws of the country.

The bills for the pecuniary supplies necessary for the public service, are introduced exclusively by the House of Commons: they may be rejected by the House of Lords; but for that house to alter them, or to introduce any bill which involves pecuniary supply to the government, is considered a breach of the privilèges of the House of Commons.

The money annually raised by Parliament for the public service and the payment of the interest of the national debt, was, in 1760, about nine millions, and in 1793, seventeen and a half. The sum now generally raised, is nearly fifty million of pounds.

Justice, civil and criminal, is administered in England and Ireland according to laws and forms which took their rise in the former country, and were in time extended to the latter. The English law, as it is comprehensively termed, is of two kinds-written or statute law, consisting of the laws established by act of Parliament, and consuetudinary law, consisting of customs which have existed from time immemorial, and have received the sanction of the judges.

Consuetudinary law is again divided into common law and equity; the former is administered by courts which profess to adhere strictly to the old laws of England, except in as far as they are altered by statute; the latter was founded upon the principle that the king, in cases of hardship, was entitled to give relief from the strictness of the common law. Equity, though thus originated, has

now become also a fixed kind of law, and is administered in courts which decide according to established rules.

In Scotland, laws peculiar to itself, founded upon the principles of the Roman and the Feudal law, are administered by a supreme civil tribunal, denominated the Court of Session, which remains fixed at Edinburgh; and by a criminal tribunal, named the Court of Justiciary, which not only sits in the same city, but makes circuits through the provinces. Minor civil and criminal cases are also judged in Scotland by the sheriffs of the various counties, and the magistrates of the burghs.

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SPAIN was long an absolute monarchy; the power of the king having no limits, except such as public opinion interposed; and these were very slight among a people without education. The evils of this kind

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