India, or served the E. I. C. Except as mentioned, nomination for military cadetships to be made by secretary and council, so that out of seventeen nominations the secretary shall have two, and each member of council one; but all nominations must be approved by secretary in council. Except as provided, all regulations as to appointments to have approval of secretary in council. Revenues and Accounts: By s. 39, all the real and personal property of E. I. C. to be vested in the crown for the government of India. The expenditure of revenues in India and elsewhere to le under control of secretary in council, and no grant or appropriation of any part or any other Indian property to be made without the concurrence of a majority at a meeting of the council. Auditor of accounts of secretary in council to be appointed by the crown, s. 52. By s. 53, within the first fourteen days during which parliament may be sitting next after May 1st in every year, accounts to be laid before both houses by secretary in council of the financial year preceding of produce of revenues of India. By s. 54, when an order has been sent to India to commence hostilities, the fact to be communicated to parliament within three months after, if sitting, unless such order has meanwhile been revoked or suspended; if parliament be not sitting at the end of three months, then order to be communicated to it within a month after meeting. Except for preventing or repelling actual invasion, or under other sudden and urgent necessity, the revenues of India shall not, without the consent of both houses of parliament, be applicable to the expenses of any military operations beyond the frontiers by H. M.'s forces charged upon such revenues, s. 55. Existing Indian military and naval forces to remain under existing conditions of service, s. 56. Functions of Board of Control and E. I. C. directors, and salaries of chairman and directors, to cease. Books, records, and archives of the Company, except such as concern the ownership of stock and dividends, to be delivered into custody of secretary in council, 62. The new act to be proclaimed in the presidencies of India as soon as convenient after being received by the governor-general, 75. This act was amended in 1859, in relation to the execution and validity of contracts, by 22 & 23 V. c. 41. Under former act the local government and officers of the provinces were unable to enter into and execute contracts on behalf of the secretary for India as they had been on behalf of the East India Company. This deficiency in powers is supplied, and the secretary may be named as a party in contracts, but without any personal liability. The validity of interim contracts is guaranteed by s. 4. The Government of India can sue and be sued under the title of "The Secretary of State for India." Actions and suits in India to be carried on in the name of the secretary of state for India. The maintenance of a separate European force for the local service being deemed inexpedient, the 23 &

24 V. c. 100, repeals parts of former acts which authorize the secretary for India to give directions for raising such force for India. The 24 & 25 V. c. 54, confirms appointments, and amends the law relating to the civil service in India. The 24 & 25 V. c. 67, makes better provision for the constitution of the council of the governor-general, and for the local government of the presidencies and provinces. The 24 & 25 V. c. 89, increases the amount payable out of the revenues of India in respect of the retiring pay, pensions, and other expenses of the British forces. The 24 & 25 V. c. 104, establishes a high court of judicature for India, and is amended by 28 & 29 V. c. 15, which extends the term for granting letters patent for the high courts in India, and makes further provision respecting their jurisdiction. By s. 3, power is given to the governor-general to alter local boundaries of the courts, but power in the crown to disallow such alterations.

The 28 V. c. 17, enlarges the powers of the governor-general in council, at meetings for making laws respecting the territorial limits of the presidencies and lieutenant-governorships in India. Power to governor-general at judicial meetings to make laws for all British subjects within the dominions of princes aud states in alliance with her Majesty.

CHAPTER III.

Constitution and Government of England.

THE supreme power in England is divided into the two branches of the legislative and executive; the former consists of the sovereign, the lords, and commons, in parliament assembled; the latter consists of the sovereign only.

But

There is little doubt that parliaments, or general councils of the crown, are coeval with the establishment of the kingdom. the constitution of parliament, as it now stands, was more clearly defined in the year 1215, by Magna Charta, granted by King John, in which he promises to summon the clergy, nobility, and commons to meet at a certain place, with forty days' notice, to assess aids and scutages, when necessary. The constitution so promulgated has clearly subsisted from the year 1265, 49 Hen. 3, there being still extant writs of that date, to summon knights, citizens, and burgesses to parliament.

The parliament is summoned by the queen's writ, or letter. issued out of chancery, formerly forty, but after the union witla Scotland, fifty, days before it begins to sit. But the time required to intervene between the date of the proclamation for assembling parliament, and the day appointed for the meeting thereof, was shortened in 1852 by 15 V. c. 23, enacting that the time for the first meeting of parliament after a dissolution may be any time not less than thirty-five days from the date of such proclamation.

It is a branch of the royal prerogative that no new parliament can be convened by its own authority, or by the authority of an except the queen only. But on the demise of the sovereign, if there be no parliament in being, the last revives, and continues for six months, unless sooner prorogued or dissolved by her successor. And in case of the queen's demise on or after the day of assembling a new parliament, such new parliament shall meet and sit, subject in like manner to the will of her successor.

A parliament may be holden at any place the queen may assign; and she may issue her proclamation for the meeting of it in fourteen days from the date, notwithstanding a previous adjournment to a longer period.

The power of proroguing and dissolving, as well as summoning parliament together, is vested in the crown. When it is resolved that parliament shall meet and sit on the day to which it is prorogued, notice is given by proclamation. And the language of the proclamation itself varies, so as to indicate a determination that the session shall then actually commence, the words "then and there to meet for the despatch of business" being included, which are omitted when it is not intended to meet on the day named.

Whether by the statute of 4 E. 3, c. 14, it is meant that parliament should be held once a year, or oftener, if need be, is not decided; nor is it very material now to inquire, because the Mutiny Act, the grant of supplies for the army and navy, and some other bilis, being passed annually, it has become necessary for parliament to assemble once at least in every year; and the prorogation at the end of the session is in practice only for a limited time within the year; and, when that period expires, it is prolonged or not according to the exigencies of the public service.

Every parliament must be opened either by the queen in person, or by her commission or representative.

The power and jurisdiction of this body are so great as to have been styled omnipotent. Its authority extends over the whole of the United Kingdom, and all its colonies and foreign possessions. It has sovereign and uncontrollable authority in the making of laws. It can regulate and new-model the succession to the crown, as was done in the reigns of Henry VIII. and William III.; it can alter the established religion, as was done in the reigns of Henry VIII. and his children; it can change even the constitution of the empire and of parliament itself. An alien, though naturalized, is incapable of being a member of parliament.

PRIVILEGES OF PARLIAMENT.

The privileges of parliament were principally intended to protect its members, not only from being molested in the discharge of their legislative duties by their fellow-subjects, but more especially from being oppressed by the power of the crown.

By the 1 W. & M. st. 2, c. 2, it is declared, that "freedom of speech, debate, or proceedings in parliament, ought not to be impeached or questioned in any court or place out of parliament."

The privilege from arrest in civil causes is, in a peer, perpetual; and, in a commoner, during the sitting of parliament, and for forty days after its prorogation, and for forty days before the next appointed meeting; which is, in effect, as long as the parliament subsists, it seldom being prorogued for more than eighty days at a time.

In addition to these privileges of speech and person the right of members of either of the two houses of parliament to publish their own reports, papers, votes and other proceedings is specially protected by 3 & 4 V. c. 9.

But the privilege of parliament does not extend to treason, felony, breach of the peace, or any indictable offence; and in civil suits the law only protects the persons of members from arrest, not their property from sale or execution. They are, also, if in trade, subject to the bankrupt laws; and any trader having privilege of parliament, committing an act of bankruptcy, a petition may issue against him, and persons acting under it proceed thereon in like manner as against any other bankrupt.

In 1866 a new and uniform oath (the words of which were resettled by 31 & 32 V. c. 72) was provided by 29 & 30 V. c. 19, to be used by every member of either house on taking his seat in lieu of several oaths formerly required. The words of the prescribed oath, which is also the oath of allegiance, are as follows:

"I, A. B., do swear that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to Her Majesty Queen Victoria, Her heirs and successors according to Law. So help me God.

Every person for the time being by law permitted to make a solemn affirmation or declaration instead of taking an oath may, instead of taking such oath, make a solemn affirmation in the above form, substituting the words "solemnly, sincerely, and truly declare and affirm" for the word "swear," and omitting the words " So help

me God."

The oath is taken by peers and commoners at the table in the middle of the house, a full house being assembled, with the speaker in his chair, and at such hours and according to such regulations as each house may determine. Penalty £500 on a member of either house voting or sitting without having made and subscribed the parliamentary oath or affirmation.

It is part of the custom and law of parliament that no one shall sit and vote in either house unless he be of 21 years of age.

Thus much for the parliament in its aggregate legislative capacity; it will next be proper to speak more particularly of its constituent parts-namely, the queen, lords, and commons.

CHAPTER IV.

The Sovereign.

THE supreme executive power is vested in a single person, either king or queen; and the person entitled to it, whether male or female, is invested with all the ensigns and prerogatives of Sovereignty.

The right of succession is, by custom, hereditary, but this right of inheritance has been changed or limited by the parliament; under which limitation the crown still continues hereditary-that is, descendible to the next heir, being Protestant, male or female. Hence it is that the king is said never to die; but on the death of ore sovereign the kingship survives in his successor.

The sovereign cannot in judgment of law, as sovereign, ever be a minor or under age; and therefore his royal grants and assents to acts of parliament are good at any time. It has, however, been Esually thought prudent, when the heir apparent is very young, to appoint a protector, guardian, or regent for a limited period.

SOVEREIGN'S COUNCILS.

These consist of the high court of parliament, the peers of the realm, the judges, and the privy council.

The peers are, by their birth, hereditary counsellors of the crown, and may be summoned to impart their advice in all matters of importance to the kingdom; or, they may individually demand an audience of the queen, and respectfully lay before her Majesty such matters as they judge important to the public welfare.

The judges are the queen's counsellors in matters of law, and may be required to advise the crown in all affairs of legal difficulty; this office is now usually discharged by the attorney and solicitor general of her Majesty.

Until the rise of the cabinet, the most responsible and influential advisers of the crown in state affairs were the privy council. The number of its members is indefinite, and at the pleasure of the queen; but they must be natural-born subjects. By 6 Anne, c. 7, they sit during the life of the queen, who nominates them, subject to removal at the royal discretion. On the demise of the crown they continue for six months, unless sooner determined by the

successor.

Formerly, a privy councillor enjoyed privileges in respect of personal security, but these were abolished by 9 G. 4, c. 31; and any offence against a privy councillor stands on the same footing as offences against any other individual. By his oath he is bound to advise the queen without partiality, affection, or dread; to keep ber counsel secret, to avoid corruption, and to assist in the execu