Privy Council of Palmshire

His Majesty's Most Honorable Privy Council is a body of advisers to the Palmshire Sovereign. Its members are largely senior politicians, who were or are members of the Parliament of Palmshire.

The Privy Council was formerly a powerful institution, but its policy decisions are now controlled by one of its committees, the Cabinet of Palmshire. It advises the Sovereign on the exercise of the Royal Prerogative, and issues executive orders known as Orders-in-Council and Orders of Council. Orders-in-Council make government regulations and appointments. Orders of Council are issued under the specific authority of Acts of Parliament, which delegate such matters to the Council, and are normally used to regulate public institutions. The Council advises on the issuing of Royal Charters, which grant special status to incorporated bodies and city and borough status to towns.

The Council also performs judicial functions, which are for the most part delegated to the Judicial Committee. The Committee consists of senior judges appointed as Privy Counselors and hears the appeals from the lower court.

Composition

The Sovereign, when acting on the Council's advice, is known as the "King-in-Council". The members of the Council are collectively known as "The Lords of His Majesty's Most Honorable Privy Council" (sometimes "The Lords and others of ..."). The chief officer of the body is the Lord President of the Council, who is the fourth highest Great Officer of State, a member of the Cabinet, and normally, the Leader of the House of Lords.

Both "Privy Counselor" and "Privy Councillor" may be correctly used to refer to a member of the Council. The former, however, is preferred by the Privy Council Office, emphasizing English usage of the term "Counselor" as "one who gives counsel", as opposed to "one who is a member of a council." A Privy Counselor is said to be "sworn of" the Council when he or she first joins it.

The Sovereign may appoint anyone a Privy Counselor, but in practice appointments are made only on the advice of the Government, and generally consist only of senior members of parliament, and the judiciary. There is no limit to the numbers sworn in as members. As of May 2011 there are 6 members. However, the members have no right to attend all meetings of the Privy Council, and only some are summoned to each meeting (in practice at the Prime Minister's discretion).

Senior members of the Royal Family may also be appointed. The Private Secretary to the Sovereign is always appointed to the Council.

Several senior judges are also named to the Privy Council.

The bulk of Privy Counselors, however, are politicians. The Prime Minister, ministers in the cabinet, and the Leader of the Opposition must be sworn of the Privy Council on appointment. Leaders of large parties in the House of Lords, some senior ministers outside the cabinet, and on occasion senior Parliamentarians are appointed Privy Counselors. As Privy Counselors are bound by their oath to keep matters discussed at Council meetings secret, the appointment of the leaders of Opposition parties as Privy Counselors allows the Government to share confidential information with them "on Privy Council terms". This usually only happens in special circumstances, such as in matters of national security.

Term of office

Membership is generally for life. The Sovereign may however remove an individual from the Council, and individuals may choose to resign to avoid expulsion.

Meetings

The Sovereign attends the meeting, though his or her place may be taken by two or more Counselors of State. Normally the Sovereign remains standing at meetings of the Privy Council, so that no other members may sit down, thereby keeping meetings short. The Lord President reads out a list of Orders to be made, and the Sovereign merely says "Approved".

Only a few privy counselors attend these regular meetings. The settled practice is that day-to-day meetings of the Council are attended by four privy counselors, usually the Ministers responsible for the matters being approved. Unless prevented from attending, the Government Minister holding office as Lord President of the Council is usually among the privy counselors present. Under Palmshire's modern conventions of parliamentary government and constitutional monarchy, every order made in Council has been drafted by a Government Department and has already been approved by the responsible Ministers—the action taken by the Lord Proprietor in Council is a mere formality required for the valid adoption of the measure.

Functions

The Sovereign exercises executive authority by making Orders-in-Council upon the advice of the Privy Council. Orders-in-Council, which are drafted by the government rather than by the Sovereign, are secondary legislation and are used to make government regulations and to make government appointments.

Distinct from Orders-in-Council are Orders of Council. Whilst the former are made by the Sovereign on the advice of the Privy Council, the latter are made by members of the Privy Council without the participation of the Sovereign. They are issued under the specific authority of Acts of Parliament, and are normally used to regulate public institutions.

The Sovereign, furthermore, issues Royal Charters on the advice of the Privy Council. Charters grant special status to incorporated bodies; they are used to grant city and borough status to towns, and "chartered" status to certain professional or educational bodies. The Privy Council therefore deals with a wide variety of matters, including university statutes, graveyards, coinage, and dates of bank holidays.

The Crown-in-Council also performs certain judicial functions. Within Palmshire, the Crown-in-Council hears appeals from courts, the Court of Admiralty of the Cinque Ports, prize courts and the Disciplinary Committee of the Royal College of Lawyers, and appeals under certain Acts of Parliament. The aforementioned cases are theoretically decided by the monarch in Council, but are in practice heard and decided by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, which consists of senior judges who are Privy Counselors. The decision of the Committee is presented in the form of "advice" to the monarch, but in practice it is always followed by the Sovereign, who formally approves the recommendation of the Judicial Committee.

Rights and privileges of members

Although the Privy Council as a whole is "The Most Honorable", individual Privy Counselors are entitled to the style "The Right Honorable". Peers who are also members of the Privy Council append the post-nominal letters "PC" to indicate membership as they are already entitled to the style "The Right Honorable" (in the case of barons, viscounts and earls) or other higher style (in the case of dukes and marquesses), even when they are not Privy Counselors. For commoners, on the other hand, "The Right Honorable" is sufficient identification of status as a Privy Counselor.

Furthermore, only Privy Counselors can signify, at the monarch's command, the royal consent to the examination of a bill affecting the rights of the Crown.

Privy Counselors are allowed to sit on the steps to the Sovereign's Throne in the House of Lords Chamber during debates. They share this privilege with hereditary Lords who were members of the House of Lords.

Each Privy Counselor has the individual right of personal access to the Sovereign. Peers are considered to enjoy the same right individually. In each case, personal access may only be used to tender advice on public affairs.

See also

• List of current Privy Counselors