Privy Council

Privy Council. The fate of most councils or committees is to grow too large to be effective and to be replaced by an executive or inner caucus, like a series of Russian dolls. The council of late medieval times became too big and in the late 1530s a smaller Privy Council was set up. To a considerable extent this was the work of Thomas Cromwell, though how much Wolsey contributed and how much was left to Cromwell's successors is debated. In 1540 the Privy Council, with some twenty members, acquired a clerk and a minute book. It became the work-horse of late Tudor government. As such it made many enemies. The Long Parliament replaced it in 1649 by a Council of State, but Richard Cromwell restored it, and it was continued by Charles II after 1660. But its great days were by then over. The emergence of the cabal in the 1670s and James II's use of an inner cabinet in the 1680s heralded its fate, and it began to lose importance, first to the cabinet council, then to the cabinet. Its defenders offered a rearguard action and the Act of Settlement of 1701 declared that government business should be transacted in the Privy Council and that all counsellors should sign their advice. The clause was repealed by 4 Anne c. 8 s. 24 in 1705 before it could take effect. As the Privy Council continued to grow, its duties became almost purely formal, though the lord president of the council is invariably a cabinet minister and supervises a number of functions in relation to education, science, and charters. Its judicial committee of legal experts acts as a court of appeal for British dependencies, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islands. By 1994 the membership of the Privy Council had risen to more than 400.

The Scottish Privy Council dated from the late 15th cent. After the union of the crowns in 1603, though the crucial decisions were taken in London, the Scottish Privy Council had considerable influence as the day-to-day executive. It was abolished immediately after the Act of Union of 1707.

J. A. Cannon