monarch's children, and those of the Prince of Wales, receive the title of Royal Highness. 13. The Privy Council.-The Privy Council is another very important body in connection with the executive branch of the British government; being composed by many civil and ecclesiastical dignitaries appointed by the sovereign, all of them natural-born British subjects. The Cabinet Ministers constitute a committee of the Privy Council, whose President is the fourth great officer of state. This Council meets once in two or three weeks, but only such of its members attend as are specially summoned by the sovereign, the meeting usually consisting of the Cabinet Ministers, the great officers of the royal household and the Archbishop of Canterbury; but on extraordinary occasions all the members are summoned. 14. House of Lords.-The House of Lords, or Upper House of Parliament, consists: 1. Of Lords Temporal, or the princes of the blood royal and the hereditary nobles such as dukes, marquises, earls or counts, viscounts and baronswho are members by right of birth; 2. Of Lords Spiritual, or the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, and the other bishops of the Church of England, who are members by virtue of their offices. The Scotch representative peers sit only for one Parliament; the Irish representative peers sit for life. A peer may vote by proxy; but each peer can only hold the proxy for one absent peer. The House of Lords can alone originate any bills that affect the rights or privileges of the peerage, and the Commons are not allowed to make any changes in them. Peers can only be tried by the House of Lords, and this House of Parliament constitutes the court in which officers of state are tried on impeachment by the House of Commons. The House of Lords is also the last court of appeal from inferior jurisdictions. Each peer may enter his protest on the journals of the houses when a vote passes contrary to his sentiments, and assign the reasons for his dissent in writing. When sitting in judgment his vote is given " on his honor.” The same form is observed in answers on bills in chancery, but in civil and criminal cases he must be under oath. 66 15. House of Commons.-The House of Commons, or Lower House of Parliament, consists of members chosen by the counties, cities, boroughs and universities of England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland. The county members, usually styled knights of the shire, and borough members must possess real estate of a specified yearly value; but the sons of peers and university members need not possess these qualifications. Aliens, clergymen, judges, returning officers in the respective jurisdictions, officers of the excise and the like, those who hold pensions of a limited time, contractors with the Government, and others exposed to outside influences, are not eligible to seats in Parliament. The House of Commons has the sole power of impeachment. The members of Parliament, with the exception of the chairmen of several committees, receive no salaries. 16. Qualifications of voters for members of the House of Commons. By the Reform Bill of 1832, the right of voting for members of the House of Com mons was given to leaseholders in counties seized on lands or tenements worth ten pounds a year, to tenants at will, farming lands at fifty pounds a year, and to holders in fee simple of lands or tenements of the yearly value of forty shillings. In cities and boroughs the right of voting is given to resident landholders whose tenements are worth an annual rental of ten pounds, but the rights of freemen in the old constituencies are preserved for life. By the Reform Bill of 1867 all these property qualifications were reduced, and the elective franchise was extended to several hundred thousand additional voters. By the Ballot Act of 1872 members of Parliament are elected by secret ballot, instead of by open voting, as before. By an express act of Parliament, no member of the House of Commons can be appointed to any office by the crown without resigning his seat; and no person elected to Parliament by any constituency can refuse to serve in the capacity to which he was chosen, even against his own will, except by formally resigning his seat in Parliament. By the Franchise Act, or the Reform Bill of 1884, the suffrage was made practically universal in Great Britain and Ireland, the elective franchise being extended to all men but criminals, paupers and lunatics. 17. Legislation.-Speech from the throne.-Prorogation and dissolution.The House of Commons elects its own presiding officer, called the Speaker. Bills, in order to become laws, must pass three readings; and after being passed by both Houses of Parliament, must receive the royal assent before they can become laws. Every session of Parliament is opened by a speech from the throne to both Houses, the Ministers giving an account of the state of public affairs, and recommending to the consideration of Parliament certain measures of public policy. The act of proroguing Parliament, which means adjourning it for an indefinite time, is vested in the crown; but Parliament may adjourn its sittings to the next or to any future day.. The power of dissolving Parliament is also vested in the crown, through its Ministers. 18. The English Church.-The established Church-known as the Church of England, the Anglican Church, or the Protestant Episcopal Church, as established during the reigns of Henry VIII., Edward VI. and Elizabeth-is under Government control. The sovereign is the head of the Church; and, as he is such, he must, therefore, be a member of that Church by law; being therefore the only individual in the worldwide British Empire who cannot choose his own religion. The first of the ecclesiastical dignitaries of the Church of England is the Archbishop of Canterbury, or the Primate, and next to him is the Archbishop of York. There are twenty-four other Bishops of the established Church. The two Archbishops and the twenty-four other Bishops are members of the House of Lords, as before noticed. 19. Administration of justice.—The king (or queen) is the source of executive justice; but law, whether criminal or civil, is administered by the Judges, who, excepting the Lord Chancellor, hold their offices during good behavior. The judiciary department in England and Ireland consists of the Courts of Chan cery, King's (or Queen's) Bench, Common Pleas, and Exchequer; in Scotland of the Court of Sessions and the High Court of Justiciary. In the rural districts Circuit Courts are held twice a year by itinerant justices. The House of Lords is the highest law court in the British Empire. A Supreme Court was recently established for appealed cases previously decided by the House of Lords. The Courts of King's (or Queen's) Bench are each presided over by a Lord Chief Justice. Common law is based on custom, or precedents established by decisions of the Courts. Statute law consists of Acts of Parliament. The Law of Equity is administered by the Lord Chancellor, in cases not covered by Statute law, and where justice can not be secured by the Common law. No man can be tried for any offence until a grand jury has decided that there is reasonable ground for the accusation; in which case the accused is handed for trial to a court of law, before a jury of twelve of his equals, and the verdict of that jury is final. No person can be tried twice for the same offence; and when a person is convicted by a jury there is no appeal but to the mercy of the crown. The civil and common law courts are open to every suitor, and justice is freely administered to all, of whatever rank or station. Treason against the government consists in insurrection against its authority or in adherence to its enemies. MAGNA CHARTA. (JUNE 15, 1215.) [THE FOUNDATION OF THE FREE CONSTITUTION OF ENGLAND—THE BASIS OF ALL ENGLISH AND AMERICAN CONSTITUTIONAL LIBERTY.] John, by the grace of God, King of England, Lord of Ireland, Duke of Normandy and Aquitaine, Count of Anjou, to the archbishops, bishops, abbots, earls, barons, justiciars, foresters, sheriffs, reeves, servants, and all bailiffs and his faithful people greeting. Know that by the suggestion of God and for the good of our soul and those of all our predecessors and of our heirs, to the honour of God and the exaltation of holy church, and the improvement of our kingdom, by the advice of our venerable fathers, Stephen, archbishop of Canterbury, primate of all England and cardinal of the holy Roman church, Henry, archbishop of Dublin, William of London, Peter of Winchester, Jocelyn of Bath and Glastonbury, Hugh of Lincoln, Walter of Worcester, William of Coventry, and Benedict of Rochester, bishops; of Master Pandulf, subdeacon and companion of the Lord Pope, of Brother Aymeric, master of the Knights of the Temple in England; and of the noblemen William Marshall, Earl of Pembroke, William, Earl of Salisbury, William, Earl of Warren, William, Earl of Arundel, Alan of Galloway, constable of Scotland, Warren Fitz-Gerald, Peter Fitz-Herbert, Hubert de Burgh, steward of Poitou, Hugh de Nevil, Matthew Fitz-Herbert, Thomas Bassett, Alan Bassett, Philip d'Albini, Robert de Roppelay, John Marshall, John Fitz-Hugh, and others of our faithful. 1. In the first place we have granted to God, and by this our present charter confirmed, for us and our heirs forever, that the English church shall be free, and shall hold its rights entire and its liberties uninjured; and we will that it be thus observed; which is shown by this, that the freedom of elections, which is considered to be most important and especially necessary to the English church, we, of our pure and spontaneous will, granted, and by our charter confirmed, before the contest between us and our barons had arisen; and obtained a confirmation of it by the lord Pope innocent III.; which we will observe and which we will shall be observed in good faith for our heirs forever. We have granted moreover to all free men of our kingdom for us and our heirs forever all the liberties written below, to be had and holden by themselves and their heirs from us and our heirs. 2. If any of our earls or barons, or others holding from us in chief by military service shall have died, and when he has died his heir is of full age and owe relief, he shall have his inheritance by the ancient relief; that is to say, the heir or heirs of an earl for the whole barony of an earl a hundred pounds; the heir or heirs of a baron for a whole barony a hundred pounds; the heir or heirs of a knight, for a whole knight's fee, a hundred shillings or more; and who owes less let him give less according to the ancient custom of fiefs. 3. If moreover the heir of any one of such shall be under age, and shall be in wardship, when he comes of age he shall have his inheritance without relief and without a fine. 4. The custodian of the land of such a minor heir shall not take from the land of the heir any except reasonable products, reasonable customary payments, and reasonable services, and this without destruction or waste of men or of property; and if we shall have committed the custody of the land of any such a one to the sheriff or to any other who is to be responsible to us for its proceeds, and that man has caused destruction or waste from his custody we will recover damages from him, and the land shall be committed to two legal and discreet men of that fief, who shall be responsible for its proceeds to us or to him to whom we have assigned them; and if we shall have given or sold to any one the custody of any such land, and he has caused destruction or waste there, he shall lose that custody, and it shall be handed over to two legal and discreet men of that fief who shall be in like manner responsible to us as is said above. 5. The custodian moreover, so long as he shall have the custody of the land, must keep up the houses, parks, warrens, fish ponds, mills, and other things pertaining to the land, from the proceeds of the land itself; and he must return to the heir, when he has come to full age, all his land, furnished with ploughs and implements of husbandry according as the time of wainage requires and as the proceeds of the land are able reasonably to sustain. 6. Heirs shall be married without disparagement, so nevertheless that before the marriage is contracted, it shall be announced to the relatives by blood of the heir himself. 7. A widow, after the death of her husband, shall have her marriage portion and her inheritance immediately and without obstruction, nor shall she give anything for her dowry or for her marriage portion, or for her inheritance which inheritance her husband and she held on the day of the death of her husband; and she may remain in the house of her husband for forty days after his death, within which time her dowry shall be assigned to her. 8. No widow shall be compelled to marry so long as she prefers to live without a husband, provided she gives security that she will not marry without our consent, if she holds from us, or without the consent of her lord from whom she holds, if she holds from another. 9. Neither we nor our bailiffs will seize any land or rent, for any debt, so long as the chattels of the debtor are sufficient for the payment of the debt; nor shall the pledges of a debtor be distrained so long as the principal debtor himself has enough for the payment of the debt; and if the principal debtor fails in the payment of the debt, not having the wherewithal to pay it, the pledges shall be responsible for the debt; and if they wish, they shall have the lands and the rents of the debtor until they shall have been satisfied for the debt which they have before paid for him, unless the principal debtor shall have shown himself to be quit in that respect towards those pledges. 10. If any one has taken anything from the Jews, by way of a loan, more or less, and dies before that debt is paid, the debt shall not draw interest so long as the heir is under age, from whomsoever he holds; and if that debt falls into our hands, we will take nothing except the chattel contained in the agreement. 11. And if any one dies leaving a debt owing to the Jews, his wife shall have her dowry, and shall pay nothing of that debt; and if there remain minor children of the dead man, necessaries shall be provided for them corresponding to the holding of the dead man; and from the remainder shall be paid the debt, the service of the lords being retained. In the same way debts are to be treated which are owed to others than the Jews. 12. No scutage or aid shall be imposed in our kingdom except by the common council of our kingdom, except for the ransoming of our body, for the making of our oldest son a knight, and for once marrying our oldest daughter, and for these purposes it shall be only a reasonable aid; in the same way it shall be done concerning the aids of the city of London. 13. And the city of London shall have all its ancient liberties and free customs, as well by land as by water. Moreover, we will and grant that all other cities and boroughs and villages and ports shall have all their liberties and free customs. 14. And for holding a common council of the kingdom concerning the assessment of an aid otherwise than in the three cases mentioned above, or concern |