her present majesty, Queen Victoria, on her accession to the throne, was £385,000, composed as follows. The descent of the crown is hereditary, and descends to sons according to the rules of primogeniture; and on failure of sons, and their issue, to daughters, and their issue, by the same rules of primogeniture. "But," says Sir William Blackstone, "the doctrine of hereditary right, by no means implies an indefeasible right to the throne. No man will, I think, assert this that has considered our laws, constitution, and history, without prejudice, and with any degree of attention. It is unquestionably in the breast of the supreme legislative authority, the king, and both houses of parliament, to defeat this hereditary right; and by particular entails, limitations, and provisions to exclude the immediate heir, and to vest the inheritance on any one else. . . . And this is so extremely reasonable, that, without such a power lodged somewhere, our polity would be very defective. For let us barely suppose that the heir-apparent were a lunatic, an idiot, or otherwise incapable of reigning, how miserable would the condition of the nation be if he were also incapable of being set aside!”1 This power does not rest merely on theory or expediency, for the Act of Security constituted it high treason to maintain and affirm "that the kings or queens of this realm are not able to make laws and statutes of sufficient force and validity to limit and bind the crown, and the descent, limitation, and government thereof."2 On the death of the king, his successor is immediately 1 Blackstone's Commentaries, book 1, cap. 3. 26 Anne, cap. 7, s. 1, “ An Act for the Security of her Majesty's Person and Government, and of the Succession to the Crown of Great Britain in the Protestant line." CH. I.] ROYAL FAMILY. 447 proclaimed, and invested with all the rights and duties of the sovereign, so that it is a constitutional maxim, that "the king never dies." Formerly the parliament, the council, and all the officers employed under the crown lost their authority by its demise; but that inconvenience has been put an end to. The parliament, by the existing law, is to continue, and if sitting at the time of the demise, is to proceed to act for six months, unless sooner prorogued or dissolved by the new king; and if prorogued, it shall meet on the day of prorogation, and continue for six months, unless sooner prorogued or dissolved; and in case there be no parliament in being at the time of the demise, the last parliament shall convene and be a parliament. The privy council, the great officers of state, and the officers of the king's household, continue and act for six months, unless sooner removed and discharged; and in like manner continue the occupiers of every office, place, or employment, civil or military, at home or abroad. The great seals and other public seals continue to be used until the new king give order to the contrary.' The king's eldest son is born Prince of Wales and Duke of Cornwall. The former title was originally granted by Edward I., after the conquest of the principality. It is a barren title; but the Dukedom of Cornwall has connected with it extensive property in lands, and mines of copper and tin. These were settled by Edward III. (1333) upon his eldest son, the Black Prince, and his heirs, eldest sons of the kings of England, for ever. The younger children of the sovereign are provided for by parliament on their coming of age, or being married; the sons generally receiving from the crown dukedoms, with seats in the house of lords, and a pecuniary provision from the parliament; and the daughters similar provisions, or marriage-portions; the eldest daughter, or Princess Royal, having an ancient and especial claim to be favoured in the provision made for her on her marriage, as being the object of one of the three ancient feudal aids, which the lord was entitled of right to demand, “to marry his eldest daughter." 1 6 Anne, cap. 7. CHAPTER II. THE PEERS, AND THE HOUSE OF LORDS. Spiritual Lords.-Temporal Peers.-Descent of Titles.-Younger Children.-Privileges of Peers.-House of Lords.-Lord-Chancellor and Officers of the House.-Standing Orders.-Functions of the House of Lords.-Constitutional Provisions for removing Conflict with the Commons..—Proxies and Protests.-Court of Judicial Authority.—-Impeachment.-Trials of Peers.-Appeals.--House of Lords considered in relation to the Constitution. THE peers are next in rank to the sovereign, and they form the aristocratic branch of the constitution. There are two orders, the lords spiritual and temporal; who together constitute the house of Lords, or the upper house of parliament. The spiritual lords consist of the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, of the Bishops of London, Durham, and Winchester, and twenty-one other bishops of the Church of England, and of one archbishop and four bishops of the Church of Ireland. The latter were added to the house as lords of parliament, by the Act of Union of Great Britain and Ireland, by which the Churches of England and Ireland were united into one protestant episcopal church, called the united Church of England and Ireland. They sit in rota 1 When an addition was made to the bishops by the creation of Manchester into a see, it was provided by statute that the number of lords spiritual should not be thereby increased, but (with the exception of the sees of Canterbury, York, Durham, and Winchester, whose archbishops and bishops should always sit in the house of lords) the remaining bishops should sit according to seniority. (10 & 11 Vict., cap. 108.) 239 & 40 Geo. III., cap. 67. CH. II.] SPIRITUAL AND TEMPORAL PEERS. 449 tion with the other archbishops and bishops of Ireland. The spiritual lords of parliament constitute the first estate of the realm. The temporal peers consist of all the peers of England, and of sixteen of the peers of Scotland, elected by the body of the Scotch peerage to represent them in the house of lords. The latter were added to the house by the terms of the union with Scotland; and by the union with Ireland, twenty-eight peers of Ireland were added, elected by the whole body of Irish peers to represent them in the house. The representative peers of Scotland sit during the continuance of the parliament for which they were elected; those of Ireland are elected for life. At the union of Scotland with England, the peers of England ceased to be peers of the realm of England, and they, as well as the peers of Scotland, became peers of the kingdom of Great Britain; and at the union with Ireland, they became peers of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. But the union with Ireland did not change the designation of the Irish peers; they remained "peers of Ireland," although it is expressly declared, in the Act of Union, "that all the lords of parliament, spiritual and temporal, sitting in the house of lords, shall have the same rights and privileges as the peers of Great Britain." The king is prohibited from creating a Scotch peer, but he is empowered by the Act of Union to create one peer of Ireland as often as three of the peerages existing at the time of the union shall become extinct; or when they are reduced to a hundred, one peer for every peerage that becomes extinct. The peers of Ireland not elected to the house of lords, may be members of the house of commons; but whilst they continue in the house of commons, they are not entitled to any of the privileges of peerage. The Scotch non-representative peers do not possess that privilege. The whole body of the temporal peerage of England, Scotland, and Ireland, form the second estate of the realm. The peers of parliament, according to a roll published in February, 1857, consist of 459 peers, (including the Prince of Wales at their head,) under the several ranks of duke, marquis, earl, viscount, and baron. They are by birth hereditary councillors of the crown; every peer having the right to demand an audience of the king, and to lay before him, with decency and respect, such matters as he shall deem important to the public good. They are addressed by the king, in his writs, as his cousins and councillors. The titles of the temporal peers descend to their eldest sons, in tail male, females not inheriting, except in a few special cases. They are not now, as they originally were, incident to the tenure of the land; but have become generally, if not universally personal dignities, created by letterspatent, which define the course of descent, now almost universally restricted to the male line. These dignities are granted by the crown at its sole will and pleasure; but when granted, they cannot be surrendered at the will and pleasure of the persons possessing them; nor can they be deprived of them but by attainder or act of parliament.' The younger sons and daughters of peers have nominal titles or distinctions, or titles by courtesy; but in the eye of the law they are all commoners. In the second generation, the nominal titles cease; the grandchildren of even dukes, through their younger sons and daughters, being without any titular distinction. They all merge into the mass of the people. The chief privilege of peerage is an hereditary seat in the house of lords. The personal privileges of peers are exemption from serving on juries and inquests. In cases of treason, felony, misprision of treason, and misprision of felony, they are entitled to be tried by the peers in the house of lords, and not by the ordinary courts. But for misdemeanours, and in cases of præmunire, peers are to be tried in the same way as commoners, by a jury;2 and by a recent act,3 every lord of parliament, or peer of the realm having 1 Peers' Report, vol. i. p. 125: Rex v. Knowles, 12 Mod. 56. |