Page:William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England (3rd ed, 1768, vol I).djvu/245

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been validated.
Ch. 5.
of Persons.
229

Spencers, father and ſon, for which they were baniſhed the kingdom, “that they by their evil covin would not ſuffer the great men of the realm, the king’s good counſellors, to ſpeak with the king, or to come near him; but only in the preſence and hearing of the ſaid Hugh the father and Hugh the ſon, or one of them, and at their will, and according to ſuch things as pleaſed them[1].”

3. A third council belonging to the king, are, according to ſir Edward Coke[2], his judges of the courts of law, for law matters. And this appears frequently in our ſtatutes, particularly 14 Edw. III. c. 5. and in other books of law. So that when the king’s council is mentioned generally, it muſt be defined, particularized, and underſtood, ſecundum ſubjectam materiam; and, if the ſubject be of a legal nature, then by the king’s council is underſtood his council for matters of law; namely, his judges. Therefore when by ſtatute 16 Ric. II. c. 5. it was made a high offence to import into this kingdom any papal bulles, or other proceſſes from Rome; and it was enacted, that the offenders ſhould be attached by their bodies, and brought before the king and his council to anſwer for ſuch offence; here, by the expreſſion of king’s council, were underſtood the king’s judges of his courts of juſtice, the ſubject matter being legal: this being the general way of interpreting the word, council[3].

4. But the principal council belonging to the king is his privy council, which is generally called, by way of eminence, the council. And this, according to ſir Edward Coke’s deſcription of it[4], is a noble, honorable, and reverend aſſembly, of the king and ſuch as he wills to be of his privy council, in the king’s court or palace. The king’s will is the ſole conſtituent of a privy counſellor; and this alſo regulates their number, which of antient time was twelve or thereabouts. Afterwards it increaſed to ſo large a number, that it was found inconvenient for ſecreſy and

  1. 4 Inſt. 53.
  2. 1 Inſt. 110.
  3. 3 Inſt. 125.
  4. 4 Inſt. 53.
diſpatch;