Editing Privy Council (United Kingdom) (section)

==History==
{{further|Privy Council of England|Privy Council of Scotland|English law|Scots law}}

The [[Privy Council]] of the United Kingdom, created on 1 January 1801, was preceded by the Privy Council of [[Kingdom of Scotland|Scotland]], the Privy Council of [[Kingdom of England|England]], and the Privy Council of [[Kingdom of Great Britain|Great Britain]] (1708–1800). Its continued existence has been described as "more or less a constitutional and historical accident".<ref>{{Harvnb|Torrance|2023|p=7}}. Quote is of [[Janet Royall, Baroness Royall of Blaisdon]].</ref> The key events in the formation of the modern Privy Council are given below:

In [[Anglo-Saxon England]], the [[Witenagemot]] was an early equivalent to the [[Privy Council of England]]. During the reigns of the [[Norman Conquest|Norman monarchs]], the [[English Crown]] was advised by a [[royal court]] or {{Lang|la|[[curia regis]]}}, which consisted of [[magnate]]s, [[ecclesiastic]]s and [[Law Officers of the Crown|high officials]]. The body originally concerned itself with advising the sovereign on legislation, administration and justice.<ref>Dicey, pp. 6–7.</ref> Later, different bodies assuming distinct functions evolved from the court. The courts of law took over the business of dispensing [[justice]], while [[Parliament of England|Parliament]] became the supreme legislature of the kingdom.<ref>Dicey, p. 24.</ref> Nevertheless, the Council retained the power to hear legal disputes, either in the first instance or on appeal.<ref>Dicey, pp. 12–14.</ref> Furthermore, laws made by the sovereign on the advice of the Council, rather than on the advice of Parliament, were accepted as valid.<ref name="gay-p2">Gay, p. 2.</ref> Powerful sovereigns often used the body to circumvent the Courts and Parliament.<ref name="gay-p2" /> For example, a committee of the Council—which later became the [[Court of the Star Chamber]]—was during the 15th century permitted to inflict any punishment except death, without being bound by normal [[trial|court procedure]].<ref>Maitland, pp. 262–263.</ref> During [[Henry VIII]]'s reign, the sovereign, on the advice of the Council, was allowed to enact laws by mere proclamation. The legislative pre-eminence of Parliament was not restored until after Henry VIII's death.<ref>Maitland, p. 253.</ref> By 1540 the nineteen-member council had become a new national institution, most probably the creation of [[Thomas Cromwell]], without there being exact definitions of its powers.<ref>Wilson, Derek. (1973). ''A Tudor tapestry : Men, women and society in Reformation England''. Pittsburgh, Pa: University of Pittsburgh Press. {{ISBN|0-8229-3242-3}}. p. 130 , footnote no. 12 pp. 256–257. Cf. Elton, G.R. ''The Tudor Revolution in Government: Administrative Changes in the Reign of Henry VIII''. pp. 316 ff. [https://archive.org/details/tudorrevolutioni0000elto The Internet Archive website] Retrieved 13 March 2021.</ref> Though the royal Council retained legislative and judicial responsibilities, it became a primarily administrative body.<ref>Goodnow, p. 123</ref> In 1553 the Council consisted of forty members÷,<ref>Maitland, p. 256.</ref> whereas [[Henry VII of England|Henry VII]] swore over a hundred servants to his council.<ref>Elton, G.R. (1953). ''The Tudor Revolution in Government: Administrative Changes in the Reign of Henry VIII''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 318. {{ISBN|0521048923}}. [https://archive.org/details/tudorrevolutioni0000elto/page/318/mode/2up The Internet Archive website.] Retrieved 13 March 2021.</ref> Sovereigns relied on a smaller working committee which evolved into the modern [[Cabinet of the United Kingdom|Cabinet]].

By the end of the [[English Civil War]], the monarchy, House of Lords, and Privy Council had been abolished. The remaining [[parliamentary chamber]], the [[House of Commons of England|House of Commons]], instituted a [[English Council of State|Council of State]] to execute laws and to direct administrative policy. The forty-one members of the Council were elected by the House of Commons; the body was headed by [[Oliver Cromwell]], ''de facto'' military dictator of the nation. In 1653, however, Cromwell became [[Lord Protector]], and the Council was reduced to between thirteen and twenty-one members, all elected by the Commons. In 1657, the Commons granted Cromwell even greater powers, some of which were reminiscent of those enjoyed by monarchs. The Council became known as the [[Protector's Privy Council]]; its members were appointed by the Lord Protector, subject to Parliament's approval.<ref name="plant">{{cite web |last=Plant |first=D |url=http://www.british-civil-wars.co.uk/glossary/council-state.htm |title=The Council of State |work=British Civil Wars, Commonwealth and Protectorate, 1638–60 |year=2007 |access-date=11 September 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080926000618/http://www.british-civil-wars.co.uk/glossary/council-state.htm |archive-date=26 September 2008 |url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1659, shortly before the [[English Restoration|restoration of the monarchy]], the Protector's Council was abolished.<ref name="plant" /> King [[Charles II of England|Charles II]] restored the Royal Privy Council, but he, like previous [[House of Stuart|Stuart]] monarchs, chose to rely on a small group of advisers.<ref>Warshaw, p. 7.</ref> The formation of the [[Kingdom of Great Britain]] in 1707 combined the Privy Councils of England and Scotland, the latter body coming to an end in 1708.

Under King [[George I of Great Britain|George I]], even more power transferred to a small committee of the Council, which began to meet in the absence of the sovereign, communicating its decisions to him after the fact. Thus, the Privy Council, as a whole, ceased to be a body of important confidential advisers to the Sovereign; the role passed to a committee of the Council, now known as the [[Cabinet of the United Kingdom|Cabinet]].<ref>Gay and Rees, pp. 2–3.</ref>

With the creation of the United Kingdom on 1 January 1801, a single Privy Council was created for Great Britain and Ireland, although the [[Privy Council of Ireland]] continued to exist until 1922, when it was abolished upon the creation of the [[Irish Free State]] as an independent [[Dominion]] outside the United Kingdom, but within the [[British Empire]]. The [[Privy Council of Northern Ireland]] was created in 1922, but became defunct in 1972, when the [[Parliament of Northern Ireland]] was closed down.