Editing Privy Council (United Kingdom) (section)

==Functions==

The sovereign may make [[Orders in Council]] upon the advice of the Privy Council. Orders in Council, which are drafted by the [[Government of the United Kingdom|government]] rather than by the sovereign, are forms of either [[Primary and secondary legislation|primary or secondary legislation]], depending on the power they are made under. Orders made under [[Royal prerogative in the United Kingdom|prerogative]] powers, such as the power to grant [[royal assent]] to legislation, are a form of primary legislation, while orders made under statutory powers are a form of secondary legislation.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |url=https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cabinet-manual |title=The Cabinet Manual |date=14 December 2010 |publisher=Cabinet Office |pages=19, 44–45}}</ref><ref name="factsheet-l7">{{cite journal|title=Statutory Instruments |author=House of Commons Information Office |date=May 2008 |issn=0144-4689 |journal=Factsheet |id=No.L7 Ed 3.9 |url=https://www.parliament.uk/documents/commons-information-office/l07.pdf |access-date=3 August 2008}}</ref><ref>[http://www.opsi.gov.uk/legislation/wales/mwa2008/oic/mwaoic_20080001_en.pdf Order in Council] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090219075253/http://opsi.gov.uk/legislation/wales/mwa2008/oic/mwaoic_20080001_en.pdf |date=19 February 2009 }} dated 9 July 2008, approving The NHS Redress (Wales) Measure 2008, the first Measure to be passed by the Assembly on 6 May 2008. Office of Public Sector Information.</ref>

[[Orders of Council]], distinct from Orders in Council, are issued by members of the Privy Council without requiring the approval of the sovereign. Like Orders in Council, they can be made under statutory powers or royal prerogative.<ref name=":0" /> Orders of Council are most commonly used for the regulation of public institutions and regulatory bodies.<ref name="factsheet-l7"/>

The sovereign also grants [[royal charter]]s on the advice of the Privy Council. Charters bestow special status to [[Incorporation (association)|incorporated bodies]]; they are used to grant [[List of British professional bodies#Chartered|chartered]] status to certain professional, educational or charitable bodies, and sometimes also [[city status in the United Kingdom|city]] and [[borough]] status to towns.<ref>{{cite web |title=Royal Charter |url=http://privycouncil.independent.gov.uk/royal-charters/ |publisher=Privy Council Office |access-date=13 January 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120405035810/http://privycouncil.independent.gov.uk/royal-charters/ |archive-date=5 April 2012 |url-status=live }}</ref> The Privy Council therefore deals with a wide range of matters, which also includes university and [[livery company]] statutes,<ref name="gay-p5">Gay and Rees, p. 5.</ref> [[churchyard]]s,<ref>H.&nbsp;Cox, p. 393.</ref> coinage and the dates of [[bank holiday]]s.<ref name="royal.gov-pc"/> The Privy Council formerly had sole power to grant academic degree-awarding powers and the title of [[university]],<ref>{{cite web|title=Degree awarding powers and university title|url=http://www.qaa.ac.uk/assuring-standards-and-quality/daput|website=QAA|access-date=16 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140810142933/http://www.qaa.ac.uk/assuring-standards-and-quality/daput|archive-date=10 August 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref> but following the [[Higher Education and Research Act 2017]] these powers have been transferred to the [[Office for Students]] for educational institutions in England.<ref>[[Higher Education and Research Act 2017]] (2017 c.&nbsp;29 ss.&nbsp;42–60). {{UK-LEG|title=Higher Education and Research Act 2017|asmade=yes|access_date=9 April 2019}}</ref>

=== Notable orders ===

Before the [[Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010]] the [[Civil Service (United Kingdom)|Civil Service]] was governed by powers of [[royal prerogative]]. These powers were usually delegated to ministers by [[Order in Council|Orders in Council]], and were used by Margaret Thatcher to ban [[GCHQ]] staff from joining trade unions.<ref>{{cite news |date=13 May 2009 |title=Do we need the Privy Council? |work=BBC News |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8046523.stm |url-status=live |access-date=2 April 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170903214229/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8046523.stm |archive-date=3 September 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XiuTL7Q-6CwC&pg=PA8 |title=ThirdWay—Google Boeken |date=March 1984 |access-date=13 August 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120507025958/http://books.google.com/books?id=XiuTL7Q-6CwC&pg=PA8 |archive-date=7 May 2012 |url-status=live}}</ref>

Another, the Civil Service (Amendment) Order in Council 1997, permitted the Prime Minister to grant up to three [[Special advisers in the United Kingdom|political advisers]] management authority over some Civil Servants.<ref name="BBC090512">[[BBC Radio 4]]—[http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00k8frh What's the Point of ... The Privy Council] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090516034620/http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00k8frh|date=16 May 2009}}, 12 May 2009</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Civil Service Order in Council 1995 (as amended between 1995 and 2005) |url=http://www.civilservicecommissioners.org/web-resources/resources/a6831c096d4.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080704105311/http://www.civilservicecommissioners.org/web-resources/resources/a6831c096d4.pdf |archive-date=4 July 2008 |access-date=7 June 2010 |publisher=Civil Service Commissioners}}</ref>

In the 1960s, the Privy Council made an order to evict an estimated 1,200 to 2,000 inhabitants of the 55-island [[Chagos Archipelago]] in the Indian Ocean,<ref name="British Indian Ocean Territory 2024 i068">{{cite web | title=British Indian Ocean Territory | website=CIA.gov | date=26 March 2024 | url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/british-indian-ocean-territory/ | access-date=31 March 2024}}</ref> in preparation for the establishment of a joint United States–United Kingdom military base on the largest island in the archipelago, [[Diego Garcia]]. In 2000, the [[High Court of Justice]] ruled that the inhabitants had a right to return to the archipelago.<ref name="Pilger 2019 f452">{{cite web | last=Pilger | first=John | title=How Britain forcefully depopulated a whole archipelago | website=Al Jazeera | date=25 February 2019 | url=https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2019/2/25/how-britain-forcefully-depopulated-a-whole-archipelago | access-date=31 March 2024}}</ref>

In 2004, the Privy Council, under [[Jack Straw]]'s tenure, overturned the ruling. In 2006, the [[High Court of Justice]] found the Privy Council's decision to be unlawful. Justice Kentridge stated that there was no known [[precedent]] "for the lawful use of prerogative powers to remove or exclude an entire population of British subjects from their homes and place of birth",<ref name="BBC090512" /><ref name="EWCA2007">{{Cite web |title=Secretary of State for the Foreign & Commonwealth Affairs v Bancoult, R (on the application of) 2007 EWCA Civ 498 (23 May 2007) |url=http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Civ/2007/498.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150507081652/http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Civ/2007/498.html |archive-date=7 May 2015 |access-date=12 May 2009}}</ref><ref name="BBC060511">[[BBC]]—[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4760879.stm Court victory for Chagos families] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070314105137/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4760879.stm|date=14 March 2007}}, 11 May 2006</ref> and the Court of Appeal were persuaded by this argument, but in 2007 the [[Law Lords]] of the [[Appellate Committee of the House of Lords]] found the original decision to be flawed  and overturned the ruling by a 3–2 decision, thereby upholding the terms of the Order in Council.<ref>{{cite web |title=Judgments—R (On The Application of Bancoult) V Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs |url=https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200708/ldjudgmt/jd081022/banc.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171010110422/https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200708/ldjudgmt/jd081022/banc.pdf |archive-date=10 October 2017 |access-date=6 October 2014}}</ref>  As of 2023, negotiations between the Mauritian and UK governments that included the sovereignty of the Chagossians were still ongoing.<ref name="Pilger 2019 f452" />