Honours and eti quette. Tenure of office. Patronage. duty, and as entitling them to a fee, as their necessary official remuneration.1 George III., in 1788, laid down a rule, which has ever since been observed, that the Attorney and SolicitorGeneral, as also the judges, if not honourable' by birth, shall have the dignity of knighthood conferred upon them. It is also customary to confer the rank of Queen's Counsel upon any person who is appointed a law officer of the crown, in order that, when he retires from office, he may not be reduced to the ranks. By the etiquette of the bar, one who has served as Attorney or SolicitorGeneral cannot, after relinquishing office, again go on circuit, though he may return to other branches of his profession. On one occasion, where an Attorney-General had accepted a puisne judgeship, he expressly stipulated that he should not be obliged to travel circuit, but finding that such a stipulation could not be carried out, he was obliged to accept of the inferior office of Master in Chancery.' The Attorney and Solicitor-General are appointed by letters patent, during pleasure. They are nominated to office by the Prime Minister, after consultation with the Lord Chancellor, whose opinion would naturally have great weight in the selection of these important functionaries. They are expected to have seats in the House of Commons, and their tenure of office depends upon that of the administration of which they form a part. m The Patent Office is subordinate to the Attorney and Solicitor-General, who are, ex officio, two of the Commissioners of Patents; and the appointments in that office are made by the Attorney-General." He also nominates the counsel to be returned in all criminal cases which he Hans. Deb. vol. cli. pp. 2191, 2347-2352. J Campbell's Chancellors, vol. v. p. 504 n. * Ibid. p. 403. n m See ante, p. 693. Murray's Handbook, p. 95. But Parkinson states (p. 121) that appointments in the Patent Office are in the gift of the Lord Chancellor, Rep. on Off. Salaries, 1850, Evid. who is the senior Commissioner. 1617, 1793, 1802. is instructed by the government to prosecute on behalf Queen's of the crown. The Queen's Advocate-General advises the crown in questions relating to civil and international law. He prosecutes or defends on the part of the crown in all cases tried in the High Court of Admiralty. Though holding office during pleasure, he is not now regarded as a political officer, and is not removed upon a change of administration.° Advocate- ment of The attention of Parliament has been frequently directed Depart to the expediency of establishing a Department of Public Public Justice, to be presided over by a responsible minister Justice. having a seat in Parliament; and to the propriety, in connection therewith, of making better provision for drafting and superintending the progress of public Bills through Parliament, especially such Bills as may be introduced by the government. In the year 1854, a departmental Committee of enquiry into the establishment of the Irish Office, in London and Dublin, adverting to the question of retaining a counsel for this office in London-a functionary hitherto chiefly occupied in drawing Bills for Parliament connected with Ireland, and assisting in the preparation of other government Bills - recommended the consolidation of the offices of counsel to the Irish Office, and of solicitor for Scotland, with that of the counsel at the Home Office, and the employment of the latter functionary to draw or arrange the Bills of the different public departments of the United Kingdom, receiving, when necessary, the assistance of the law officers in Parliament for the Scotch or Irish Bills.P The office of counsel to the Irish Office was abolished, but no measures were taken to create the new consolidated office, as above recommended. In the session of 1855, the Select Committee of the House of Commons on Public Prosecutors reported to the House the opinions of Lord Brougham, of the Lord Advocate (Moncrieff), of Sir A. Murray's Handbook, pp. 94, 95. P Commons Papers, 1854, vol. xxvii. pp. 115–118. a Hans. Deb. vol. cxli. p. 1034. At present, there is a 'counsel for drawing Bills for Parliament' attached to the Home Office, who receives a salary of 2,000l. a year; and a 'drafts- Depart- Cockburn (Attorney-General), and of Mr. Waddington, UnderSecretary of the Home Department, in favour of the appointment of a responsible minister of justice, with a seat in Parliament. On February 12, 1856, Mr. Joseph Napier, who was a member of the Select Committee above mentioned, moved a resolution in the House of Commons, to affirm that, as a measure of administrative reform, provision should be made for an efficient and responsible Department of Public Justice, with a view to secure the skilful preparation and proper structure of Parliamentary Bills, and promote the progressive amendment of the laws of the United Kingdom.' The government generally appeared to incline favourably to this proposition, but deprecated the hasty attempt to create a new cabinet minister with such extensive powers. Finally, Mr. Napier withdrew his motion, and moved another, omitting the words (in italics) concerning the Department of Public Justice, which was agreed to by the House without a division. Shortly afterwards, the Statute Law Commissioners, in their second report, recommended the appointment of a responsible officer, with a staff of assistants, to report on every Bill introduced for the alteration of the law, and to assist in the proper framing of such Bills; and the government expressed their intention of giving effect to this recommendation.t On February 12, 1857, Mr. Napier moved an address to the queen that she would be pleased to take into consideration, as an urgent measure of administrative reform, the formation of a separate and responsible department for the affairs of Public Justice. The government consented to this motion, but with an intimation that they would endeavour to carry it out, not by creating a new Minister of Justice, but rather by attaching the proposed new department to some existing branch of the executive; and the address was agreed to." On February 16, the queen's answer to the address was reported, that she would 'give directions that the subject may receive the attentive consideration which its importance demands.' ▾ Mr. Napier was afterwards appointed Chancellor of Ireland; and when he left the House of Commons no other member pressed this question upon the notice of government. But it continued, as heretofore, to be warmly advocated by Lord Brougham, though without success. In the session of 1862, after a fruitless attempt to elicit a public statement of the intentions of government upon this subject, his lordship was privately informed by a leading member of the administration that nothing whatever had been concluded upon it. Nor has anything since been done in compliance with the address of the House of Commons. Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. This functionary is an officer of great eminence in the government, and is frequently a Cabinet minister. He holds his office by letters patent, and, if a peer, takes precedence according to his rank in the peerage; if not, he takes precedence next after the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and immediately before the Lord Chief Justice of the Queen's Bench. In ancient times this office was one of considerable importance, but within the last century it has become practically a sinecure, the duties attaching thereto being few and unimportant. The office is now regarded as a political appointment, and is usually filled by a leading statesman, not necessarily a lawyer, whose time is at the service of the Government for the consideration of larger questions which do not come immediately within the province of other departments, for the preparation of measures of legislation, and the advocacy of the same through Parliament, of one or other House of which he is expected to be a member. The emoluments of the office average about 2,000l. per annum." The Right Hon. Spencer Perceval was appointed to this office in 1807; and when he became First Minister of the Crown, in 1809, he continued to hold the Chancellorship of the Duchy of Lancaster conjointly with the two superior offices of First Lord of the Treasury and * Hans. Deb. vol. clxviii. pp. 131, 214. Lord Brougham's letter to Earl of Radnor, Law Magazine, N.S. vol. xiv. p. 64. See an article in the Law Mag. for Feb. 1866 (b. vol. xxi. pp. 33-41), pointing out the necessity for the appointment of a VOL. II. Ꮓ Ꮓ board of able and experienced lawyers to superintend the legislation in both Houses of Parliament, and suggesting the principal duties to be required of them. Haydn's Book of Dignities, p. 189. Murray's Handbook, p. 210. Chancellor of the Exchequer. This is the only instance on record of the three offices being held by one individual.* Its origin. Of whom composed. POOR-LAW BOARD. This Board takes its origin from the Statute 4 & 5 William IV. c. 76, to control and render uniform the administration of poor relief in England and Wales, under which Commissioners were appointed to carry out the important duties then for the first time entrusted to a central authority. These Commissioners were not authorised to sit in the House of Commons, but were required to report their proceedings periodically to the Secretary of State for the Home Department, and through him, annually, to Parliament. The Commission was appointed only for a limited period; it was continued by several Acts, and would have expired in 1847. The magnitude of the interests concerned, the numerous details connected therewith, and the difficult task imposed upon the Home Secretary in explaining and defending the same in Parliament, led, on a renewal of the Commission, to its erection into a separate and independent Board, presided over by a responsible minister who is eligible to a seat in the House of Commons. This change was effected by the Statute 10 & 11 Vict. c. 109, which reorganised the Board, making it to consist of a President, to be appointed by the queen, and of four Cabinet ministers, who are members ex officio, viz.-the Lord President of the Council, the Lord Privy Seal, the Home Secretary, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer. The President of the Board is the only paid functionary, and he has the general exercise of the authority of the Board, and is responsible for all that is done. Subject to the approval of the Treasury, the President appoints the various Poor-law Inspectors, clerks, and ser See ante, vol. i. p. 408; Haydn, p. 189, n. a See Hans. Deb. vol. cx. p. 230; ante, p. 243. |