CHAPTER 6 - Royal Commissions

Abstract

This chapter discusses the formation and duties of the Royal Commissions of the Great Britain. A Royal Commission is a body, set up by the issue of a Royal Warrant, whose purpose is to carry out an investigation of a specified subject and to make recommendations thereon for the Government's consideration. Chairmen of Royal Commissions are appointed as such, not elected from among the members; they have particular qualifications that may relate to their knowledge of the subject in question or to their known ability to draw conclusions from a mass of assembled evidence. Every Royal Commission is served by a secretariat, normally drawn from the Civil Service, and particulars of current commissions are given in the British Imperial Calendar and Civil Service List. Royal Commissions may be considered as part of the pre-legislative process, for although a Government is not bound by a commission's findings, it is generally with the purpose of providing information needed in the formation of legislative policy that commissions are set up. As Royal Commissions originate outside Parliament, their reports, which are formally addressed to the sovereign, are presented to Parliament “By Command.”