The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council

Abstract

The Privy Council has long been the principal advisory body to the British sovereign. It is composed of the Prime Minister, other Cabinet ministers, the leaders of the Opposition parties and a number of prominent individuals, most of whom are drawn from the body politic. In the days when the monarch enjoyed real political power the Privy Council was a very important body. However as the monarchy declined in power and Parliament gained its present eminence the role of the Privy Council came to be supplanted by the Cabinet acting under the leadership of the Prime Minister. Today the Privy Council essentially survives as a convenient umbrella body whereby the Sovereign and ministers can be brought together to perform certain government business such as the formal approval by the Sovereign of legislation passed by Parliament. However the Privy Council has another function that is not just a formal process but is of very real significance. Just like the House of Lords, the Privy Council is not only a political body. It is also a judicial body. And just like the House of Lords the judicial business of the Privy Council is not transacted by the main body of the Council but by a committee of the Council which is staffed by professional judges who get through about 70 percent of the volume of business that the Appellate Committee of the House of Lords gets through each year.