Review of Periodicals judges, once conferred, were plenary and not merely delegated, and the King could neither sit in judgment in person nor divert the established course of justice according to law. If the Curia Regis can now be said to survive anywhere, it is in the formal sittings of the Privy Council when the King in Coun cil receives the reasoned reports of the Judi cial Committee and makes them operative and final judgments by issuing Orders in Council following their Lordship's humble advice "There is some reason to believe that the Court of Chancery was first a committee of the Council. . . . However that may be, the Court of Star Chamber (properly the King's Council sitting in the Star Chamber) was certainly a Committee of the Council. . . It does not appear that the Star Chamber was unpopular, or that its jurisdiction, though exercised through a procedure quite different from that of the common-law courts, gave rise to any serious complaint, until it was employed as an instrument of vindictive prosecutions on merely political grounds. But for this abuse, it might have had a long and useful history; it might well have given us improvements in our criminal procedure for which we have waited till the present day, and have been the parent of an adequate Court of Criminal Appeal "The Judicial Committee, we need hardly say, is a real and active committee; but its habitual working members are only a fraction of its nominal list. Besides the nucleus of regular attendants, now practically identical with the learned persons who make up the judicial House of Lords, there are some persons, such as former Indian judges, who are summoned only when their special kinds of learning and experience are required; some who are available at need, but as a rule, occupied on other judicial or state employ ments; some who are retired veterans and retain their membership only as an honorary distinction "In modern times a remarkable example of what I have called the atrophy of com mittees has been afforded by the transforma tion of certain committees of the Privy Coun cil into separate departments of executive government. Here we find, or might have lately found, a nominal Board including several high officers, such as the Secretaries of State; but 'the Board is a phantom,' not meeting even for ceremonial purposes, and the President of the Board acts just like any Minister in sole charge of a department. Thus the Board of Trade is, in its full official style, though the shorter one has long been authorized, 'the Committee of the Privy Council appointed for the consideration of matters relating to Trade and Plantations.' The Board of Education, now transformed since 1899, was for sixty years the 'Committee of Council on Education.' The Local Gov ernment Board was doubtless framed more or less on these models, but it dates only from 1871, and was never a Committee of Council, though all its members are in fact Privy
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Councilors; it operates not through Orders in Council, but by rules and orders issued under its own seal. "On the other hand there is a Committee, commonly described as being an informal committee of the Privy Council, whose importance has greatly increased within living memory, and is still increasing, namely, the Cabinet. The description above men tioned is warranted by the usage of eminent writers on the law and practice of our Con stitution; and there is no doubt that the Cabinet was in its earliest form a confidential inner circle, though not a regular committee, of the Privy Council "Properly speaking, the Cabinet is a com mittee of the leading Parliamentary sup porters of the Prime Minister's party, being Privy Councilors. It is created in a peculiar manner, as in form, so far as there is any form, it is nominated by the Prime Minister; there is no such thing as an ex officio member of the Cabinet, though it is well understood that the holders of certain great offices of state, must, in fact, be included." As an illustration of the work done by joint committees to enable various bodies to work together, the author cites the way in which the four Inns of Court govern the bar by means of a Council of Legal Education which has charge of regulations of the Inns of Court regarding the qualifications for practice at the bar. A somewhat similar body is the Incorporated Council of Law Reporting for England and Wales. The author has served this body as Editor of the Law Reports since 1895 and describes its work from personal observation. Government (Philippines). "A Decade of American Rule in the Philippines." By W. Cameron Forbes. Atlantic Monthly, v. 103, p. 200 (Feb.). Describes the methods and institutions of government introduced by the United States, political and party conditions, the character of the Filipino Assembly, and present problems and prospects of the Filipino government. Injunctions. See Procedure. Insurance (Regulation). "Defective Insur ance Legislation." By John P. Ryan. North American Review, v. 189, p. 280 (Feb.). Discusses the topic particularly from the point of view of the New York companies, which appear to be "suffering from too much legislation; some of it at least based upon fear and arbitrary opinion, rather than upon well considered principles of state supervision." International Arbitration. "Our Contro versy with Venezuela." By Robert C. Morris. 18 Yale Law Journal 243 (Feb.).
