diſpatch; and therefore king Charles the ſecond in 1679 limited it to thirty: whereof fifteen were to be the principal officers of ſtate, and thoſe to be counſellors, virtute officii; and the other fifteen were compoſed of ten lords and five commoners of the king’s chooſing[1]. But ſince that time the number has been much augmented, and now continues indefinite. At the ſame time alſo, the antient office of lord preſident of the council was revived in the perſon of Anthony earl of Shaftsbury; an officer, that by the ſtatute of 31 Hen. VIII. c. 10. has precedence next after the lord chancellor and lord treaſurer.
Privy counſellors are made by the king’s nomination, without either patent or grant; and, on taking the neceſſary oaths, they become immediately privy counſellors during the life of the king that chooſes them, but ſubject to removal at his diſcretion.
The duty of a privy counſellor appears from the oath of office[2], which conſiſts of ſeven articles: 1. To adviſe the king according to the beſt of his cunning and diſcretion. 2. To adviſe for the king’s honour and good of the public, without partiality through affection, love, meed, doubt, or dread. 3. To keep the king’s counſel ſecret. 4. To avoid corruption. 5. To help and ſtrengthen the execution of what ſhall be there reſolved. 6. To withſtand all perſons who would attempt the contrary. And, laſtly, in general, 7. To obſerve, keep, and do all that a good and true counſellor ought to do to his ſovereign lord.
The power of the privy council is to enquire into all offences againſt the government, and to commit the offenders to ſafe cuſtody, in order to take their trial in ſome of the courts of law. But their juriſdiction herein is only to enquire, and not to puniſh: and the perſons committed by them are entitled to their habeas corpus by ſtatute 16 Car. I. c. 10. as much as if committed by an ordinary juſtice of the peace. And, by the ſame ſtatute, the court of ſtarchamber, and the court of requeſts, both of which con-
