The Privy Council of England, also known as His (or Her) Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council (Latin: concilium familiare, concilium privatum et assiduum), was a body of advisers to the sovereign of the Kingdom of England. Its members were often senior members of the House of Lords and the House of Commons, together with leading churchmen, judges, diplomats and military leaders.
The Privy Council of England was a powerful institution, advising the sovereign on the exercise of the royal prerogative and on the granting of royal charters. It issued executive orders known as Orders in Council and also had judicial functions.
In 1708, the Privy Council of England was abolished and subsumed into the Privy Council of Great Britain along with the Privy Council of Scotland.
Name
According to the Oxford dictionary the definition of the word "privy" in Privy Council is an obsolete one meaning "Of or pertaining exclusively to a particular person or persons; one's own", insofar as the council is personal to the sovereign.
During the reign of Elizabeth I, the council is recorded under the title "The Queens Majesties Most Honourable Privy-Council".
History
Medieval council
During the reign of the House of Normandy, the English monarch was advised by a curia regis (Latin for "royal court"), which consisted of magnates, clergy and officers of the Crown. This body originally concerned itself with advising the sovereign on legislation, administration and justice. At certain times, the curia was enlarged by a general summons of magnates (the "great council" or magnum concilium in Latin), but as a smaller council the curia was in constant session and in direct contact with the king.
Originally, important legal cases were heard coram rege (Latin for "in the presence of the king himself"). But the growth of the royal justice system under Henry II (r. 1154–1189) required specialization, and the judicial functions of the curia regis were delegated to two courts sitting at Westminster Hall: the Court of King's Bench and the Court of Common Pleas.
By 1237, the curia regis had formally split into two separate councils–the king's council and Parliament; though, they had long been separate in practice. The king's council was "permanent, advisory, and executive". It managed day to day government and included the king's ministers and closest advisers. Its members always included a few barons, the great officers of state and royal household, and clerks, secretaries and other special counsellors (often friars and literate knights). It was capable of drafting legislative acta—administrative orders issued as letters patent or letters close.
During the reign of Henry III (r. 1216–1272), a major theme of politics was the composition of the king's council. Barons frequently complained that they were inadequately represented, and efforts were made to change the council's membership. At the Oxford Parliament of 1258, reformers forced a reluctant Henry to accept the Provisions of Oxford, which vested royal power in an elected council of fifteen barons. However, these reforms were ultimately overturned with the king's victory in the Second Barons War.