Orders in Council

“ Above all things I feel that to do nothing now, at this precise moment,—absolutely nothing,—is the wisest, safest, and most manful policy. The battle about the Orders in Council is just fought. They are established as a system. We have reason to hope that they are working much to good, and very little to mischief. ”

“ Every measure of the Assembly must secure the approval of the Legislative Council, the members of which were appointed for life by the governor-general, and added to this the measure must then receive the royal assent before it became operative. ”

“ The common council shall have the management and control of the finances and of all the property of the city, and shall likewise, in addition to the powers herein vested in them, have full power to make, enact, ordain, establish, publish, enforce, alter, modify, amend, and repeal all such ordinances, rules, and by-laws for the government and good order of the city, for the suppression of vice and immorality, for the prevention of crime, and for the benefit of trade, commerce, and health. ”

“ Seventhly, To constitute the executive and a convenient number of the national judiciary a council of revision, who should have authority to examine every act of the national legislature before it should operate, and of every individual legislature before a negative thereon should be final, the dissent of said council amounting to a rejection unless such act be again passed, or that of such particular legislature should be again negatived by a specified number of members of each branch. ”

“ It means that with the sanction and support of the Governor, the Council is at all times to possess the power to impose a general dissolution on the country; that a nominee Council is to be accepted as a better judge or exponent of the feelings of the country than the representatives of the people ”

“ Councils are composed of mere human beings, liable to error and subject to be intimidated by a Governor-General. It is prudent, therefore, to demand that the decision of the council be confirmed by the Procureur, who is directly subordinated to the Minister of Justice. ”

“ Others laboured to have the supreme authority to consist of an Assembly chosen by the People, and a Council of State to be chosen by that Assembly, to be vested with executive power, and accountable to that which should next succeed, at which time the power of the said Council should determine. ”

“ We are of opinion that they do. By the Revised Statutes of the United States, the legislative power in each territory is vested in the governor and a legislative assembly, the latter to consist of a council and house of representatives. ”

“ It shall have the power to adopt any and every measure it may deem necessary to secure the success of the organization; provided that nothing shall be done by the said national council in violation of the constitution; and provided further, that in all political matters, its members may be instructed by the state councils, and if so instructed, shall carry out such instructions of the state councils which they represent until overruled by a majority of the national council. ”

“ He stipulated that the men chosen by their fellows to confer with him must come, to quote the exact words of the summons, armed with 'full and sufficient power for themselves and for the community of the aforesaid county, and the said citizens and burgesses for themselves and the communities of the aforesaid cities and boroughs separately, there and then, for doing what shall then be ordained according to the Common Council in the premises, so that the aforesaid business shall not remain unfinished in any way for defect of this power'. ”

“ The king can make no decision in matters in which the council of state are to be heard, unless at least three counsellors of state, and the secretary of state whom it concerns, or his deputy-secretary, are present.--All the members of the council shall, upon due notice, attend all deliberations deemed of importance, and which concern the general administration of the affairs of the kingdom; such as questions for adopting new statutes, repealing or altering those in existence, introducing new institutions in the different branches of the administration, &c. ”

“ I have hitherto, my lords, confined myself to the consideration of one single article of this complicated charge, because it appears to me to be the only part of it necessary to be examined; for if once it be acknowledged that the affairs of the nation are transacted not by the minister but the administration, by the council in which every man that sits there has an equal voice and equal authority, the blame or praise of all the measures must be transferred from him to the council, and every man that has advised or concurred in them, will deserve the same censure or the same applause ”

“ As for the first, many ordinances were made in council; sometimes upon request of the commons in parliament, who felt themselves better qualified to state a grievance than a remedy; sometimes without any pretence, unless the usage of government, in the infancy of our constitution, [Pg 140] may be thought to afford one. These were always of a temporary or partial nature, and were considered as regulations not sufficiently important to demand a new statute. ”

“ But a body of councillors, are never without some other authority, either of judicature, or of immediate administration: as in a monarchy, they represent the monarch, in delivering his commands to the public ministers: in a democracy, the council, or senate propounds the result of their deliberations to the people, as a council; but when 232they appoint judges, or hear causes, or give audience to ambassadors, it is in the quality of a minister of the people: and in an aristocracy, the council of state is the sovereign assembly itself; and gives counsel to none but themselves. ”

“ Grand National Assembly powers that devolve to the Council of State between assembly sessions, or in the event of exceptional circumstances that prevent the assembly from acting, include the authority to appoint and recall members of the Council of Ministers, members of the Supreme Court, and the prosecutor general. ”

“ The Senate shall continue performing the duties according to the number of the Senators existing on the day of coming into force of this Announcement. All the courts shall remain empowered to try and adjudicate upon cases according to the provisions of law and announcements of the National Council for Peace and Orders. The independent organisations and other organisations according to the Constitution of 2550 Buddhist Era shall continue to perform their duties. ”

“ And the House might have been equally culpable, if they had refusd to chuse a Speaker and Clerk, or to elect Councellors, whereby to compleat the General Court; for in Case of Omission in either part, a Question might arise, Whether the people would have a Legislature. When the General Assembly is thus formd, they are impowerd by the Charter, to make, ordain and establish all Manner of wholesome and reasonable Orders, Laws, Statutes & Ordinances, Directions and Instructions, either with penaltys or without. ”

“ The administrator is assisted by an executive committee of four persons elected from among its own members, or otherwise, by the provincial council on the proportional representation principle. The administrator and any other member of the executive committee, not being a member of the council, has the right to take part in the proceedings of the council, but has not the right to vote. The provincial councils have not the right to make laws, but ordinances, which must receive the assent of the governor-general in council before becoming valid. ”

“ Congress, even those in subordinate stations, as is the practice of every day, and as is indispensable to the prosecution of public business, they might, at less expense of dignity, pursue the same mode with a part of that body itself.
The distinction taken by the Council, in their message to the Assembly, respecting the responsibility of such executive officers, as not applicable to a committee, if it amounts to any thing, proves only this: That such officers ought, in prudence, to take greater precautions for their own justification than a committee of Congress need to do. ”

“ There are the representatives of all the great sections of the community, of the Church, of the law, of the Peerage, of the Commons. The exclusion of one half of the counsellors from office under the Crown, an exclusion which is quite absurd when we consider the Council merely as an executive board, becomes at once perfectly reasonable when we consider the Council as a body intended to restrain the Crown as well as to exercise the powers of the Crown, to perform some of the functions of a Parliament as well as the functions of a Cabinet. ”

“ Passing Ordinances.—The mode of passing an ordinance is unlike anything that we have considered up to this time, and deserves special attention on account of its resemblance to the mode of making laws in the state and general governments. It is as follows. If a proposed ordinance is voted for by a majority of the members of the council present at any meeting, it is presented to the mayor. If he approves it, he signs it, and it becomes an ordinance. But if he does not approve it, he returns it, through the recorder, to the council, together with his objections. ”

“ Nevertheless, the higher a man is placed the more independent he is, and the greater confidence the people have placed in him the more he has need of enlightened and conscientious councils. Thence the creation of a council of state, henceforward a veritable council of the government, first wheel in our organization, a collection of practical men, elaborating bills in special commissions, discussing them with closed doors, without oratorical ostentation in general assembly, and presenting them afterwards for acceptance to the legislative body. ”

“ The Council is perpetual, and supposed to be always in session, their constitutional duty being to serve as a check upon the President. They can veto his acts, but he cannot veto theirs. They have power to enact legislation during the Congressional recess, which is known as Decrees of the Council, and is supposed to be reviewed by Congress at the following session. ”

“ But with you the Council must first hear about everything, and pass its preliminary resolution—and even that not at any time, but only when notice has been given of the reception of heralds and embassies: then you must convoke an Assembly, and that only when the time comes for one, as ordained by law: then those who speak for your true good have to master and overcome those who, through ignorance or wickedness, oppose them. ”

“ The creation and operation of the Councils shall neither interfere with existing authority and responsibilities in the relevant agencies and entities nor augment or diminish the statutory authority or responsibilities of individual members of either Council. ”

“ Even among the zealous patrons of a Council of State the most irreconcilable variance is discovered, concerning the mode in which it ought to be constituted. The demand of one gentleman is, that the Council should consist of a small number to be appointed by the most numerous branch of the Legislature. ”

“ They would require closer attention at the moment of creation. The main matter is that each council would control its own affairs by the direct representation of all the people in the country engaged in its practical conduct. And these special interests would meet the direct representation of the Nation by Assembly in the Government of the day. ”

“ If the constitutional committee should find that any or all the members of the council of state have not consulted the real interest of the kingdom, or that any of the secretaries of state have not performed his or their official duties with impartiality, activity, and skill, the committee shall report it to the estates, who, if they deem it necessary, may signify to the king their wish of having those removed, who may thus have given dissatisfaction. ”

“ It must, in the nature of things, delegate more or less of power to magistrates and generals; but such power will be simply delegated. Their authority will be a mere trust from the sovereign body, and to that sovereign body they will be responsible for its exercise. That is to say, one of the original elements of the State, the King or chief, now represented by the elective magistracy, will lose its independent powers, and will sink into a body who have only to carry out the will of the sovereign Assembly. So with another of the original elements, the Council. ”

“ A Constitutional Council shall be created to interpret the constitution, to observe the constitutionality of the laws, and to settle disputes and contests emanating from presidential and parliamentary elections. ”

“ But if the Council refuses to act upon the suggestion of any citizen whomsoever, and he honestly considers the matter one of importance, he is allowed to propose it directly to the people, provided he do so briefly and in an orderly manner. The Council, which may be called the executive power, consists of the governing Landamman and six associates, one of whom has the functions of treasurer, another of military commander,—in fact, a ministry on a small scale. The service of the persons elected to the Council is obligatory, and they receive no salaries. ”

“ That when the governor, council, and assembly, or general court of any of his majesty’s provinces or colonies, shall propose to make provision for contributing their proportion to the common defence, such proportion to be raised under the authority of the general court, or general assembly of such province or colony, and disposable by parliament ”