Page images
PDF
EPUB

the most important of the countries which have adopted any scheme of representative government. The "rule of law" is a conception which in the United States indeed has received a development beyond that which it has reached in England; but it is an idea not so much unknown to as deliberately rejected by the constitution-makers of France, and of other continental countries which have followed French guidance. For the supremacy of the law of the land means in the last resort the right of the judges to control the executive government, whilst the separation des pouvoirs means, as construed by Frenchmen, the right of the government to control the judges. The authority of the Courts of Law as understood in England can therefore hardly co-exist with the system of droit administratif as it prevails in France. We may perhaps even go so far as to say that English legalism is hardly consistent with the existence of an official body which bears any true resemblance to what foreigners call "the administration." To say this is not to assert that foreign forms of government are necessarily inferior to the English constitution, or unsuited for a civilised and free people. All that necessarily results from an analysis of our institutions and a comparison of them with the institutions of foreign countries is that the English constitution is still marked far more deeply than is generally supposed by peculiar features, and that these peculiar characteristics may be summed up in the combination of Parliamentary Sovereignty with the Rule of Law.

A.

ACT of Indemnity, 46; connection
between, and Habeas Corpus
Suspension Act, 245.

Act of Settlement, the, 28, 39.
Acts of Parliament, and Moral
law, 58.

Acts of Union, the, 40, 60; Co-
lonial, 62.

Bagehot, 7; English Constitution
by, 20; on the powers of the
Crown, 394.

Belgian Constitution, the, in com
parison with the English, 83,

122.

Belgian Courts, authority of, 143-
Belgian law, as to the liberty of
the Press, 250, 251.

Aliens, position of, in England, Belgium, law of, as to public

338.
American Constitution, the, in
comparison with the English,
4, 6.

Ancien Régime, the, laws relating
to literature under, 267.
Appropriation Act, 320.
Army, the English, in relation to
the law, 302; the Standing
army and the Mutiny Act, 302;
the Act of 1881, 305; position
of the soldier as a citizen, 306;
criminal and civil liability of
soldiers, 306, 307; Mr. Justice
Stephen on the position of men
and officers, 310.
Arrest, redress for, 221.
Article 75 of the Constitution of

the Year VIII, De Tocqueville
on, 194; abolition of, 195.
Aucoc, on droit administratif, 182.
Austin, on Parliamentary sove-
reignty, 65.

[merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small]

meeting, 283.

Bill of Rights, the, 26.
Blackstone, 6; the Commentaries,
7; on kingly authority, 8; on
moral law, 58.
Blackstone's Commentaries,quoted
on the legislative authority of
Parliament, 37.

Board of Trade, power of, under
the Merchant Shipping Act,
Bradlaugh, Charles, 32.
1876, 201.
British North America Act, 1867,

[blocks in formation]
[merged small][ocr errors][merged small]
[ocr errors]

Chatham, Lord, 50, 360.
Church, the, and the Acts of
Union, 60, 61, 62.

Civil Courts, in connection with
the Army, 313; power as re-
gards Courts-martial, 313.
Civil List Act, 320.
Clergy, the, in comparison with
persons subject to military law,
315, note.
Coalition, the, 378.
Coke, on private rights, 45.
Colonial Governor, the position of,

in relation to the Crown, 106.
Colonial Laws Act, the, 1865, 97.
Colonial Parliaments, sanction of

the Crown in Acts of, 95; in
relation to the Imperial Parlia-
ment, 99; power of the Courts
asto, 100; ascoustituent bodies,
101; powers to change consti-
tutional laws possessed by the
Victorian Parliament, 102; the
supremacy of the Imperial Par-
liament over, 104; policy of the
Imperial Government as to, 108.
Colonies, Acts relating to, 62, 63.
Colonies, English, representative

government of, 95.

Common law, and statute law, 28.
Comptroller General, the position

and powers of, 322; instance
of the power of, 326; duties
relating to the office of, 327.
Congress, powers of, compared with
powers of railway companies,
137.

Conservatism, and Federalism,

[blocks in formation]

32; first principles of English,
34; general rules of English,
grounded on law of land, 208.
Constitutional laws, of England,

in comparison with Belgian, 83.
Constitutions, the English, Burke
and Hallam on, 1; the Ameri-
can in comparison with, 4; his-
⚫torical view of, 15-19; flexible
and rigid, 114, 118; French,
120, 121; Belgian, 122; United
States, 131; Federal State, sub-
ject to, 132, 134; see English
Constitution.

Contracts, observance of, 21.
Conventions, of the Constitution,
distinction between laws and, 28;
Freeman's Growth of the Eng-
lish Constitution, quoted as to,
343; as rules of discretionary
power, 351; aims of, 354;
sanction of, considered, 365;
difficulties connected with, 366;
and public opinion, 369; power
of the law in relation to, 371.
Court of Appeal, the, the Peers

as, 27.

Courts, the Law, 56; and Railway
bye-laws, 88; and Colonial
Acts, 100; Belgian and French,
in connection with the Con-
stitution, 143; of the United
States, 144; Canadian, 154;
Swiss, 155; and matters of
State, 187, 235, 398.
Criticism, fair and libelious, 254.
Crown, the, the descent of under

the Act of Settlement, 39; as-
sent of, to home and colonial
bills, 105; position of the Colo-
nial Governor in relation to,
106; position of, in relation
to Ministers, 332; power of,
as to aliens, 338; Bagchot on
the powers of, 394; personal
authority of, and sovereignty
of Parliament, 388, 396, and
note; in relation to disso-

lutions of Parliament, 358, and
note; 359; prerogatives of,
390.

Crown servants, position of, in
England, compared with posi-
tion of French officials, 199;
296.

D.

DE BLOSSEVILLE, 180.
D'Eon, Chevalier, 175-
De Lolme, on the limit of Par-

liamentary power, 39, 168.
De Tocqueville, on the English
Constitution, 23; on respect for
the law in England, 168; and
the droit administratif, 180; on
Art. 75 of Constitution of Year
VIII, 193; on the English Par-
liament, 81; on the Constitu-
tion of France, 111; on Swiss
want of respect for law, 165, 170.
'Declaration of Rights of Man,' no
guarantee for freedom of dis-
cussion, 268, 269.

'Declaration of the State of Siege,'
the, 295, 299.
Discussion, right to freedom of,
250-282.

Dissolutions of Parliament, 1784
and 1834, 358; necessity for,
362; the Judges, in relation
to, 365.

Dodd, Dr., execution of, men-
tioned, 389.

Droit Administratif, 180; defini-
tion of, 182; leading principles
of, 184; officials under, 196;
Judges under, 198; opposed
to modern English notions, 203;
existence of, inconsistent with
powers of English Courts, 398.
Dubs, Dr., view as to position of
Federal Court, 155.

E.

EDWARD VI, repeal of statute of
Henry VIII, under, 48.

Electors, Parliamentary, 55; po-
sition of, 55.
Ellenborough, Lord, on the liberty
of the Press, 260.

England, the King of, Black-
stone's view of the authority
of, 8.

England, law of, as to public
meeting, 283; Martial law of,
295; the Standing Army of,
302; position of Aliens in, 338.
English Constitution, the, Burke

on the importance of the study
of, 1; Hallam quoted, as to, 1;
George III, estimate of, 2;
sentiment in connection with
growth of, 3; difficulties of
study of, to modern students,
4, 6, 7; De Tocqueville on, 23;
the law and conventions of, 341;
nature of conventions of, 342.
English constitutional law, 133-
Enlistment, power of the civil
Courts as to, 313; of the
militia, 314.
Executive, the, 9.
Extradition Act, the, 238; ne-
cessity for, 338, 348.
Eyre, Governor, 249.

D d

[blocks in formation]

Federalism, and Parliamentary
sovereignty, 126; aims of, 129,
131; feature of, 138; and Uni-
tarianism, 143; creation of,
152; and Conservatism, 159;
the legal spirit of, 160; diffi-
culties connected with, 164 ;
Swiss, 165.

Fox, support of Parliamentary
sovereignty by, 360; 379.
France, the governments of, 110,

120, 121; constitutional mon-
archy of Louis Philippe, 110, De
Tocqueville on the Constitution
of, 111; the Republic of 1848,
112; control of literature and
newspaper press in, 267, 272;
the Declaration of the State
of Siege,' 295.
Freeman's Growth of the English
Constitution, historical value of,

[blocks in formation]

position to Parliament, regard-
ing the revenue, 1811, 326.
Growth of the English Constitution,
Freeman, in relation to consti-
tutional law, 12.

H.

HABEAS CORPUS Acts, 28,
229-241; the writ of, 226;
application for writ of, 229,
233; position of suspected per-
sons under, 238-240; suspen-
sion of, 214, 241; of relation
of Acts of Indemnity to, 245.
Habeas Corpus Suspension Acts,
renewal of, 242; in comparison
with foreign suspension of
constitutional guarantees,' 243:
comparison with Coercion Acts
of 1881, 1882, 243, 244.
Hallam, on the Constitution of
England, 1; on the Septennial
Act, 41.
Hastings, Warren, 368.
Hearn, Professor, 7; views of the
English Constitution, 20.
Henry VIII, the statute of Pro-
clamations under, 47, 48.
Historian, the, his view of con-
stitution contrasted with that
of the lawyer, 12-19.
House of Commons, the, resolu-
tions of, not of legal authority,
50; power of, 51, 54; Burke
on, 78; relation of the House
of Lords to, 352, 356.
House of Lords, the, position of in
cases of appeal, 27.

Hume, on Sovereign power, 71.

I.

IMPEACHMENT, as mode of enforc-
ing constitutional conventions,
331; 367; disuse of, 380.
Impressment, the Habeas Corpus
Acts in relation to, 236.

« PreviousContinue »