The Daily bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Hawaii]) 1882-1895, 1891-02-26
CO STlTUTlONAL OPINj0}.
DeliVerance Of the supreme Court an
the Question of the Ministry's Ne
sigHation.

DEPARTMENT OF THE JUDICIARY,
Honolulu, 25th, Feb. 1891.
To Their ExceIlencies Godfrey
Brown, Charles N. Spencer and
Arthur p. Peterson, Members
of His late Majesty's Cabinet:
GENTLEMEN: The Justices of the
Supreme Court have had the honor
to receive your communication of
the 10th inst, in which you say that
''in accordance with the provisions
of Article 70 of the Constitution, we,
His late Majesty's Cabinet, having
been requested to resign by Her Ma
jesty the Queen, beg to request the
opinion of Your Honorable Court as
to whether the commissions held by
US from His late Majesty Kalakaua
are valid and legal, and whether I'M
der Article 4 of the Constitution
there is any power existing than that
mentioned in SAID Article, to wit, the
Legislature, which can recall said
commissions or render them iDOper-
alive"
Having delayed replying to this
communication at your request until
today, we now reply as f llows, fully
impressed with the importance and
difficulty of the matter submitted:
The question of the effect of the
death of the Sovereign upon the sta
tus of the Ministry, receives little
light from the Constitution and the
laws.
The tenure of office of Hawaiian
Ministry closely follows the English
rule in that it may be terminated by
the Legislature. Here, as in Eng
land, the Sovereign appoints the
Cabinet, though in that country the
royal prerogative is satisfied with
the formal appointment of the leader
of the party in power as Premier,
and the ultimate approval of his
nomination of the other members of
the Cabinet.
The British Ministry is sometimes
described as a standing committee
of Parliament, because they are Sc
Iected from the Peers, and the elect
ed members of the House of Com.
mons, and are responsible to Parlia-
ment and NAV he dismissed by It's
vote. Yet in England, the Ministry
hold such relations with the Crown
as its appointees and responsible re-
representatives. in the administration
of executive business that they are
dissolved by the death Of the sever
eign, leaving the new incumbent free
to create a new Cabinet or to REIN
state the old one. We know Of no
exception to this rule; The holding
over of the Lord Melbourne Min
istry of William ". upon his
death and the accession OF Queen
Victoria is sometimes cited as at cx-
ception, but as a matter OF facs lhey
surrendered to her the seals OF. their
respective office, and received them
again at her hands e Martineau 5
history OF England, %, o9J' II may
be added that although precedent
obliges the Ministry to resign at the
death of the Sovereign in England,
tue unwritten law requires the new
ruler to select the leader Of the pre-
vailing party as Premier, which
means that he Is expected to rein
state the old Ministry, or, at least,
its head. This practice is in accord
ance with our own political system and
will in time doubtless be regarded as
essential.
Here the Ministry are not members
Of the Legislatu except by virtue
OF their positions in the Cabinet, and
are not necessarily selected from the
Legislature, and they hold about the