The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-02-05

| tration OF electors and the Quallncnuon
for the service franchise.
For much, however, that is essential to
the British political machine az II operates
to-day. a student may search in.yain through
the statutes and the Parliamentary debates
and the legal reports from the reign OF
! King Edward |. to the reign OF King I'D
ward VII. There Is, for example, no posi-
tive law for the establishment OF the ma
tlonal representative system NO statute,
! no rule Of Common law, no resolution OF
either House of Parliament has yet recog-
/ nized the Cabinet" Responsible govern
ment * nonresident for all that England
legal theory knows OF il. No formal cog
ni7ance il taken. even by the House OF
| Commons itself. OF the division into parties
| and of the fact that the Imperial Executive
! IL committee OF one " them. The further
fact tina, this committee holds office at the
mercy Of the Parliamentary ajority is not
! only not mentioned, but most carefully and
deliberately concealed,
Mr. Low shows that the list Of subjects
which are not embodied in acts OF Parlia-
ment or other formal documents might he
enlarged indefinitely. There il no reference
for instance 10 the influence on Parliament
Of the electorate. and 10 the organization
of public opinion. to the unique position
of the Prime Minister. TO the rela of
the executive and the legislature toward
the various classes in the community.
10 tho part played 10y public meetings and
political associations Prof. Dicey. in his
book The Law OF the Constitution. di-
rected attention to the fact that just "a IL
cannot be said with strict accuracy that
English law recognizes the liberty OF tho
press. 10 It can hardly he said that the
English Constitution knows of such thing
az any specific right OF public meeting.
In England the right OF assembling ia moth
ing more than q result OF the view taken by
the )urts a. TO individual liberty OF person
and individual liberty OF speech. There
has never been in England any such formal
recognition Of this right an there Ia in the
Belgian Constitution. which declares that
Belgnus have the rig5t.tp assemble peace
fully and without arms so long az they
conform to the laws which may regulate
the exercise Of the right without subjectlng
it. however TO a preliminary authorization.
Az TO the freedom OF the press in England,
il is evident from the legal rules summarized
by Mr.. Dicey from Stephens's Digest. that
the whole OF Caryle's writings, much Of
Mills. good deal Of Ruskn's. most OF
Herbert Spencers, Darwin's HuXey's, and
Tyndall's. and some OF John Henry New
mans and Froudss might have rendered.
their authors liable to fine or imprisonment
In fact. as Mr.. Dicey says. freedom Of
discussion is in England little else than the
right 90 write or say anything which
jury. consisting Of twelve shopkeepere.
think IL eIpedient should be said or written
IL IL needful. also. to bear in mind that the
action and interacton of the various parts
Of the English machine OF State are often
misrepresente by the legal formulas which
ara supposed 10 describe them. II Ii known
that the whole apparatus would come to
hopeless wreck II any attempt were made TO
work it on the lines Of these formulr. That
which renders the machinery not only possi-
BILE but safe. convenient, effective and, III
the main. satisfactory, is the series OF con-
ventions under which institutions have been
perverted TO quite other purposes than those
which they are supposed TO fulfill. A our
author puts 1t. Englishmen live under
system Of tacit understandings. but the nm
derstandings themselves are not always
Understood. A large part OF the work Of
those who have written on the English Con-
stitution consists OF an examination of the
expedients by which the rlgor of an archaic
body OF doctrine is modified to snit the ext
gencies OF complex. highly developed
modern civilization. They have had to rec
oncle. or at least to compare. the theory
with the practice. TO point o,st how the Que
differs from the other and how the business
Of the nation gets Itself done under cover
OF the historical fiction. 4 remark Of Bage-
hot is recalled TO the effect hat an OBJ
server who looks at the living reality will
wonder at the contrast to the paper desorip
ton He will see in the life much which is
not in The books. and he will not find in the
rough practice many rehnenents OF the
literary theory Our author thinks that the
hint Ia applicable even TO Bugehot's fife and
penetrating study Of The English Consti-
tuition We are reminded that. anxious
to distinguish between the working princi-
Pile and the literary theory BHgehot like
some other critics Of his time laid special
stress on those features which had been in
appreciated 10y their predeoe-
sors In their writings the Transformation
OF the older English ar.stocraiic constitu-
ton into a kind Of Ministerial republic * de
-crihed az accomplished: We are hidden 10
recognize the efTacement Of the Crown and
the House OF Lords. the weakening Of he
ancient checks and balances the praCti-
cal sovereignty Of the House Of Commons
and the predominant Importance OF the
Cabiner' No one, however who recalls the
treatment OF the second Home Rule bill by
the House OF lords will dispute that Bage-
hot's IDEAS sound and logical a. they are in
the main considered a. an explanation of
the rough practice which prevailed when
Lord Palmerston was in Office. have them
selves crystallized into something like "A
literary theory The conventions fire.
quentiy happens become conventionaliled
1t follows that we can no longer take the
stipulations and differences OF the critics
belonging 10 the great middle class era Of
English constitutional history as II they
were Of pontiflcal authority for the present
day. Much has occurred since they wrote
which they could not foresee. while Of some
Influences which were at work, even in their
own time, they were not always clearly
cognZant
Let us glance az some Of the changes that
have taken place in the English system OF
during the last forty years