,
II., Pt. I., 3-5.]

[Footnote 70: Abolished by the Felony Act of 1870.]

*53. Powers, Theoretical and Actual.*--It is not, however, the origin of
the royal power, but rather the manner of its exercise, that fixes the
essential character of monarchy in Great Britain to-day. The student
of this phase of the subject is confronted at the outset with a
paradox which has found convenient expression in the aphorism that the
king reigns but does not govern. The meaning of the aphorism is that,
while the sovereign is possessed of all of the inherent dignity of
royalty, it is left to him actually to exercise in but a very
restricted measure the powers which are involved in the business of
government. Technically, all laws are made by the crown in parliament;
all judicial decisions are rendered by the crown through the courts;
all laws are executed and all administrative acts are performed by the
crown. But in point of fact laws are enacted by Parliament
independently; verdicts are brought in by tribunals whose immunity
from royal domination is thoroughly assured; and the executive
functions of the state are exercised all but exclusively by the
ministers and their subordinates. One who would understand what
English monarchy really is must take account continually both of what
the king does and may do theoretically and of what he does and may do
in actual practice. The matter is complicated further by the fact that
powers once possessed have been lost, that others which have never
been formally relinquished have so long lain unused that the question
may fairly be debated whether they still exist, and that there never
has been, nor is likely ever to be, an attempt to enumerate
categorically or to define comprehensively the range of powers, either
theoretical or actual.

*54. Executive Powers.*--Disregarding for the moment the means of their
actual exercise, the powers of the crown to-day may be said to (p. 054)
fall into two principal groups. The first comprises those which are
essentially executive in character; the second, those which are shared
with the two houses of Parliament, being, therefore chiefly legislative.
The first group is distinctly the more important. It includes: (1) the
appointment, directly or indirectly, of all national public officers,
except some of the officials of the parliamentary chambers and a few
unimportant hereditary dignitaries; (2) the removal, upon occa