LONDON HENRY FROWDE, M.A. PUBLISHER TO THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD DOM MINA INVS TIO ILLV MEA AND STEVENS AND SONS, LIMITED THE LAW AND CUSTOM OF THE CONSTITUTION BY SIR WILLIAM R. ANSON, BART., D.C.L. OF THE INNER TEMPLE, BARRISTER-AT-LAW IN THREE VOLUMES VOL. II: THE CROWN. PART I THIRD EDITION OXFORD AT THE CLARENDON PRESS LONDON NEW YORK AND TORONTO: HENRY FROWDE ALSO SOLD BY STEVENS & SONS, LIMITED, 119 & 120 CHANCERY LANE, LONDON 1907 PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION IN consequence of unavoidable delay in bringing out the third edition of this book, which has, I fear, been for some time out of print, I have thought it well to publish the first four chapters at once. These are in some respects the most important, and they are certainly the most difficult to present in a satisfactory form. I have added considerably to the chapter on the Councils of the Crown, and have, I hope, been able to throw some fresh light on the beginnings of Cabinet Government at the close of the seventeenth and commencement of the eighteenth centuries. I have also transposed the order of the chapters, because I thought that the Councils of the Crown and the Departments of Government followed more naturally upon the chapter dealing with the Prerogative than did the subject of the Title to the Crown and the relation of Sovereign and Subject. I reprint the Preface to the first edition as I wrote it in 1892, because it shows the purpose and scope of the work. In conclusion, I would thank the friends who have so kindly helped me with information and advice in the preparation of this edition. WILLIAM R. ANSON. ALL SOULS COLLEGE, November, 1907. |