Everything about Minister Of The Crown totally explained
Minister of the Crown is the formal constitutional term used in the
Commonwealth realms to describe a
minister to the reigning sovereign. The term indicates that the minister serves in theory
at His/Her Majesty's Pleasure, and advises the monarch, or
viceroy, on how to exercise the
Crown prerogatives relative to the minister's department or
ministry.
History
The root of the presence of Crown ministers in the Commonwealth realms lies in
medieval England, where monarchs often headed
cabinets, which consisted of ministers who advised the monarch and implemented his decisions. The term
minister came into being as the sovereign's advisors ministered, or served, the will of the king. Over time, former ministers and other distinguished persons were retained as peripheral advisors with designated ministers having the direct ear of the king; this led to the creation of the larger
Privy Council, with the Cabinet becoming a committee within the that body, made up of appointed ministers.
For a period between the accession of King
James VI of
Scotland to the throne of
England in 1603 and
the unification of
Scotland and England in 1707, when the two states were in
personal union, one monarch was advised by two separate sets of ministers of the Crown for each country. As the
British Empire expanded, the colonial governments remained subordinate to the imperial government at
Westminster, and thus the Crown remained ministered only by the
Imperial Privy Council, made up of British Ministers of the Crown. When Canada became a
Dominion in 1867, however, a separate
Canadian Privy Council was established to advise the
Governor General on the exercise of the Crown prerogative, though the viceroy remained an agent of the British government at
Whitehall. After that date, other colonies of the empire attained Dominion status and similar arrangements were made. Following the passage of the
Statute of Westminster in
1931, however, the empire was divided into autonomous kingdoms under one sovereign, thus returning the monarch to a position similar to that which existed pre-1707, where he or she was ministered by separate cabinets for each respective country. Thus, today no minister of the Crown in any
Commonwealth realm can advise the monarch to exercise any powers pertaining to any of the other countries.
Ministries
Though the sovereign and/or viceroy is typically advised by a larger body known as a privy council or executive council, in practice it's a subset of the council, the collective body of ministers of the Crown, called the
Ministry, which directly guides the monarch and/or governor. The Ministry shouldn't be confused with the Cabinet, as ministers of the Crown may exist outside of this committee. The following are the present ministries of some of the Commonwealth realms, which list the incumbent ministers of the Crown.
Further Information
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