privy council

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Related to privy council: Judicial Committee of the Privy Council

Priv·y Council

(prĭv′ē)

1. A council of the British sovereign that until the 1600s was the supreme legislative body, that now consists of cabinet ministers ex officio and others appointed for life, and that has no important function except through its Judicial Committee, which in certain cases acts as a supreme appellate court in the Commonwealth.

2. privy council An advisory council to an executive.

privy councilor n.

privy council

1. (Government, Politics & Diplomacy) the council of state of a monarch or noble, esp formerly

2. (Government, Politics & Diplomacy) (in Canada) a ceremonial body of advisers of the governor general, the chief of them being the Federal cabinet ministers

3. archaic a private or secret council

Privy Council

(Government, Politics & Diplomacy) the private council of the British sovereign, consisting of all current and former ministers of the Crown and other distinguished subjects, all of whom are appointed for life. See also Judicial Committee of the Privy Council

Privy Counsellor n

priv′y coun′cil

1. a board or select body of personal advisers, as of a sovereign.

2. (caps.)

a. (in Great Britain) a body of persons who advise the sovereign in matters of state, the majority of members being selected by the prime minister.

b. (in Canada) a body of persons who advise the Governor General.

[1250–1300]

priv′y coun′cilor, n.

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Noun

privy council - an advisory council to a ruler (especially to the British Crown)

council - a body serving in an administrative capacity; "student council"

diwan, divan - a Muslim council of state

Britain, Great Britain, U.K., UK, United Kingdom, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland - a monarchy in northwestern Europe occupying most of the British Isles; divided into England and Scotland and Wales and Northern Ireland; `Great Britain' is often used loosely to refer to the United Kingdom

Translations

királyi államtanács

tajná rada

Privy Council

n (Brit) the Privy Council → il Consiglio della Corona

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References in classic literature ?

The Journalist then recites the complaint of the injured Allan Stewart, Commendator of Crossraguel, to the Regent and Privy Council, averring his having been carried, partly by flattery, partly by force, to the black vault of Denure, a strong fortalice, built on a rock overhanging the Irish channel, where to execute leases and conveyances of the whole churches and parsonages belonging to the Abbey of Crossraguel, which he utterly refused as an unreasonable demand, and the more so that he had already conveyed them to John Stewart of Cardonah, by whose interest he had been made Commendator.

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Her serious face was a sight to see, when she rang for the cook, and the two held a privy council in a corner.

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At last, at seven o'clock in the evening, the Privy Council issued a solemn proclamation that it was now necessary to employ the military, and that the officers had most direct and effectual orders, by an immediate exertion of their utmost force, to repress the disturbances; and warning all good subjects of the King to keep themselves, their servants, and apprentices, within doors that night.

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So far as a demeanour of natural authority was concerned, the mother country need not have been ashamed to see these foremost men of an actual democracy adopted into the House of Peers, or make the Privy Council of the Sovereign.

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That Providence, however, had put it into the heart of a person who was beyond fear and beyond reproach, to ferret out the nature of the prisoner's schemes, and, struck with horror, to disclose them to his Majesty's Chief Secretary of State and most honourable Privy Council.

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It will add great weight to this remark, in relation to prize causes, to mention that the method of determining them has been thought worthy of particular regulation in various treaties between different powers of Europe, and that, pursuant to such treaties, they are determinable in Great Britain, in the last resort, before the king himself, in his privy council, where the fact, as well as the law, undergoes a re-examination.

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I don't believe he may even eat or drink what he likes best; a taste for tripe and onions on his part would provoke a remonstrance from the Privy Council.

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SCANDAL The Privy Council has more than 500 members who have reached high public office.

PREZZA: I QUIT

will derail plans to put the Royal Charter to the Queen for approval at the next meeting of the Privy Council on May 15.

Newspapers propose own answer to Leveson code

Warren''s legal team, led by Orlando Pownall QC, have argued before the Privy Council, sitting at the Supreme Court, that the devilry and misconduct of the police amounts to an abuse of process and that his conviction, along with those of his five co-conspirators, should be quashed.

WARREN IN TWO-MONTH WAIT ON HIS FREEDOM BID; Police launch inquir y into illegal bugging

BTL and ECOM Ltd appealed to the Privy Council and the highest court, after hearing legal arguments, reverted to the original ruling by the Chief Justice.

Legal wrangling resolved

Fraser's lawyer John Macaulay said he was now considering going straight to the Privy Council to ask them to hear Fraser's arguments.