ional
History of England, I., Chap. 3.]

*51. Royal Privileges: the Civil List.*--The sovereign is capable of
owning land and other property, and of disposing of it precisely as
may any private citizen. The vast accumulations of property, however,
which at one time comprised the principal source of revenue of the
crown, have become the possession of the state, and as such are
administered entirely under the direction of Parliament. In lieu (p. 051)
of the income derived formerly from land and other independent sources
the sovereign has been accorded for the support of the royal household
a fixed annual subsidy--voted under the designation of the Civil
List--the amount of which is determined afresh at the beginning of
each reign. The Civil List was instituted by an act of 1689 in which
Parliament settled upon the king for the meeting of personal expenses,
the payment of civil officers, and other charges, a stipulated sum,
thus separating for the first time the private expenditures of the
crown from the public outlays of the nation.[65] The sum given William
III. was L700,000. George III., in return for a fixed Civil List,
surrendered his interest in the hereditary revenues of the crown, and
William IV. went further and, in return for a Civil List of L510,000 a
year, surrendered not only the hereditary revenues but also a large
group of miscellaneous and casual sources of income.[66] At the
accession of Queen Victoria the Civil List was fixed at L385,000. The
amount was comparatively small, but opportunity was taken at the time
finally to transfer to Parliament the making of provision for all
charges properly incident to the maintenance of the state. In addition
to various annuities payable to the children of the royal family, the
Civil List of Edward VII., established by Act of July 2, 1901,
amounted to L470,000, of which L110,000 was appropriated to the privy
purse of the king and queen, L125,000 to salaries and retiring
allowances of the royal household, and L193,000 to household expenses.
At the accession of George V., in 1910, the Civil List was continued
in the sum of L470,000.[67]

[Footnote 65: Under Charles II. Parliament began to
appropriate portions of the revenue for specific
purposes, and after 1688 this became the general
practice. Throughout a century the proceeds of
particular taxes were ap