g of the legal element in the chamber by the
creation of life peers to be known as Lords of Appeal in Ordinary.
Under existing law appeal lies to the Lords from any order or judgment
of the Court of Appeal in England and of all Scottish and Irish courts
from which appeals might, prior to 1876, be carried. The Judicial
Committee of the Privy Council was constituted in 1833 to assume
jurisdiction over a variety of cases formerly heard and decided
nominally by the Council as a whole. The composition of the body has
been changed a number of times. The members at present comprise the
Lords of Appeal in Ordinary, such members of the Privy Council as hold
or have held high judicial office, two other Privy Councillors
designated at pleasure by the crown, and, as a rule, one or two paid
members who have held judicial office in India or the colonies. The
membership is thus large, but only four members need be present at the
hearing of a case, and it may be pointed out that the working members
of the Committee are predominantly the four "law lords" who comprise
also the working judicial element in the House of Lords. It is the
business of the Judicial Committee to consider and determine any
matter that may be referred to it by the crown, but, in the main, to
hear final appeals from the ecclesiastical courts, from courts in the
Channel Islands and the Isle of Man, from the courts of the colonies
and dependencies, and from English courts established by treaty in
foreign countries. Its decisions are tendered under the guise of
"advice to the crown" and, unlike the decisions of the Lords, they
must bear the appearance, at least of unanimity.[253]

[Footnote 252: See p. 130.]

[Footnote 253: For brief descriptions of the
English judicial system see Lowell, Government of
England, II., Chaps. 59-60; Anson, Law and Custom
of the Constitution, II., Pt. 1., Chap. 10;
Marriott, English Political Institutions, Chap. 14;
and Macy, The English Constitution, Chap. 7. As is
stated elsewhere (p. 169), the first volume of
Holdsworth's History of English Law contains an
excellent history of the English courts. A useful
handbook, though much in need of revision, is F. W.
Maitland, Justice and Police (London, 1885).