order in council

order in council, in Great Britain, a regulation issued by the sovereign on the advice of the Privy Council; in modern practice, however, an order is issued only upon the advice of ministers, the minister in charge of the department concerned with the subject matter of the order being responsible to Parliament for its contents.

In modern practice, there are two distinct types of order in council: that issued under the royal prerogative and that made under a power conferred by a statute. An example of the first type is the order declaring a state of war to be at an end, since the power to make war and peace is a matter of the royal prerogative. Most orders in council, however, are issued to implement legislation passed by Parliament; for example, the Ministers of the Crown (Transfer of Functions) Act, 1946, arranged for the redistribution of ministerial functions and the dissolution of government departments to be effected by order in council, confirmed by a resolution of both houses of Parliament.

Orders in council were first issued during the 18th century. Historically, the best known are those issued in November and December 1807, which imposed a blockade on Napoleonic Europe by the British and, in response, the decree by which the French might seize any neutral ship that complied with the British regulations.