The C a b i n e t I s an i n f o r m a l meeting o f "each of H i e
- i a j e s t y ' s C o n f i d e n t i a l S e r v a n t s as a r e of the P r i v y
Council" (Johnson).
U n t i l t h e m i n i s t e r s of the Crown
A c t , 1937 ( w h i c h , among o t h e r t h i n g s , makes p r o v i s i o n f o r
the payment o f a d d i t i o n a l s a l a r y t o c e r t a i n M i n i s t e r s when
they a r e members of the C a b i n e t ) the e x i s t e n c e of the
Cabinet had not been r e c o g n i s e d i n any s t a t u t e :
its
e x i s t e n c e depends on a convention of t h e c o n s t i t u t i o n .
as an i n f o r m a l g a t h e r i n g 1B r e f l e c t e d i n i t s
I t s origin
o r g a n i s a t i o n and p r o c e d u r e ;
a n d , a l t h o u g h i n the l a s t
t h i r t y or f o r t y y e a r s a more formal system has
d e v e l o p e d , p r a c t i c e and procedure have v a r i e d c o n s i d e r a b l y
t o s u i t p a r t i c u l a r circumstances and p a r t i c u l a r Prime
Ministers.
The Cabinet has no s t a t u t o r y powers o r f u n c t i o n s ,
b u t c o n s i s t i n g o f the l e a d i n g Members of the dominant
P a r t y i n the House o f Commons i t i s t h e d i r e c t i n g body
of n a t i o n a l p o l i c y .
I n r e l a t i o n to P a r l i a m e n t
i t p r o v i d e s a means of r e c o n c i l i n g the p r i n c i p l e s o f
M i n i s t e r i a l r e s p o n s i b i l i t y and c o l l e c t i v e r e s p o n s i b i l i t y ,
under which every M i n i s t e r i n charge of a Department i s
r e s p o n s i b l e t o P a r l i a m e n t f o r a p a r t i c u l a r sphere of a c t i v i t y
and y e t s h a r e s w i t h h i s c o l l e a g u e s c o l l e c t i v e
r e s p o n s i b i l i t y f o r the Government's p o l i c y a s a whole.
On the development of C a b i n e t Government
t h e c o n s t i t u t i o n a l r e l a t i o n s h i p between the
King and the C a b i n e t and between the Cabinet
and P a r l i a m e n t , and the formation of
C a b i n e t s , r e f e r e n c e s h o u l d made t o t h e s t a n d a r d
and Anson,
a u t h o r i t i e s , e . g . Jennings;
V o l . 1 1 ( 1 ) , p p . 108-148.
For a s h o r t r e f e r e n c e l i e t of books, e t c
about the C a b i n e t and the Cabinet system s e e
P a r t V I I ( 5 ) Annex I .
For a b r i e f note on C a b i n e t Government
i n t h e U n i t e d Kingdom s e e P a r t V I I ( 5 ) Annex I I I .