The King-in-Council is the technical term of
constitutional law for the exercise of
executive authority in a
Commonwealth realm, denoting the
monarch acting by and with the
advice and consent of his or her privy council (in the
United Kingdom and
Canada's federal jurisdiction) or
executive council (in most other Commonwealth realms and the
Australian states and
Canadian provinces). In those realms and dependencies where the sovereign's powers and functions are delegated to a
governor-general,
lieutenant governor, or
governor, the term
Governor-General-in-Council,
Lieutenant Governor-in-Council, or
Governor-in-Council may be used instead of
King-in-Council, all of these terms describing the same technical process within constitutional law.
The government of [jurisdiction] is commonly used as a synonym for any of the aforementioned terms, though the phrase may mean more than one thing in certain areas. The Queen of Ceylon with Kotelawala cabinet.jpeg|
Elizabeth II,
Queen of Ceylon, with
her cabinet in Ceylon, 1954 Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and her Canadian Ministers at Rideau Hall 1 July 1967.jpg|Elizabeth II,
Queen of Canada, with her
Cabinet, a subcommittee of the
Queen's Privy Council, in
Rideau Hall, 1 July 1967 New Zealand Cabinet, 1981.jpg|Elizabeth II,
Queen of New Zealand, with her
Cabinet, a subcommittee of the
Executive Council, 1981 Second Keating Cabinet 1994.jpg|
Governor-General Bill Hayden, representing Elizabeth II,
Queen of Australia, with his
Cabinet, a subcommittee of the
Federal Executive Council, outside
Government House, 25 March 1994 The Queen attending Cabinet to mark her Diamond Jubilee.jpg|Elizabeth II,
Queen of the United Kingdom, with her
Cabinet, a subcommittee of the
Privy Council, at
10 Downing Street, 18 December 2012 Swearing-In Day Trudeau Cabinet.jpg|
Governor General David Johnston, representing Elizabeth II, Queen of Canada, with his Cabinet at Rideau Hall, 4 November 2015 An order made by the King-in-Council is known as an
order-in-council and such actions are subject to
judicial review. Orders-in-council may be used to implement
secondary legislation, such as British
statutory instruments. In practice, decisions made by the King-in-Council are almost always the formal approval to decisions made by the
cabinet, a subcommittee of the privy or executive council that includes the senior
ministers of the Crown and often meets without the monarch or his local representative present. Former Commonwealth realms and dependencies often retain a similar constitutional concept; for example,
President-in-Council in
India or
Chief Executive-in-Council in
Hong Kong. Similar concepts can also be found in some non-Commonwealth countries. == See also ==