Development , Edinburgh, between the 1670s until 1708 Like the Parliament, the council was a development of the
King's Council. The King's Council, or
curia regis, was the court of the monarch surrounded by his royal officers and others upon whom he relied for advice. It is known to have existed in the thirteenth century, if not earlier, but has left little trace of its activities. By the later fifteenth century the council had advisory, executive and judicial functions though surviving records are mainly confined to the last. It is at this period that the 'secret' or privy council makes its formal appearance when, in February 1490, parliament elected 2 bishops, an abbot or prior, 6 barons and 8 royal officers to form the king's council .
Lords of Secret Council The
Lords of Secret Council, as they were known, were part of the general body of Lords of Council, like the Lords of Session and
Lords Auditors of Exchequer. After 1532 much of the judicial business was transferred to the newly founded College of Justice, the later
Court of Session. The council met regularly and was particularly active during periods of a monarch's minority. A separate register of the privy council appears in 1545 and probably marks the point at which the secret council split off from its parent body. After 1603
James VI was able to boast to the English Parliament that he governed Scotland
with my pen. The council received his written instructions and executed his will. This style of government, continued by his grandsons
Charles II and
James VII, was disrupted during the reign of Charles I by the Covenanters and the Cromwellian occupation. There are gaps in the register during the
upheavals of 1638–41 when the council was largely displaced by an alternative administration set up by the
Covenanters and during the
Cromwellian period, the council ceased to act at all.
Acts of Union and abolishment , appointed to the Privy Council in 1663 After the
restoration of the monarchy in 1660, Charles II nominated his own privy councillors and set up a council in London through which he directed affairs in Edinburgh, a situation that continued after the
Glorious Revolution of 1688–9. Until 1707, the Privy Council met in what is now the West Drawing Room at the
Palace of Holyroodhouse in
Edinburgh. It was called the Council Chamber in the 17th century. The Register of the Privy Council of Scotland (1545–1689) was edited and published between 1877 and 1970 by
John Hill Burton,
David Masson,
Peter Hume Brown and Henry Macleod Paton. The council survived the Act of Union but for one year only. It was abolished on 1 May 1708 by the
Parliament of Great Britain and thereafter there was one
Privy Council of Great Britain sitting in London. Whilst the Kingdom of Scotland's
legal,
education and
religious institutions were unaffected by the terms of the Treaty of Union and remained distinct and separate following the union, the Privy Council of Scotland was given somewhat a vague reassurance in the Treaty of Union. Article 19 of the 1707 treaty stated that "after the union the queen’s majesty and her royal successors may continue a privy council in Scotland, for preserving of public peace and order, until the parliament of Great Britain shall think fit to alter it, or establish any other effectual method for that end". As a result, the Privy Council of Scotland was considered vulnerable especially as a result of unravelling of party politics in both Edinburgh and London. The abolition of the Privy Council of Scotland occurred on 1 May 1708, twelve months following the Treaty of Union coming into force. The
Privy Council of Great Britain was created, with the Privy Council of Scotland and the
Privy Council of England both being abolished and being subsumed into the new Privy Council of Great Britain. The absence of central executive power in Edinburgh which had access to local intelligence and the ability to respond quickly to affairs in Scotland provided problems for government in Scotland, particularly in relation to the
Jacobite threat. ==Functions of the council==