20 THE BRITISH APPROACH TO POLITICS

and consent of the Lords, Spiritual and Temporal, and the
Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the
authority of the same, as follows . . ." The Sovereignty of
Parliament, in this full sense, is so complete that it controls even
the separate parts of Parliament. King George VI is King because
the Act of Settlement, 1701, conferred the throne on his family,
and the Act of Abdication, 1936, set Edward VIII and his
descendants, if any, aside from the succession. The King some-
times makes Proclamations, as that concerning the Coronation;
but no Proclamation which contradicted an Act of Parliament
would have any force. The House of Lords has the power, in
certain circumstances, to prevent a measure which the Commons
have approved, from becoming law until two years have gone
by; but it has this power, and no more, because such are the
provisions of the Parliament Act, 1911.

One apparent exception to the Sovereignty of Parliament
serves only to prove it more emphatically. Once a year,
usually in April, the Chancellor of the Exchequer "introduces
his Budget"—that is, states^ to the House of Commons what
taxes are to be collected in die next year. On the same day the
Commons pass a resolution approving the taxes; later'they will
debate them and finally a Finance Act will be passed; but the
Chancellor's plans have the force of law as soon as the Commons*
resolution is carried. But this happens only because an Act of
Parliament, the Provisional Collection of Taxes Act, 1913, states
that on this one occasion a Commons resolution shall have the
force of law. Thus is avoided the confusion in business which
would occur if everyone knew on Budget Day what new taxes
were coming, but had to wait several weeks till the Finance Act
was passed and the new taxes became law.

The force of law can also be given, by Acts of Parliament,
to Orders made by the Privy Council or by Ministers, or to
by-laws passed by local authorities. If this were not done,
Government would be impossible; no Act of Parliament could,
for example, contain a list of all the places in Britain where cars