THE BRITISH CONSTITUTION 29

fact is quite as solid and important as the fact that everyone
has a vote. Does it not follow that any actions, however legal,
which aim at transferring land and industry to public ownership,
are unconstitutional? When an association of anti-Socialists calls
itself a "Constitutional Club", this is presumably what it means.
But is there any end to this process? By a like logic, laws giving
greater freedom to Sunday entertainment, or providing easier
divorce could be called unconstitutional by those who dislike
them.

The following conclusion may be drawn:—If the word
"unconstitutional" is intended to describe matters of fact, it
should only be applied to actions which defy, or will lead to
defiance of, the constitutional laws. So, in this sense, no law or
proposal to make a law can be unconstitutional. The word is also
used of matters of opinion, and anyone may fairly call even a
law or proposal unconstitutional if he is convinced that it would
be contrary to the proper purpose of British Government.
There is this justification for calling laws which attack democracy
unconstitutional—that dearly the proper purpose of all law and
Government is to express the will of the governed. This or
that policy about industry or Sunday entertainment can be
submitted to the test "Does it give us what we want?'*; but the
idea of governing by the people does not need to be submitted
to such a test; it is the test. Nor is it a test which has only been
applied in recent times. Long before England could have been
called a democracy, sections of the people who had a grievance
would claim that the practices to which they objected were
contrary to the liberties and desires of the people. Democracy,
as it is understood to-day, is the modern form of this ancient
appeal on behalf of the public welfare. ,

The Constitution gives powers to Parliament and Government,
but always with the implied reminder, "This power is to be used
to give effect to the will of the people." English law often falls
back on this last appeal to commonsense and reasonableness.
In a trial, the prisoner's guilt must be proved "beyond reasonable