THE BRITISH CONSTITUTION 33

cases already tried, or in Acts of Parliament, is legal. No law
guarantees the liberty to write or print what one likes; but several
laws say what may not be printed (e.g., incitements to crime)
and anything apart from these forbidden things may be published.
There is some safety in the fact that any restrictions on liberty
require Acts of Parliament, and can thus be exposed to public
criticism.

OLD AND NEW IN THE CONSTITUTION.

The following principles, therefore summarise the British
Constitution:—Sovereignty of Parliament; Rule of Law; flexi-
bility; belief that Government and Parliament will use their
powers reasonably to express the will of the people; partial
Separation of Powers, and the rule that whatever has not been
forbidden is legal. In the chapters that follow it will be useful
to see how these ideas are realised in the day to day working of
our Constitution. It must, however, be noticed that the English
have fashioned their Constitution piecemeal, and the result is that
many old names and customs still survive, sometimes without
meaning, sometimes with new and quite different meanings
attached to them, Patience is necessary to sort out appearances
from realities. The King, for example, is called "Our Sovereign
Lord"; it then appears that Parliament is Sovereign, and the King
must do as his Ministers advise; then, that the King appoints his
Ministers; yet also, British Government is Government by the
people. Again, when an M.P. proposes that a Minister's salary
should be reduced, or that a Bill, be read this day six months,
he really means, something quite different. This love of old
forms sometimes hampers business, and may well rouse the
.indignation of those who wish to see the Government working
quickly and efficiently. On the other hand, it must be admitted
that the English have been surprisingly successful in their
politics. They freed themselves from the chains of feudalism
earlier than many nations; they came through the great changes
of the ipth century, not without agony, but without civil war;