The Position of the sovereign

The existence or absence of a monarch does not in itself make a fundamental distinction in a Constitution. In a Cabinet system the Cabinet governs. The functions of the head of the State, be he King or President, are ancillary. It would be wrong, however, to underestimate the influence of the monarch in British politics. The documents now available show that the Whig view of monarchy which prevailed in the middle of last century and which was expounded by Bagehot was not wholly in accordance with the facts. The Sovereign must, in the last resort, accept the decisions of the Government, but he may have considerable influence on those decisions.

The advantage of constitutional monarchy is that the head of the State is free of party ties. A promoted politician cannot forget his past; and, even if he can, others cannot. Impartiality is not to be expected in any person. The liberal tradition, which is the basis of the democratic system, does not assume the existence of impartiality. It assumes only that different opinions may be honestly held and that the person who occupies a judicial position, whether he be King, Speaker of the House of Commons, or judge of the High Court, will try to exclude his bias from any decision that he may take in the exercise of the functions of his office.