Cabinet

Certain officers who, taken collectively, form a council or advisory board; as the cabinet of the president of the United States, which is composed of the secretary of state, the secretary of the treasury, the secretary of the interior, the secretary of war, the secretary of the navy, the secretary of agriculture, the attorney-general, the postmaster-general, the secretary of commerce and the secretary of labor. See Departments. "The president — not the cabinet — is responsible for all the measures of the administration, and whatever is done by one of the heads of department is considered as done by the president, through the proper executive agent;" 1 Cooley's Bla. Com. 232. The cabinet, as such, has no legal existence. In passing the act (1913) creating the department of labor, a provision that the incumbent should "be a member of the cabinet" was stricken out. In case of the removal, death, resignation or inability of both the president and vicepresident of the United States, then the members of the cabinet shall act as president until such disability is removed or a president elected, in the following order: the secretary of state, secretary of the treasury, secretary of war, attorney-general, postmaster-general, secretary of the navy, and the remaining (and more recently created) secretaries. These officers are the heads of their respective departments; and by the constitution (art. 2, sec. 2) the president may require the opinion in writing of these officers upon any subject relating to the duties of their respective departments. These officers respectively have, under different acts of congress, the power of appointing many inferior officers charged with duties relating to their departments. See Const, art.

2, sec. 2.

The cabinet meets frequently at the executive mansion, by direction of the president. No record of its doings is kept; and it has, as a body, no legal authority. Its action is advisory merely; and the president and heads of departments in the execution of their official duties may disregard the advice of the cabinet and take the responsibility of independent action. See Lerned, The President's Cabinet. In Great Britain, the members of the Ministry are the heads of various executive departments of the government. The Prime Minister and his associates, having been selected from the party in power in the House of Commons, may be said to be in control of the House. If they lose their majority in the House, they resign office in a body and a new Ministry is then chosen from the new party in power. The head of the Cabinet and of the Ministry is the Prime Minister, who is selected by the Crown. He chooses his colleagues, but his choice really extends rather to the division of offices and to the choice of ministers; he is in effect limited to the prominent parliamentary leaders of his own party. He almost invariably holds the office of First Lord of the Treasury, unless he is a Peer, and then that t>ffice is held by the government leader of the House of Commons. His resignation dissolves the Cabinet. Other members of the Cabinet are: Lord Chancellor; the Chancellor of the Exchequer; the five Secretaries of State; the First Lord of the Admiralty; the Lord President of the Council; the Lord Privy Seal; the Attorney General; the Presidents of the Board of Trade, the Local Government Board and the Board of Education (of late years); the Chief Secretary for Ireland (except when the Lord Lieutenant is a member); the Secretary for Scotland; and the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (usually). The President of the Board of Agriculture, and the Postmaster General are often members; the First Commissioner of Works and the Lord Chancellor of Ireland (occasionally). The tendency now is said to be towards including the head of any considerable branch of the administration. Lowell, Gov. of Engl. The king, under the British constitution, real responsibility of government in that country, therefore, rests with his ministers, some of whom constitute the cabinet. The king may dismiss his ministers if they do not possess his confidence; but they are seldom dismissed by the king. They ordinarily resign when they cannot command a majority in favor of their measures in the house of commons.