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Law_151-200.indd 200 1/27/12 1:23 PM Revenue. Chapter X 1HEREVENUE1 Ain treating of the army my aim was simply to point out what were the principles determining the relation of the armed forces of the country to the law on the land, so in treating of the revenue my aim is not to give even a sketch of the matters connected with the raising, the collection, and the expenditure of the national income, but simply to show that the collection and expenditure of the revenue, and all things appertaining thereto, are governed by strict rules of law. Attention should be fixed upon three points,the source of the public revenue-theauthority for expending the public revenue-and the securities provided by law for the due appropriation of the public revenue, that is, for its being expended in the exact manner which the law directs. SOURCE OF PUBLIC REVENUE source. Itis laid down by Blackstone and other authorities that the revenue consists of the hereditary or "ordinary" revenue of the Crown and of the "extraordinary" revenue depending upon taxes imposed by Parliament . Historically this distinction is of interest. But for our purpose we need hardly trouble ourselves at all with the hereditary revenue of the Crown, arising from Crown lands, droits of admiralty, and the -----------~---·--·-· ·-------~ 1 Stephen, Commentaries, ii. bk. iv. chap. vii.; Hearn, Government ofEngland (2nd ed.), c. 13, pp. 351-388; May, Parliamentary Practice, chap. xxi.; see Exchequer and Audit Act, 1866, 29 & 30 Viet. c. 39, and 1 & 2 Viet. c. 2, s. 2. PARTII 200 Law_201-250.indd 201 1/27/12 1:29 PM THE REVENUE like. Itforms an insignificant portion of the national resources, amounting to not much more than £500,000 a year. It does not, moreover, at the present moment belong specially to the Crown, for it was commuted at the beginning of the reign of the present King,2 as it was at the beginning of the reign of William IV. and of the reign of Queen Victoria, for a fixed "dvillist,"3 or sum payable yearly for the support of the dignity of the Crown. The whole then of the hereditary revenue is now paid into the national exchequer and forms part of the income of the nation. We may, therefore, putting the hereditary revenue out of our minds, direct our whole attention to what is oddly enough called the "extraordinary," but is in reality the ordinary, or Parliamentary, revenue of the nation. The whole of the national revenue had come to amount in a normal year to somewhere about £144,000,000.4 Itis (if we put out of sight the small hereditary revenue of the Crown) raised wholly by taxes imposed by law. The national revenue, therefore, depends wholly upon law and upon statute-law; it is the creation of Acts of Parliament. While no one can nowadays fancy that taxes can be raised otherwise than in virtue of an Act of Parliament, there prevails, it may be suspected, with many of us a good deal of confusion of mind as to the exact relation between the raising of the revenue and the sitting of Parliament. People often talk as though, if Parliament did not meet, no taxes would be legally payable, and the assembling of Parliament were therefore secured by the necessity of filling the national exchequer . This idea is encouraged by the study of periods, such as the reign of Charles 1., during which the Crown could not legally obtain necessary supplies without the constant intervention of Parliament. But the notion that at the present day no money could legally be levied if Parliament ceased to meet is unfounded. Millions of money would come into the Exchequer even though Parliament did not sit at 2 Civil List Act, 1901, 1Ed. VII. c. 4· 3 See as to civil list, May, Constitutional Hist. i. chap. iv. 4 The Chancellor of the Exchequer, in his Budget speech of 18th April1907 (172 Hansard (4th ser.), col. u8o), gave the total revenue for the year (Exchequer receipts) 1emmentofEngland (2nd ed.), p. 375· CHAPTER X 209 ...

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