都铎中期枢密院建制两方案探析

On Two Proposals for the Mid-Tudor Privy Council

枢密院是英国都铎王朝中央政府的核心机构。都铎中期是枢密院制度建设的关键时期。其间,两位政府官员帕格特和彼得针对枢密院内部制度建设问题,先后提出了两套建制方案。这两套方案是迄今可考的都铎时期仅有的专门针对枢密院的制度规章建制方案,它们既是枢密院制度的理想化蓝本,也是政府机构现代化的文本起点。两方案集中规划会议召集、信件接收、议程制定、事务分配及会议记录五项制度。其中的具体建议有些被采纳,有些则反映了当时既有的行政方式。两方案是都铎枢密院制度发展面貌的集中体现,并承载着当时涉及政府运作问题的政治观念。是研究枢密院的必需原始资料,也是枢密院制度建设的关键历史事件。两方案所反映及造就的枢密院制度被欧洲大陆国家所效法,并对日后内阁制的发展产生了直接影响。

The Privy Council was a cardinal institution in Tudor government,and the mid-Tudor was a crucial period in the development of the Privy Council. In terms of the internal construction of the Privy Council, two governmental officials, Paget and Petre, designed and proposed two projects respectively. These two projects were the only two surviving texts on the rules and regulations of the Privy Council so far. They depicted blueprints of the Privy Council system, which signifies the beginning of the modernization of British government. Both of them focused on the convening of the council meeting,the reception of state letters,the formulation of agenda,the distribution of duties,and the record of minutes. Some of them were accepted while others reflected methods of administration at that time. Both proposals witnessed the formation of the Tudor Privy Council,and crystalized the political opinion on government administration of the time. They were essential materials for the study of the Privy Council,as they documented critical events in the construction of the Privy Council. The system proposed in them was imitated by continental European governments,and had a direct impact on the cabinet system afterwards.