The Queen-in-Council (during the reign of a male monarch, King-in-Council) is, in each of the Commonwealth realms, the technical term of constitutional law that refers to the exercise of executive authority, denoting the monarch acting by and with the advice and consent of his or her privy council (in the United Kingdom and Canada's federal jurisdiction) or executive council (in most other Commonwealth realms and in Canadian provinces). In Commonwealth realms other than the United Kingdom and some British Crown Dependencies, the Queen's powers and functions are delegated to the governor-general, lieutenant governor, or governor. In these cases, the Queen-in-Council is replaced by a Governor-General-in-Council, Lieutenant-Governor-in-Council, or Governor-in-Council, respectively. The government of [jurisdiction] is commonly used as a synonym for any of the aforementioned terms, though the phrase may mean more than one thing in certain areas.
In practice, the Queen-in-Council almost always gives formal effect to decisions made by the cabinet, a subcommittee of the privy or executive council that includes the senior ministers of the Crown, and meets often without the Queen or her local representative. An order made by the Queen-in-Council is known as an Order in Council, and such actions are subject to judicial review.[1]
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