ABSTRACT
Money WHY does the King's effigy appear on our coins? We are so used to seeing i t there that i t never occurs to us that i t might be otherwise, and that it requires an explanation. If anyone asked us we should probably say that the coin is issued and guaranteed by the state, and that as the King is head of the state, he appears on the coins as its symbol. But a reason put forward to justify a custom need not be the reason that originally prompted it. The House of Lords is justified by its supporters as a useful check on the Commons, and it is on this ground that other countries have introduced a second chamber into their constitution. If we had no history of the constitution we should no doubt be told that the second chamber was devised for that very purpose. History shows us, however, that the Lords are older than the Commons, and a t least till Tudor times were far more powerful.
