PREROGATIVE, a word descended to us from the times of the Romans, or, rather, adopted from their to denote a certain power in the constitution of monarchical states. Its etymology is obvious, though the formation is not perhaps quite accordant with the analogies. Pm and rogo would seem to give the sense of precedence in flaking, while prerogative means precedence in being asked, the right of having the consent first obtained of the party in whom the prerogative is vested, before any change shall be made in the matters comprehended within the prerogative. The term is confined to cases of dignity, to things indeed which affect the common interest when men are bound together in a political state ; and though we might speak, as indeed men sometimes do, of the preroga tive of the House of Lords, or the prerogative of the House of Commons, or even of the prerogative of the people, it is more usual to regard the word as belonging to the right which the crown possesses of being consulted, and its consent obtained, in whatever concerns the business of the nation.
Thus the consent. of the sovereign must be first obtained before any new law can be made, or any change effected in the existing laws ; and this appears to be prerogative in its purest state, and, indeed, in its only state of absolute purity. Other things which are now understood to be comprehended under the term prerogative, are only accretions to this the taw prerogative, or things which have naturally shot forth out of it : unless we choose to take a view of the whole subject which shall take it wholly out of the scope of the etymological sense, and regard, as indeed trimly do, the word prerogative as standing to indicate the primordial and onginal power of any prince, the king of England for instance, which has been from thee to time reduced and confined by the resistance, passive or active, of the subject. However the term may be chosen or applied, it now denotes not only the privilege of being consulted in any intended change of the law, and the consent obtained, but the right of making war or peace, of laying embarges, of eninmissioning officers In the army and navy, of sending and receiv ing ambassadors, of making treaties, of bestowing honours, conferring rank, and creating peers. To these aro to be added the pardoning of
offenders, which is sometimes called the prerogative of mercy ; the calling, proroguing, and dissolving parliament, in whIch however the prerogative has been restrained by positive enactnienta; end, Lastly, various rights which the sovereign enjoys as head of the church. All these things the crown does by its prerogative, without any application to parliament, or to any court or council whatever, though members of the Privy Council, those particularly who form what is called the Cabinet Council, or the ministers, are supposed to advise the sovereign in the exercise of the prerogative, and are sometimes mule anawerable by parliament for the injudicious or dangerous exercise of it. Theo retically however and nominally, these ars prerogative of the sovereign himself—rights inherent in him in virtue of his office, an much his as the subject has certain rights belonging to him, either as a member of the great community of Englishmen, or as belonging to some par ticular section to which he belongs, or to some particular office in which he is placed. In the mutual respect of each, and the forbear ance of each to encroach on the rights or prerogatives belonging to each other, lies the balance of the English constitution ; and out of it arises security to all, and the enjoyment of the blessing!! which belong to a well-ordered political community. When evils aro perceived, when the subject claims rights which are incompatible with wholesome government, or when the crown claims rights as falling within the scope of any part of the prerogative which am opposed to the common good, there aro remedial powers in the constitution which bring things right ; snd it is one of the most important functions of the two houses of parliament. to see to this.