him to Geo. 2, and then to his grandson Geo. 3 (b). The title to the crown is still hereditary, though not so absolutely hereditary as formerly; and the common stock or ancestor from whom the descent must be derived is also different. Formerly the common stock was King Egbert, then William the Conqueror; afterwards, in James the First's time, the two common stocks united, and so continued till the vacancy of the throne in 1688. Now, it is the Princess Sophia. Formerly, the descent was absolute, and the crown went to the next heir without any restriction but now the inheritance is conditional; being limited to such heirs only of the body of the Princess Sophia as are protestant members of the church of England, and are married to protestants. CHAPTER IV. OF THE KING'S ROYAL FAMILY. THE first and most considerable branch of the king's royal The royal family regarded by the laws of England, is the queen consort, family. or queen dowager (a). The queen regent, regnant, or sovereign Queen regnant. is she who holds the crown in her own right, and who has the same powers and prerogatives as the king (b). Her husband is her subject, and may be guilty of high treason against her. Queen consort. A queen consort is the wife of the reigning king; and she, by virtue of her marriage, is participant of prerogatives above other Finch, L. 86. women. She is a public person, exempt and distinct from the king; and not like other married women, so closely connected as to have lost all legal or separate existence whilst the marriage continues. She is of ability to purchase lands, and to convey them, to make leases, to grant copyholds, and do other acts of ownership, without the concurrence of her 4 Rep. 23. husband. She may take a grant from the king. She has separate courts and officers distinct from the king's, and her attorney and solicitor general are entitled to a place within the bar of the courts together with the king's counsel. She may 1,6,7. Seld. tit. hon. (b) And subsequently to Geo. 4, Wm. 4, and Victoria, the sons and granddaughter of Geo. 3. (a) His royal highness Prince Albert, her Majesty's consort, has now precedence next to her Majesty, except where otherwise provided by act of parliament. (b) As in the case of her present Majesty Queen Victoria. Finch, L. 86 Co. Litt. 133. Co. Litt. 133. Queen dow ager. sue and be sued alone, without joining her husband. She may have a separate property in goods as well as lands, and has a right to dispose of them by will. In short she is in all legal proceedings looked upon as a feme sole. She has also some exemptions, she pays no toll; nor is she liable to amercement in any court. But, in general, unless where the law has Finch, L. 185. expressly declared her exempted, she is in this respect upon the same footing as other persons, being to all intents the king's subject. Yet in point of security of her life and person, she is put on the same footing with the king; and it is equally treason to compass or imagine her death. A queen dowager is the widow of the king, and enjoys most of the privileges belonging to her as queen consort. No man can marry her without a special license from the king on pain of forfeiting his lands and goods. But she, though an alien born, shall be entitled to dower, which no other alien is. A queen dowager when married again to a subject, does not lose her regal dignity as peeresses dowager do their peerage when they marry commoners. The Prince of Wales or heir apparent to the crown, and his consort and the princess royal or eldest daughter Princess royal. of the king, are peculiarly regarded by the laws. By 25 Edw. 3, to compass or conspire the death of the former, or to violate the chastity of either of the latter, are as much high treason as to conspire the death of the king or violate the chastity of the queen. 2 Inst. 18. Co. Litt. 31. Prince and 8 Rep. 1. The royal family. The heir apparent to the crown is usually made Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester, by special creation and investiture ; but being the king's eldest son, he is by inheritance duke of Cornwall without any new creation. The rest of the royal family may be considered in two different lights according to the different senses in which the term is used. The larger sense includes all those who are by any possibility inheritable to the crown, such before the Revolution were all the descendants of William the Conqueror. Since the Revolution and act of settlement, it means the protestant issue of the Princess Sophia, now comparatively few in number. The more confined sense includes only those who are in a certain degree of propinquity to the reigning prince, but after that degree is past, they fall into the rank of ordinary subjects, and are seldom considered any farther unless called to the succession on failure of the nearer lines. By 31 Hen. 8, c. 10, no person, except the king's children, can sit at the side of the cloth of estate in the parliament chamber; and certain great officers therein named have precedence above all dukes, except the king's son, brother, uncle, nephew, or brothers, or sister's son. When these degrees are past, peers or others of the blood royal are entitled to no place or precedence, except what belongs to them by their personal rank or dignity. But under the description of the king's children, his grandsons are included. 4 Inst. 362. By 12 Geo. 3, c. 11, no descendant of the body of Geo. 2, (other than the issue of princesses married into foreign families) can marry without the previous consent of the king. Any marriage contracted without such consent is void. But such of these descendants as are above twenty-five may, after a twelvemonth's notice given to the king's privy council, marry without the consent of the crown, unless both houses of parliament before the expiration of the year, declare their disapprobation thereof. CHAPTER V. OF THE COUNCILS BELONGING TO THE KING. The king's councils. Co. Litt. 110. 7 9 Rep. 49. 1 THE four councils which the law has assigned to the king are; the parliament, the peers of the realm; the judges; and the privy council. Privy counsellors are made by the king's Rep. 34. nomination without either patent or grant; and on taking the 12 Rep. 96. necessary oaths, they become privy counsellors during the life Inst. 110. of the king, who chooses them, but subject to removal at his Inst. 125. discretion. Any natural born subject of England is capable The privy of being a member of the privy council, taking the proper council. oaths for security of the government, and the test for security of the church (a). 3 4 Inst. 52. The duties of the privy council are to advise the king, to 4 Inst. 54. inquire into all offences against his government, and to commit the offenders to custody, in order to take their trial in some of the courts of law. But their jurisdiction is only to inquire, and not to punish, and the persons so committed are entitled to their habeas corpus by 16 Car. 2, c. 10, as much as if committed by an ordinary justice of the peace. That statute abolished the court of star chamber and the court of requests, both of which consisted of privy counsellors; but in plantation and (a) By 9 Geo. 4, c. 17, and 2 Wm. 4, c. 7, a declaration was substituted in lieu of the sacramental test. admiralty causes, which arise out of the jurisdiction of the 3 P. Wms. 108. kingdom; and in matters of lunacy or idiotcy, although involving questions of extensive property, the privy council continues to have cognizance, being the court of appeal in such cases. When a question arises in any of the colonies concerning the extent of their charters, &c., the king, in his council, exercises original jurisdiction therein; indeed, from all the dominions of the crown, excepting Great Britain and Ireland, an appellate jurisdiction in the last resort is vested in this tribunal; which usually exercises its judicial authority in a committee of the whole privy council, who hear the allegations and proofs, and make their report to the king by whom the judgment is finally given (b). The dissolution of the privy council depends upon the king's pleasure, and he may, whenever he thinks proper, discharge any particular member or the whole of it, and appoint another. By the common law it was dissolved ipso facto, by the king's demise. But by 6 Ann. c. 7, it continues for six months after the demise of the crown, unless sooner determined by the successor. The king's duties. CHAPTER VI. OF THE KING'S DUTIES. THE principal duty of the king is to govern his people according to law. The power of kings should be neither free nor unlimited. This is not only consonant to the principles of nature, of liberty of reason, and of society, but has always been esteemed an express part of the common law of England, even when prerogative was at the highest. It is declared by 12 & 13 Wm. 3, c. 2, “"That the laws of England are the birthright of the people, that all the kings and queens who shall (b) By 3 & 4 Wm. 4, c. 41, certain persons are constituted a judicial committee of the privy council, and all appeals from vice-admiralty courts or any other court in the queen's dominions, or elsewhere abroad, which used to be made to the High Court of Admiralty, or to the lords commisioners, in prize cases, must now be made to the queen in council and not to the said Court of Admiralty, or to such commissioners. All appeals are referred to such committee to report thereon, and the queen may refer any other matters to the committee to advise upon; who may examine witnesses vivâ voce, or receive evidence upon written depositions, or direct an issue to try any fact; and the committee have similar powers of enforcing their judgments, decrees, and orders to those now exercised by the Courts of Chancery and Queen's Bench. ascend the throne of this realm ought to administer the government of the same according to the laws; and that all their officers and ministers ought to serve them according to the same and all the laws and statutes of the realm for securing the established religion, and the rights and liberties of the people, and all other laws and statutes of the same are ratified and confirmed accordingly." The king is bound to execute these duties by the terms of the original contract between him and his people as couched in the coronation oath. But the duty of protection is as much incumbent upon the sovereign before coronation as after, in the same manner as allegiance to him becomes the duty of the subject immediately on the descent of the crown, before he has taken the oath of allegiance. In the king's part of the contract are expressed all the duties that a monarch can owe to his people, viz. to govern according to law; to execute judgment in mercy; and to maintain the established religion. And by the act of union, 5 Ann. c. 8, it is provided, that every king at his accession shall take and subscribe an oath to preserve the protestant religion and presbyterian church government in Scotland, and at his coronation a similar oath to preserve the settlement of the church of England and Ireland. CHAPTER VII. OF THE KING'S PREROGATIVE. By the word prerogative is understood the special pre-eminence Of the king's which the king has above all other persons and out of the prerogative. ordinary course of the common law, in right of his regal dignity. Prerogatives are either direct or incidental. The direct are such positive substantial parts of the royal character and authority, as are rooted in and spring from the king's political person, considered merely by itself, without reference to any other extrinsic circumstance; as the right of sending ambassadors, of creating peers, and of making war or peace. But such prerogatives as are incidental bear a relation to something else distinct from the king's person, and are exceptions in his favor to those general rules which are established for the rest of the community; such as that no costs shall be recovered against him, that he cannot be a joint tenant; and that his debt shall be preferred before a debt of any of his subjects. |