KING. 



cious sovereign King George III. Former. 

 ly the common stock,from which the heirs 

 to the crown were derived, was King Eg-- 

 bert, then William the Conqueror. In the 

 time of James I., both stocks were unit- 

 ed ; and, by the abdication of James II., 

 the common stock is the Princess Sophia, 

 and the heirs of her body, being Protes- 

 tant members of the Church of England, 

 and married to such as are Protestants. 

 This is therefore an hereditary monarchy, 

 duly constituted between the extremes 

 of divine hereditary, indefeasible right, 

 and elective succession. 



With respect to the royal family, the 

 first branch considered in the law is the 

 Queen, as to whom, see title QUEEN. 



The Prince of Wales, or heir-apparent 

 to the crown, and also hi.s royal consort ; 

 and the Princess lloyal, or eldest daugh- 

 ter of the King-, are likewise peculiarly 

 regarded by the laws. For, by statute 25 

 Edw. III. to compass or conspire the death 

 of the former, or to violate the chastity 

 of the latter, is as much high treason as 

 to conspire the death of the king, or vio- 

 late the chastity of the queen. See 

 TJIEASOJT. 



The heir-apparent to the crown is usu- 

 ally made Prince of Wales and Earl of 

 Chester, by special creation and investi- 

 ture ; but being the king's eldest son, he 

 is, by inheritance, Duke of Cornwall, with- 

 out any new creation. 



The observations in Coke's Reports, 

 however, as well as the words of the sta- 

 tute, it has been remarked, limit the 

 dukedom of Cornwall to the first begotten 

 (rather first born) son of a king of Eng- 

 land, and to him only. But although from 

 this it is manifest that a Duke of Cornwall 

 must be the first begotten son of a king, 

 yet it is not necessary that he should be 

 born after his father's accession to the 

 throne. The younger sons and daughters 

 of the king, and other branches of the 

 royal family, were little regarded by the 

 ancient law, except with regard to their 

 state and precedence, which was direct- 

 ed by statute 31 Henry VIII. c. 10 ; and 

 it was agreed by all the judges, in 1718, 

 that the care and approbation of the 

 marriages of the king's grand-children, 

 as well as of the presumptive heir to the 

 crown, belonged to the king, their grand- 

 father. And now, by statute George III. 

 c. 11, no descendant of the body of king 

 George II. (other than the issue of prin- 

 cesses married into foreign countries) is 

 capable of contracting matrimony, with- 

 out the previous consent of the king, sig- 

 nified under the Great Seal ; and any 



marriage contracted without sucb. con- 

 sent, is void, (a marriage accordingly, 

 which had, in fact, taken place abroad, 

 against the provisions of this act, between 

 one of the sons of George III. and an Eng- 

 lish lady, was dissolved in 1794, by sen- 

 tence of the Ecclesiastical Court here) ; 

 but it is provided by the act, that such of 

 the said descendants as are above the age 

 of twenty-five, may, after atwelve month's 

 notice given to the King's Privy Council, 

 contract and solemnize marriage without 

 the consent of the crown, unless both 

 Houses of Parliament shall, before the 

 expiration of the said year, expressly de- 

 clare their disapprobation of such intend- 

 ed marriage. All persons solemnizing, 

 assisting, or being present at any such 

 prohibited marriage, shall incur the pe- 

 nalties of praemumre. 



To assist the king in the discharge of 

 his duties and maintenance of his dignity, 

 and exercise of his prerogative, he has se- 

 veral councils, as the PARLIAMENT, his 

 P.EEIIS, and his Pmvr COUNCIX, which 

 see. 



For law matter the judges are his coun- 

 cil, as appears by statute 14 Edward III. 

 c. 5, and elsewhere ; and therefore, when 

 the King's Council is mentioned, it must 

 be understood secundum subjectam mate- 

 riam, as where a statute enacts a fine at 

 the king's pleasure, it means the discre- 

 tion of his judges. 



It is in consideration of the duties in- 

 cumbent on the king by the constitution, 

 that his dignity and prerogative are esta- 

 blished by the laws of the land ; it being 

 a maxim in the law, that protection and 

 subjection are reciprocal. And these re- 

 ciprocal duties are most probably what 

 was meant by the convention parliament 

 in 1688, when they declared that king 

 James II. had broken the original contract 

 between king and people. But, however, 

 as the terms of that original contract were 

 in some measure disputed, being alleged 

 to exist principally in theory, and to be 

 only deducible by reason and the rules 

 of natural law ; in which deduction, dif- 

 ferent understandings might very consi- 

 derably differ ; it was, after the revolu- 

 tion, judged proper to declare these du- 

 ties expressly, and to reduce that contract 

 to a plain certainty. So that whatever 

 doubts might be formerly raised about the 

 existence of such an original contract,, 

 they must now entirely cease ; espeially 

 with regard to every* prince who hath 

 reigned since the year 1688. 



The principal duty of the king is, to go- 

 yern bjs, people according to law. And 



