8o TRANSACTIONS. I9OI-2 



are not convertible terms in the constitutional polity of Great 

 Britain and her colonies ; nor will you be disposed to scent 

 sedition and disloyalty in ray words when I declare that the 

 maxim Rex non potest peccare is no sufficient support for the 

 view that His Most Excellent Mujesty King Edward the 

 Seventh is impeccable in the eye of the law by reason of "the 

 divinity" that "doth hedge a King," or that he is above the 

 law. And you will be justified in acquiescing in my declarat- 

 ion, nolwithstandinij; the jure divino apologists of ihe seven- 

 teenth century (i) and Sir William Blackstone, the eigh- 

 teenth centur}- apostle of constitutional confusion. 



If you look upon this ut;:erance of mine as presumptuous 

 read the Introduction to Professor Dicey's Law of the 

 ConstiiUtion^ where, after quoting Blackstone's famous ap- 

 otheosis of J;he King, he curtly sa)'s : " It has but one fault ; 

 the St itements it contains are the direct opposite of the truth." 

 However, we are not obliged to resort to an exponent of the 

 the New Law Learning in order to dissipate this mist of 

 constitutional fallacy ; we can find the truth of the matter 

 adequately set forth in the pages of an eighteenth century 

 churchman namely, by Palcy in his Moral Philosophy^ 

 especially in Book VI, chapter vii. He tells us there that 

 while theorists have ascribed to the King absolute power and 

 impunity, yet when one turns to the actual exercise of royal 

 authority in England, we see those formidable prerogatives 

 dwindle into mere ceremonies. But I fanc\' I hear 3-ou object : 

 " There must be something more than theory in the question of 

 the impeccany of the King, because it is daily brought home to 

 our business and bosoms. For instance, one can hnrdh' listen 

 to an argument in the Canadian Exchequer Conn without 

 hearing the maxim applied in derogation of the doctrine of 

 universal amenability to the law." And I answer your' objec- 

 tion in this wise : The maxim manifests its principal 

 activity to-day in actions at law, being chiefly relied on in 

 Crown suits of a civil nature to excuse the Executive from 



(1) e.gr. Sir Robert Filmer, (Patriarcha) and Sir Geo. McKenzif; (Jus Regiuvi}. 



