KING. 
734 
theBritiffi conftitution, for the fake of unanimity, ftrength, 
and difpatch. The king of England is therefore not only 
the chief, but properly the foie, magiftrate of the nation ; 
all others acting by commiffion from, and in due fubor- 
dination to, him. 
In the exertion of lawful prerogative, the king is and 
ought to be abfolute ; that is, fo far abfolute, that there 
is no legal authority that can either delay or refift him. 
He may rejeft what bills, may make what treaties, may 
coin what money, may create what peers, may pardon 
•what offences, he pleafes ; unlefs where the conftitution 
hath exprefsly, or by evident confequence, laid down 
fome exception or boundary, declaring that thus far the 
prerogative (hall go, and no farther. 
With regard to foreign concerns, the king is the dele¬ 
gate or reprefentative of his people ; and, as inch, has the 
lble power of fending ambaffadors to foreign ftates. It is 
alfo the king’s prerogative to make treaties, leagues, and 
alliances, with foreign ftates and princes ; and to make 
war and peace. The king is confidered, in the next place, 
as the generaliftimo, or the firft in military command, 
within the kingdom ; and in this capacity has the foie 
power of railing and regulating fleets and armies. Of the 
manner in which they are railed and regulated, more is 
faid in other places. We are now only to confider the 
prerogative of enlilting and governing them, which in¬ 
deed was difputed and claimed, contrary to all reafon and 
precedent, by the long parliament of king Charles I. but, 
upon the reiteration of his fon, was folemnly declared by 
the flat. 13 Car. II. c. 6 , to be in the king alone ; for that 
the foie fupreme government and command of the militia 
within all his majefty’s realms and dominions, and of all 
forces by fea and land, and of all forts and places of 
ftrength, ever was, and is, the undoubted right of his 
majeity, and his royal predeceffors, kings and queens of 
England ; and that both or either houfe of parliament 
cannot, nor ought to, pretend to the fame. This ftatute, 
it is obvious to obferve, ..extends not only to fleets and 
armies, but alfo to forts and other places of ftrength, 
■within the realm, the foie prerogative as well of erefting 
as manning and governing of which belongs to the king 
in his capacity of general of the kingdom. 2 Injl. 30. 
And all lands were formerly lubjeft to a tax for building 
of caftles wherever the king thought proper. This was 
one of the three things, from contributing to the per¬ 
formance of which no lands were exempted ; and there¬ 
fore called by our Saxon anceftors the trinoda necejfitas ; viz. 
pontis reparatio, arris conJlruElio, & expeditio contra hojlem. 
It is partly upon the fame, and partly upon a filial, foun¬ 
dation, to fecure his marine revenue, that the king has 
the prerogative of appointing ports and havens, or fuch 
places only, for perfons and merchandife to pafs into and 
out of the realm, as he in his w’ifdom fees proper. And 
to this head may be referred alfo, the prerogative as to 
the erections of beacons and lighthoufes. To this branch 
of the prerogative may alfo be referred the pow-er veiled 
in his majefty, by 12 Car. II. c. 4. 29 Geo. II. c. i6j of 
prohibiting the exportation of^arms or ammunition out 
of this kingdom, under fevere penalties ; and likewife the 
right which the king lias, whenever he fees proper, of 
confining his fubjefts to flay within the realm, or of re¬ 
calling them when beyond the feas. 
In domeftic affairs the king is confidered ns the foun¬ 
tain of juftice and general confervator of the peace of the 
kingdom. However, by the fountain of juftice the law 
does not mean the author or original, but only the dijlri/m- 
tcr. Juftice is not derived from the king, as from his free 
gift-, but he is the fteward of the public, to difpenfe it to 
whom it is due. BraEl. 1 . 3. c. 9. I11 this capacity the 
king alone has the right of erefting courts of judicature; 
and all juriftiiftions of courts are either mediately or im¬ 
mediately derived from the crown; their proceedings run 
generally in the king’s name ; they pafs under his feal, 
and are executed by his officers. In early times, our 
kings, probably in perfon, often heard and determined 
caufes between party and party. But, by the uniTonn 
ufage of many ages, they have delegated their whole ju¬ 
dicial power to the judges of their leveral courts, which 
are the grand depofitaries of the fundamental laws of the 
kingdom, and have gained a known and ftated jurifdic- 
tion, regulated by certain and eftablilhed rules, which the 
crown itfelf cannot now alter but by aft of parliament. 
2 Hawk. P. C. 2. In criminal proceedings it would be in 
the higheft degree abfurd, if the king perfonally fat in 
judgment; becaufe in regard to thefe he appears in ano¬ 
ther capacity, that of profccutor. But, though the king is 
not perfonally prefent in his courts of law, yet he is un- 
derftood to be virtually prefent; his judges are the mirror 
by which the king’s image is reflefted ; fo that it is the 
regal office, and not the royal perfon, that is always pre¬ 
fent in court, always ready to undertake profecutions, or 
pronounce judgment, for the benefit and proteftion of the 
lubjeft. 
As the king is the fountain of juftice, the prerogative 
of iltuing proclamations is veiled in him alone. The king 
is like wife the fountain of honour, of office, and of pri¬ 
vilege. Accordingly he is entrufted with the foie pow'er 
of conferring dignities and honours, fo that all degrees of 
nobility, knighthood, and other titles, are received by 
immediate grant from the crown ; either expreffed in writ¬ 
ing, by writs or letters patent, as in the creation of peers 
and baronets ; or by corporeal inveftiture, as in the crea¬ 
tion of a Ample knight. And, as the king may create 
new titles, fo he may create new offices, but with this re- 
ftriftion, that he cannot create new offices with new fees 
annexed to them, nor annex new fees to old offices ; for 
this would be a tax upon the lubjeft, which cannot be 
impofed but by aft of parliament. 2 Injl. 533. The king 
lias alfo the prerogative of conferring privileges upon pri¬ 
vate perfons ; fuch as granting place or precedence to any 
of his fubjefts. 4 Injl. 361. Such is alfo the power to en- 
franchife an alien, and make him a denizen. Such is 
likewife the prerogative of erefting corporations. 
The king is al:o the arbiter of commerce. Under this 
branch of the prerogative he has power to eltablilh public 
marts, or places of buying and felling; luch as markets 
and fairs, with the tolls belonging to them ; and likewife 
to regulate weights and meafures ; to give money, which 
is the medium of commerce, authority, or to makeit cur¬ 
rent; and the coining of money is the aft of the fove- 
reign power, and the fettling of the denomination or va¬ 
lue for which the coin is to pafs current. The king may 
alfo at any time decry orcry down any coin of the king¬ 
dom, and make it no longer current. Among the inci¬ 
dental prerogatives belonging to the king, and which are 
exceptions, in favour of the crowm, to thofe general rules 
that are eftablilhed for the reft of the community, we may 
mention the following: Debts due to him are always to be 
fatisfied in the firft place, in cafe of executorlhip, See. and, 
till his debt is difcharged, he may proteft the creditor 
from the arrefts of others. He may diftrain for the whole 
debt on a tenant that holds but part of the land ; is not 
obliged to demand his rent as others are ; may fue in what 
court he pleafes, and diftrain where he lifts. In all doubt¬ 
ful cafes, Jemper prafumetur pro rege: no ftatute reftrains 
him, unlefs he be particularly named. In all cafes where 
the king is plaintiff, his officers may enter with an arrelt; 
and, if entrance be denied, break open a houfe, and feize 
the party ; though in other cafes a man’s houfe is his caf- 
tle, and has a privilege to proteft him againft all arrefts. 
Moreover no cofts (hall be recovered againft the king ; 
and the king can remove a joint-tenant. 
He has alfo cuftody of the perfons and eftates of idiots 
and lunatics; he is ultimus hares regni, and to him revert 
all eftates, when no heir appears. All treafure-trove 
(i. e. money, plate, or bullion, found, and the owners 
not known) belongs to him ; fo all waifs, eftrays, wrecks, 
lands recovered from the fea, gold and filver mines, royal 
fillies, &c. belong to him. 
The king is confidered by the laws of England as the 
head 
