and other theoretical writers have held, that in such a desperate case, there remains still inherent in the people a supreme power to remove or alter the legislature, when they find the legislature act contrary to the trust reposed in them; for when such trust is abused, it is thereby forfeited, and devolves to those who gave it. This may be just enough in theory, but in practice impossible, without putting an end, at the same time, to the whole form of government established by the people. As between individuals, it would be impracticable without the aid of the law.

The parliament, therefore, may be said to be absolute and without control, for, as the people cannot lawfully alter the whole, neither can they change or destroy any particular branch of the legislature.

We are taught by experience of ancient and modern times, that all changes in a government, brought about by illegal violence, invariably terminate in the arbitrary despotism of one military tyrant.

CHAPTER V.

Of the Executive Power.

WHEN the parliament is prorogued or dissolved, it 71 ceases to exist; but its laws still continue to be in force; the king remains charged with the execution of them, and is supplied with the necessary power for that purpose.

It is however to be observed, that, though in his political capacity of one of the constituent parts of the parliament, that is, with regard to the share allotted to him in the legislative authority, the king is undoubtedly sovereign, and only needs allege his will when he gives or refuses his assent to the bills presented to him; yet, in the exercise of his powers of government, he is no more than a magistrate, and the laws, whether those that existed before him, or those to which, by his assent, he has given being, must direct his conduct, and bind him equally with his subjects.

I. The first prerogative of the king, in his capacity 72 of supreme magistrate, has for its object the administration of justice.

1o. He is the source of all judicial power in the state; he is the chief of all the courts of law, and the judges are only his substitutes; every thing is transacted in his name; the judgments must be with his seal, and are executed by his officers.

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2o. By a fiction of the law, he is looked upon as the universal proprietor of the kingdom; he is in consequence deemed directly concerned in all offences; and for that reason prosecutions are to be carried on, in his name, in the courts of law.

3o. He can pardon offences, that is, remit the punishment that has been awarded in consequence of his prosecution.

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II. The second prerogative of the king, is, to be the fountain of honour, that is, the distributor of titles and dignities: he creates the peers of the realm, as well as bestows the different degrees of inferior nobility. He moreover disposes of the different offices, either in the courts of law, or elsewhere.

III. The king is the superintendant of commerce; he has the prerogative of regulating weights and measures; he alone can coin money, and give a currency to foreign coin.

IV. He is the supreme head of the Church. In this capacity, he appoints the bishops, and the two archbishops; and he alone can convene the assembly of the clergy. This assembly is formed, in England, on the model of the Parliament; the bishops form the upper house; deputies from the dioceses and from the several chapters form the lower house; the assent of the king is likewise necessary to the validity of their acts, or canons; and the king can prorogue, or dissolve, the convocation.

V. He is, in right of his crown, the generalissimo of all the sea or land forces whatever; he alone can levy troops, equip fleets, build fortresses, and fill all the posts in them.

VI. He is, with regard to foreign nations, the re

presentative, and the depositary, of all the power and collective majesty of the nation; he sends and receives ambassadors; he contracts alliances; and has the prerogative of declaring war, and of making peace, on whatever conditions he thinks proper.

VII. In fine, what seems to carry so many powers to the height, is, its being a fundamental maxim, that THE KING CAN DO NO WRONG: which does not signify, however, that the king has not the power of doing ill, or, as it was pretended by certain persons in former times, that every thing he did was lawful; but only 74 that he is above the reach of all courts of law whatever, and that his person is sacred and inviolable (1).

(1) This ancient and fundamental maxim or legal apophthegm, is not to be understood as if every thing transacted by the government was of course just and lawful, but means only two things:

First, that whatever is exceptionable in the conduct of public affairs, is not to be imputed to the king, nor is he answerable for it personally to his people; for this doctrine would totally destroy that constitutional independence of the crown, which is necessary for the balance of power in our free and active, and therefore compounded, constitution; and,

Secondly, it means that the prerogative of the crown extends not to do any injury, it is created for the benefit of the people, and therefore cannot be exerted to their prejudice. (Plowd. 487). Should any person have a just demand upon the king in relation to property, he must petition him in the Court of Chancery, where right will be administered as a matter of grace, but not of compulsion. So, in regard to public oppression, impeachments and indictments may be preferred against his ministers or advisers.

Professor Christian observes, that the inviolability of the king is essentially necessary to the free exercise of those high prerogatives which are vested in him, not for his own private splendour and gratification, as the vulgar and ignorant are too apt to imagine, but for the security and preservation of the real happiness and liberty of his subjects. (1 Blacks. Comm. 246, n. 2; see Co. 2 Inst. 186; 3 Id. 146; 4 Inst. 71; 11 Somers' Tracts, Sir W. Scott, ed. 281). -EDITOR.

CHAPTER VI.

SECTION I.-The Boundaries which the Constitution has set to the Royal Prerogative.

74 IN reading the foregoing enumeration of the powers with which the laws of England have entrusted the king, we are at a loss to reconcile them with the idea of a monarchy, which, we are told, is limited. The king not only unites in himself all the branches of the executive power, he not only disposes, without control, of the whole military power in the state,but he is moreover, it seems, master of the law itself, since he calls up, and dismisses, at his will, the legislative bodies. We find him therefore, at first sight, invested with all the prerogatives that ever were claimed by the most absolute monarchs; and we are at a loss to find that liberty which the English seem so confident they possess.

But the representatives of the people still have, and that is saying enough, they still have in their hands, 75 now that the constitution is fully established, the same powerful weapon which has enabled their ancestors to establish it. It is still from their liberality alone that the king can obtain subsidies; and in these days, when every thing is rated by pecuniary estimation, when gold is become the great moving spring of affairs, it may be safely affirmed, that he who depends on the will of other men, with regard to so important an