Page:A short English constitutional history for law students (IA shortenglishcons00hamm).pdf/23



I. It must be borne in mind that the Crown is an essential part of the supreme Executive, and that all executive acts are done in the name of the Sovereign. Il. ‘The Crown is also one of the three constituent parts of the Legislature in this country, the other two being the House of Lords and the House of Commons. We must now consider the prerogatives of the Crown. a, The divect prevogatives. They were formerly much wider than they are at present. They consisted of 1. Dispensing power. 2, Suspending power. . Arbitrary taxation. . Arbitrary imprisonment. . Legislating by proclamation. . Maintaining a standing army in time of peace without the consent of Parliament. 7. Summoning, proroguing, and dissolving Parliament. *8. Appointing ambassadors. *g. Making treaties of peace and war. s10, The Crown head of the Army and Navy. +11. Appointing judges. ~12, Pardoning criminals. At the present day, however, only 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12 are existing, the others being obsolete. Further, the Crown's right to veto a Bill is really obsolete in practice, though it still exists in theory, b, Prerogatives by exception. 1. The King never dies. (Statutes passed in the first year of Charles I]. are numbered “12 Charles II.”).