Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 19.djvu/696

Rh 672 P R E P R E ex ftmtium locis contcxta (1838; 4th cd., 1869), and contributed extensively to Ersch and Gruber s Allgcm. Encykl. PRENZLAU, or PRENZLOW, a town of Prussia, in the province of Brandenburg, lies on the lower Ucker See, 60 miles north by east of Berlin and 30 miles west by south of Stettin. It is a busy little place with various branches of industry, among the chief of which are wool cleaning and spinning, iron-founding, and sugar-refining. A good deal of tobacco is grown in the neighbourhood, and there is a cigar manufactory in the town. A brisk trade is carried on also in cattle and grain. The Gothic church of the Virgin, dating from 1340, is one of the finest churches in the district, and the remains of the old town gates and walls are also interesting. In 1880 Prenzlau contained 16,933 inhabitants, nearly all Protestants and many of French descent. The garrison consists of about 800 men. Prenzlau is first mentioned in a document of the close of the 12th century, and received its municipal charter in 1235. As the capital of the old Ucker mark it was a frequent object of dispute between Pomerania and Brandenburg until finally incorporated with the latter about 1430. It was at Prenzlau that Prince Hohenlohe, with his corps of 12,000 men, surrendered to Murat on the retreat after the battle of Jena. PRERAU (Slav. Prerov), one of the oldest towns in Moravia, lies on the Beczwa, 13 miles to the south-east of Olmiitz. It is an important railway junction and carries on a considerable trade. The chief industries are sugar- boiling (from beetroot), rope-making, and the manufacture of agricultural and other machinery. The only buildings of interest are the old castle, once occupied by Matthias Corvinus, and the Gothic town-house. The population in 1880 was 10,985. PREROGATIVE, in law, is an exclusive privilege of the crown. The word, originally an adjective, is derived from the centuria prserogativa, or century which voted first on a proposed law (rogatio) in the Roman coinitia centuriata. In English law, Blackstone says, &quot; by the word prerogative we are to understand the character and power which the sovereign hath over and above all other persons, in right of his regal dignity ; and which, though part of the common law of the country, is out of its ordinary course. This is expressed in its very name, for it signifies, in its etymology, something that is required or demanded before, or in pre ference to, all others; and, accordingly, Finch lays it down as a maxim that the prerogative is that law in the case of the king which is law in no case of the subject &quot; (Stephen s Comm., vol. ii. bk. iv. pt. i. ch. vi.). The prerogative is sometimes called jura regalia or regalia, the regalia being either niajora, the regal dignity and power, or minor a, the revenue of the crown. The word &quot;prerogative&quot; is used to denote the whole privilege of the crown or any part of it ; in the latter sense it may be used in the plural number. The theory of English law as to the prerogative of the king seems to be not quite consistent. On the one hand, he is a perfect and irresponsible being, holding his office by divine right; &quot;Victoria, by the grace of God of Great Britain and Ireland Queen,&quot; 1 is still the heading of every writ. On the other hand, his powers are defined and limited by law. This is laid down as early as the 13th centuiy : &quot; Rex non debet esse sub homine sed sub Deo et sub lege, quia lex facit regem &quot; (Bracton, 5b), a strik ing contrast to the rule of Roman law, &quot;quod principi placuit legis habet vigorem.&quot; A consequence of this posi tion is that the prerogative may be confined or extended by the supreme legislative authority, and that the courts have jurisdiction to decide whether or not any alleged right falls within the prerogative. The prerogative of the crown, still of great extent, has been gradually limited by a long 1 There is no difference in the prerogative as exercised by a king or a queen remnant, so that the word &quot;king&quot; in its constitutional sense includes queen. That the queen regnant has the same rights as a king was declared by 1 Mary sess. 3, c. 1. series of enactments, the most worthy of notice being Jfayna Carta, Conjirmatio Cartarum, Prerogative Regis, the Petition of Right, the Habeas Corpus Act, the Bill of Rights, and the Act of Settlement. (See ENGLAND. ) Where a prerogative was abolished by statute, in some instances compensation was granted in return for the surrender, in others no compensation was given. An example of the former is the statute 12 Car. II. c. 24, by which excise duties were granted to the crown in return for the aboli tion of military tenures and their incidents ; of the latter, the statute 16 Car. I. c. 20, abolishing the prerogative of imposing compulsory knighthood or a fine in its place. The prerogative has also been limited by judicial decision and by tacit abandonment. Thus monopolies were de clared illegal (in the respectful language of the judges the queen was held to have been deceived in her grant) in the reign of Elizabeth by The Case of Monopolies (11 Coke s Reports, 84), and the right to exclude a member from par liament was abandoned by the same queen in 1571. The most important of the obsolete prerogatives, other than those named, which have been at one time claimed and exercised are the following. (1) The right to impose a tax upon the subject without the consent of parliament was the subject of contest for centuries. Sums w r ere raised at various times under the names of talliage, scutage, hydage, subsidies, aids, benevolences, tonnage and poundage, tolls, ship-money, tenths, fifteenths, &c. (2) The right to dispense with the obligation of statutes, by the insertion in a grant of the clause non obstante statuto, was frequently asserted by the crown down to the Revolution. An end was finally put to this and the last right by the Bill of Rights. (3) The right of purveyance and pre-emption that is, of buying up provisions at a valuation without the consent of the owner and the right of impressing carriages and horses were finally abolished by 12 Car. II. c. 24. (4) The authority to erect tribunals not proceeding according to the ordinary course of justice was declared illegal by 16 Car. I. c. 10 (the Act dissolving the Star Chamber, the court of the marches of Wales, and the court of the president and council of the north). (5) The revenue from first-fruits and tenths, annexed to the crown by Henry VIII., was vested by Queen Anne in trustees for the augmentation of poor benefices, 2 and 3 Anne c. 11. This is what is usually called &quot; Queen Anne s bounty.&quot; (6) The right of corody that is, of sending one of the royal chaplains to be maintained by a bishop until the bishop promotes him to a benefice has become obsolete by disuse. (7) The right by forfeiture to the property of a convict upon his convic tion for treason or felony was abolished by the Felony Act, 1870. (8) The immunity of the crown from payment of costs has been taken away in almost all cases. The crown is liable to costs in revenue cases by 18 and 19 Viet. c. 90, in petitions of right by 23 and 24 Viet. c. 34. (9) The right to alienate crown lands by grant at pleasure was taken away by 1 Anne c. 8, passed in consequence of the improvident alienations of land by William III. In very few cases has the prerogative been extended by statute ; 34 and 35 Viet. c. 86 is an example of such extension. By that Act the jurisdiction of lords-lieutenant of counties over the auxiliary forces was revested in the crown. The prerogative may be exercised in person or by dele gation. The prerogative of conferring honours is generally (though not necessarily) exercised by the king in person, as in the case of investment with knighthood and military or civil decorations. The delegation of the prerogative often takes place by commission, issued with or without a joint address from both Houses of parliament. An ex ample of a commission issued on a joint address is the commission to inquire into the existence of corrupt prac tices after an election (15 and 16 Viet. c. 57). In most