Page:Prerogatives of the Crown.djvu/139

 Gh. VIIL] Franchise. 119 of franchise ; for all franchises are derived from the King (a). A franchise is defined {b) to be a royal privilege or branch of the royal prerogative subsisting in the hands of a subject, by grant from the King. And formerly, grants of royal fran- chises were so common, that in the Parliament which was held 21 Edw. 3. (c), there is a petition from the commons to the King, stating that franchises had been so largely granted m times past, that almost all the land was enfranchised to the great averiseinent and estenysment of the common law, and in great oppression of the people; and praying the King to restrain such grants for the time to come ; to which his Ma- jesty answered, that the franchises which should be granted in fiiture, should be made by good advisement. In its more extensive sense the term franchise signifies every description of political right which a freeman may enjoy and exercise. Being derived from the Crown, these franchises can in ge- neral only arise, and be claimed by royal grant or by prescrip- tion which supposes it {d). They may be vested either in na- tural persons or bodies politic, in one man or in many, but the same identical franchise that has been before granted to one cannot be granted to another, for that would prejudice the for- mer grant [e). And it is a clear principle that the King can- not by his mere prerogative diminish or destroy immunities once conferred and vested in a subject by royal grant. Franchises are extremely numerous and are of various kinds. The principal of them will be here mentioned. They are 1. counties palatine, cinque ports, &c. and counties corporate: 2. corporations: 3. game franchises, and herein of the King's prerogative as to game, and of forests: 4. free chases: 5. parks: 6. free warrens: 7. fisheries and fish: 8. mines: 9. fairs and markets: 10. waifs: 11. wrecks: 12. estrays: 13. treasure trove, and 14. deodands. 1. The counties palatine, Chester, Durham and Lancaster, the royal franchise of Ely, the courts of the cinque ports, (a) 2 Inst 281 ; 496. 4 Com. Dig. (rf) Bract. I. 2. c. 24. f. 55, 56. 2 244. Bla. Com. 37. (i) Finch, Law, 164. 3 Cruise Dig. (e) Ibid. 2 R©1. Ab. 191. Kcilw. 278, Isted. I95, (c) 21 Edw. 3. Rot. Pari. vol. 2. p. 16. the