Page:Prerogatives of the Crown.djvu/190

 170 Foreign Commerce, [Ch.X. Sec. I, the propositions and doctrines advanced in it are dangerously incorrect. It cannot be denied, that as the King alone may make trea- ties, a treaty made by him with a foreign power, forbidding any particular commercial dealings between the two countries, might have the effect of rendering it illegal for a British sub- ject to enter into such commercial transactions, contrary to such arrangement. Nor will it be disputed that the King, having the absolute discretionary power of recalling his sub- jects from foreign parts (a), may, by virtue of that prerogative, prevent them from personally trading abroad. It is equally true, that by statute [b) it is illegal to seduce artificers to go abroad, or to export certain utensils used in trade. But the position that the King may, from mere political motives, and independently of any treaty or legislative provision, prevent his subjects from carr^dng on, or being concerned in, any par- ticular trade in a foreign country at peace with this, (however prejudicial such trade may be to the interests of this country,) appears to be incorrect. It is, however, in all cases the peculiar province of the Crown to protect commerce, and there are certainly various instances in which the King has a discretionary right to pro- mulgate commercial regulations, and to grant dispensations in cases of emergency, and where no positive laws exist on the subject, and a discretionary power of interference is necessary ; this is, in some cases, by the common law, in others by the statute law of the land. As the protector of commerce, the King alone possesses the power of appointing Consuls. During war, trading with an enemy is illegal (c) ; but, as ob- served by Sir W. Scott (rZ), " it is indubitable that the King may, if he please, give an enemy liberty to import," (that is, when the navigation, or other statute laws, do not expressly forbid such importation {e), ) " He may, by his prerogative of declaring war and peace, place the whole of a foreign coun- try in a state of amity, or, h fortiori^ he may exempt any in- dividual from the operation of a state of war." But the licence (a) Ante, ch. 5. (rf) 2 Rob. R. 162. 1 Ibid. 196. 1 (A) 23 Geo. 2. c. 13. East, 486. (c) Chitty, Law of Nat. 1, &c. («) 12 East, t96, to