Page:Prerogatives of the Crown.djvu/29

 Ch. I.] Who entitled to the Prerogatives. ministration ; an exposure which must tend to the destruction of ambitious projects, and which the King cannot prevent, the party impeached not being allowed to plead his Majesty's par* don in bar to the impeachment. Should a sovereign of England again unhappily and per- sonally persist in measures, tending to a dissolution of the prin- ciples of the constitution, though the law provide no stated reme- dy against him, the feelings of mankind point one out, and his- tory furnishes instances of the result of such a conflict. In many countries tyranny has been confirmed by the struggle: in this, however melancholy and lengthened the convulsion may some- times have been, liberty has ever eventually triumphed. And it is a proud consideration, that in 1688 the Lords and Com- mons, instead of pretending to a right to form another system, on Mr. Locke's theory, that the constitution was dissolved by the attempts to destroy it, declared with the profoundest wisdom, that the constitution still subsisted : and, acting on that solid principle, they adopted a remedy suited only to the necessity, of the case ; adhering to ancient and fundamental doctrines, so far as circumstances would admit ; but at the same time re- storing to their original perfection and beauty those principles which tyranny had endeavoured to sully or subvert. In considering who, in legal contemplation, h entitled to exercise the prerogatives, it will naturally be our first inquiry in whom the Crown is constitutionally vested. It is unneces- sary to remark, that by the King alone can the prerogatives be exercised. " The Crown is," says Sir W. BlacJcstone, {a) " by com- mon law and constitutional custom, hereditary in a manner peculiar to itself; and, though the right of inheritance may from time to time be changed, or limited, by Act of Par- liament, as was done at the Revolution in 1688, still, un- der such limitations, the Crown continues hereditary." This rule is admirably illustrated by Sir W, Blackstone, by an His- torical Sketch of the Titles of the Kings of England, The rules of inheritance which govern the descent of pri- vate estates, are in general equally applicable to the descent of the Crown. (6) The few differences which exist were iu- (fl) 1 Rla. Com. 191. {I) b Bac, Ab. 591. tit. Prcrog. A. 1 Wooadn. V. L. 69. 1 Bla. Com. 19->. troduced