Page:Prerogatives of the Crown.djvu/57

 Ch. III.] Prerogative as to the Colonies, 37 by their respective charters and usages, and by the common law of England. The constitutions of the English Parliament and the colonial assemblies necessarily differ : the latter can- not in general even adjourn themselves ; this is done by the governor (a), who as representative of the King is the first branch of this subordinate legislature. It is however gene- rally true, that a legal and confirmed act of assembly has the same operation and force in the colonies, that an Act of Par- liament has here (6). Local circumstances, and the necessity of the case, must also create several differences between Parliament and the colonial assemblies with respect to the prerogatives of the King, as their " caput, principium, et finis.'* So that there can be no doubt that the King may assent to an act of assembly before it meets ; or dissent though the session be closed (c). The prerogative of dissenting to colonial acts is so material to the existence of the King's sovereignty, that there can scarcely be imagined a case in which such power could not be exer- cised. Though the statute 7 and 8 Wm. 3. c. 15. as to the conti- nuance of Parliament after the demise of the Crown, does not extend to the plantations ; several very cogent reasons have been urged in support of the doctrine, that the demise of the Crown does not dissolve a colonial assembly (d). And the death or change of the governor, who is merely the represen- tative of the sovereign, does not, it seems, produce that ef- fect (^). The dependence of the colonies on the Crown, and the so- vereignty of the King over them, are not weakened or affected by the termination of their charters. The King may accept the surrender of a charter granted to the proprietor of a colo- ny, subject to the rights of third persons, previously acquired under the charter {/) ; and in these cases the Crown may re- sume the reins of government, and may, by proclamation un- der the Great Seal, authorize existing magistrates and officers to continue in the exercise of their respective functions (g). So, fts the King has a right to govern and protect all his subjects^ (a) stokes, 241, 2. Ante, 34, 35. (rf) Ibid.' 306, 312, 328, &c. (A) 2 Chalm. 1. Stokes, 241, &c. («?) Ibid. 244, &c. 254, &c. 307. ch. 7. (/) Ibid. 32, 37. (c) 1 Chalm. 315, 6. (g) Ibid. 137, 8. 222.