Page:Prerogatives of the Crown.djvu/88

 6^8 Prerogative as to Parliamenf, f CFi. VL tenable. Would it not prevent his Majesty from creating or nominating Peers to sit in the upper House? A right which has never been disputed. The King alone is entitled by the constitution to summon a Parliament, nor can this power be vested in any other de- partment of the State with equal propriety; because, to borrow the words of Sir Wm. Blackstone (a), the King is a single person, whose will may be uniform and steady; the first person in the nation^ being superior to both Houses in dignity, and the only branch of legislature that has a. separate existence,, and is capable of performing any act at a time when no Par- liament is in being. There are indeed two memorable instances on record, in- which. Parliament have assembled without the authority of the King; and have, when so assembled, effected most momentous revolutions in the government. I allude to the Parliament which restored Charles 2.; and the Parliament of 1688 which disposed of the British Crown to William III. But in both these instances the necessity of the case rendered it necessary for the Parliament to meet as they did, there being no King to call them together, and necessity supersedes all law. Nor is it an exception to this rule, that by some modern statutes {b) on. the demise of the King or Queen (which at common law dis- solved the Parliament, because it could no longer consult with him who called it) (c), the Parliament then in being or other- wise the last Parliament shall revive or sit, and continue for six months after such demise, unless sooner prorogued or dissolved by the successor : that is, if the Parliament be at the time of the King's death separated by adjournment or proroga- tion, it shall notwithstanding assemble immediately; or, if no Parliament be then in- being, the members of the last Parlia- ment shall assemble and be again a Parliament For in such case, the revived Parliament must have been originally sum- moned by the Crown. By the statute 6 and 7 W. and M. c. 2. s. 1. it is declared and enacted that Parliaments shall be holden once in three years at least; by which we are not to understand that the (a) 1 Coram. 150. See 1 Chalmers" (c) Kelyng R. 19. 1 Chalmers' ColL Coll. Op. 233, 337. Gp. 247. That death of King does not (i) 7 and 8 W. 3. c. 15. 6 Amir c- 7. dissolve colonial assembly, ante ch.3. 1 Bla, Com. 188. King: