Page:William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England (3rd ed, 1768, vol I).djvu/235

Ch. 4.

HE firt and most coniderable branch of the king’s royal family, regarded by the laws of England, is the queen. queen of England is either queen regent, queen conort, or queen dowager. The queen regent, regnant, or overeign, is he who holds the crown in her own right; as the firt (and perhaps the econd) queen Mary, queen Elizabeth, and queen Anne; and uch a one has the ame powers, prerogatives, rights, dignities, and duties, as if he had been a king. This was oberved in the entrance of the lat chapter, and is exprely declared by tatute 1 Mar. I. t. 3. c. 1. But the queen conort is the wife of the reigning king; and he by virtue of her marriage is participant of divers prerogatives above other women.

, firt, he is a public person, exempt and ditinct from the king; and not, like other married women, o cloely connected as to have lost all legal or eparate exitence o long as the marriage continues. For the queen is of ability to purchae lands, and to convey them, to make leaes, to grant copyholds, and do other acts of ownerhip, without the concurrence of her lord; which no other married woman can do : a privilege as old as the Rh