l things, that are not
injurious to the subject; for in them all it must be remembered, that
the king's prerogative stretcheth not to the doing of any wrong[e]."
_Nihil enim aliud potest rex, nisi id solum quod de jure potest_[f].
And here it may be some satisfaction to remark, how widely the civil
law differs from our own, with regard to the authority of the laws
over the prince, or (as a civilian would rather have expressed it) the
authority of the prince over the laws. It is a maxim of the English
law, as we have seen from Bracton, that "_rex debet esse sub lege,
quia lex facit regem_:" the imperial law will tell us, that "_in
omnibus, imperatoris excipitur fortuna; cui ipsas leges Deus
subjecit_[g]." We shall not long hesitate to which of them to give the
preference, as most conducive to those ends for which societies were
framed, and are kept together; especially as the Roman lawyers
themselves seem to be sensible of the unreasonableness of their own
constitution. "_Decet tamen principem_," says Paulus, "_servare leges,
quibus ipse solutus est_[h]." This is at once laying down the
principle of despotic power, and at the same time acknowleging it's
absurdity.

[Footnote e: Finch. L. 84, 85.]

[Footnote f: Bract. _l._ 3. _tr._ 1. _c._ 9.]

[Footnote g: _Nov._ 105. Sec. 2.]

[Footnote h: _Ff._ 32. 1. 23.]

BY the word prerogative we usually understand that special
pre-eminence, which the king hath, over and above all other persons,
and out of the ordinary course of the common law, in right of his
regal dignity. It signifies, in it's etymology, (from _prae_ and
_rogo_) something that is required or demanded before, or in
preference to, all others. And hence it follows, that it must be in
it's nature singular and eccentrical; that it can only be applied to
those rights and capacities which the king enjoys alone, in
contradistinction to others, and not to those which he enjoys in
common with any of his subjects: for if once any one prerogative of
the crown could be held in common with the subject, it would cease to
be prerogative any longer. And therefore Finch[i] lays it down as a
maxim, that the prerogative is that law in case of the king, which is
law in no case of the subject.

[Footnote i: Finch. L. 85.]

PREROGATIVES are either _direct_ or _incidental_. The _direct_ are
such positive substantial parts of the royal character and authority,
as are rooted in and spring from the king's political person,
cons