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[of frequent elections, and the violent heats and animosities consequent thereupon, in reality for the security of the government, then just recovering from the late rebellion, prolonged this term to seven years; and, what alone is an instance of the vast authority of parliament, the very same house that was chosen for three years, enacted its own continuance for seven. So that, as our constitution now stands, the parliament must expire, or die a natural death, at the end of every seventh year, if not sooner dissolved by the Crown] (y).

(y) It may be stated that in its judicial capacity as a Court of Appeal, the House of Lords sits notwithstanding any prorogation (Appellate Jurisdiction Act, 1876,

s. 8); and may (by authority of the Crown under the sign-manual) sit even during a dissolution (Ibid. s. 9). And see the Appellate Jurisdiction Act, 1887, s. 1.

CHAPTER II.

OF THE MONARCH, IN HIS GENERAL RELATION TO THE PEOPLE; AND HEREIN, OF THE LAW OF SUBJECT AND ALIEN.

THE supreme executive power of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and its dependencies is vested by our laws in a single person, the king or queen, under such style and title as are appointed by royal proclamation under the great seal of the United Kingdom (a) ; and it matters not to which sex the crown descends, the person entitled thereto, whether male or female, being immediately invested with all the ensigns, rights, and prerogatives of royal power, as was declared by the 1 Mar. sess. 3 (1554), For the better understanding of the law and laws relating to this supreme executive power, we shall consider the monarch,

First, with regard to his people in general;

Secondly, with regard to his title;

Thirdly, with regard to his family;

Fourthly, with regard to his councils ;
Fifthly, with regard to his prerogative ;
Sixthly, with regard to his revenue; and
Seventhly, with regard to his forces.

First, with regard to the relation which subsists between the monarch and his people.-[The principal duty of the

(a) See the Union with Ireland Act, 1800; the Royal Titles Acts, 1876 and 1901.

The pre

sent style and title adopted by our king is "Edward VII. by the Grace of God of the United

Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and of the British Dominions beyond the Seas, King, Defender of the Faith, Emperor of India."

[king is to govern his people according to law. "The king," saith Bracton," ought not to be subject to man, but to God, "and to the law; for the law maketh the king. And he is "not truly king where will and pleasure rule, and not the "law" (b). Fortescue also lays it down as a principle, that "the king of England must rule his people according "to the laws thereof, being bound, by an oath at his "coronation, to the observance and keeping of such "laws" (c). And these provisions of the common law have been embodied and declared by the Act of Settlement, 1700, in the words following, namely :-" that the laws of England are the birthright of the people thereof; "and all the kings and queens who shall ascend the throne "of this realm ought to administer the government of the

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same according to the said laws and all their officers " and ministers ought to serve them respectively according "to the same: and therefore all the laws and statutes of "this realm, for securing the established religion, and the rights and liberties of the people thereof, and all other "laws and statutes of the same now in force, are ratified "and confirmed accordingly." And to the like effect is the oath, which, by the Act for Establishing the Coronation Oath, 1688, is administered at the coronation to every king and queen succeeding to the imperial crown of these realms, by one of the archbishops or bishops of the realm, in the presence of the people in the following manner:-"The arch"bishop or bishop shall say,--Will you solemnly promise "and swear to govern the people of this kingdom of England, and the dominions thereto belonging, according "to the statutes in parliament agreed on, and the laws and "customs of the same? The king and The king and queen shall say, "I solemnly promise so to do. Archbishop or bishop,Will you to your power cause law and justice in mercy

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(b) L. 1, ch. 8; L. 2, ch. 16, s. 3. (c) C. 9, and c. 34. And compare Justinian's Institutes, ii. 17, 8, recording the opinion of the

Emperors Severus and Antoninus,

"Licet enim legibus soluti sumus, attamen egibus ririmus.”

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["to be executed in all your judgments? King and queen, I will. Archbishop Archbishop or bishop, or bishop, Will you "to the utmost of your power maintain the laws of God, "the true profession of the Gospel, and the Protestant "reformed religion established by the law? And will you preserve unto the bishops and clergy of this realm, "and to the churches committed to their charge, all such rights and privileges as by law do or shall appertain "unto them, or any of them? King and queen, — All "this I promise to do. After this the king and queen, laying his and her hand upon the Holy Gospels, shall say, "The things which I have here before promised I will "perform and keep; so help me God. Then the king "and queen shall kiss the book."

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The coronation oath expresses, it is to be observed, all the duties that a monarch can owe to his people: viz. to govern according to law: to execute judgment in mercy; and to maintain the established religion. With regard to the first of these, enough has been said; with regard to the second, which involves both the humanity of our laws and the exercise of the prerogative of mercy, more will be said hereafter in the course of these Commentaries; but with regard to the third, namely, the maintenance of the established religion, it is convenient. here to remark that the maintenance of the established religion is also provided for by statute as follows:(1) By the Bill of Rights (1689), and the Act of Settlement (1700), every king and queen regnant of the age of twelve years, either at their coronation, or on the first day of the first parliament, (whichever event shall first happen,) upon the throne in the house of peers, is required to repeat and subscribe the declaration against Popery, according to the 30 Car. II. (1679), st. 2; and (2) by the Act of Union with Scotland (1706), two preceding statutes are recited and confirmed, one of Scotland, and the other of England, the former requiring that every king, at his accession, shall take and subscribe an oath to

[preserve the protestant religion and presbyterian church government in Scotland, and the latter requiring that at his coronation he shall take and subscribe a similar oath, to preserve the settlement of the church of England as by law established (d).

Protection and subjection being in their very nature reciprocal (e), we may now pass from the duties of the monarch to the duties of the people, in other words, to the subject of allegiance. Now allegiance is the tie, or ligamen, which binds the subject to the ruler, in return for the protection which the ruler affords to the subject. Under the feudal system, there was a mutual trust or confidence subsisting between the lord and his vassal; the vassal was bound to be faithful to his lord, and defend him against all his enemies, which obligation on the part of the vassal was called his fealty, and the oath of fealty was required to be taken by all tenants to their lord. This oath of fealty usually contained, however, a saving or exception of the faith due to some superior lord by name; as where the lord, being but a mesne lord, was himself also a tenant or vassal. But where the lord was the absolute superior himself, and was vassal to no man, which is the position of the monarch, it was no longer called the oath of fealty, but the oath of allegiance; the subject, whether landholder or not, swearing to bear faith to his sovereign lord in opposition to all men, simpliciter and without any saving or exception-" contra omnes homines fidelitatem fecit" (f). Accordingly, the oath of allegiance, as administered in this country for upwards

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of six hundred years, contained a promise "to be true and faithful to the king and his heirs, and truth and "faith to bear of life and limb and terrene honour; and "not to know or hear of any ill or damage intended him,

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