I.  Europa.  602  35.  Großbritannien  und  Irland.

“And  yet  these  words  hardly  describe  the  compass  of  his  sovereignty!.‘‘  The  fundamental
maxim  upon  which  the  jus  coronae,  or  right  of  sucoession  to  the  throne  depends,  is  by  law  and
constitutional  custom,  hereditary;  but  Parliament  may  and  has  set  this  aside  from  time  to  time?.
The  crown,  on  failure  of  the  male  line,  descends  to  the  issue  female;  according  to  the  ancient
British  custom  remarked  by  Tacitus  (vit.  Agricolae);‘‘  neque  enim  sexum  in  imperiis  discernunt.**

“It  has  been  said  that  the  Crown  has  three  rights  —  the  right  to  be  consulted,  the  right
to  encourage,  and  the  right  to  warn.

Yet  even  now  the  power  and  prerogative  of  the  Crown,  and  also  its  duties  are  considerable.
The  King  can  prorogue  or  dissolve  Parliament,  even  before  it  proceeds  to  business,  and  he  can
create  peers  without  restriction  as  to  numbers.  He  can  veto  laws,  and  is  the  irresponsible  head
of  the  Executive.  The  Sovereign  is  the  ‘'Fountain  of  Justice’;  that  is,  with  the  advice  of  his  responsible
  Ministers,  he  appointe  directly,  or  by  delegation  all  judges  and  magistrates.  All  criminal
prosecutions  are  conducted  in  his  name,  and  he  can,  with  a  few  exceptions,  pardon  all  offenders,
either  before  or  after  conviction”.  Berkeley  (quoted  by  Anson)  says:  ‘The  law  is  of  itself  an  old
and  trusty  servant  of  kinge:  it  is  his  instrument  and  means  which  he  useth  to  govern  his  people  by.
Inever  heard  nor  read  that  Lex  was  Rex,  but  it  is  common  and  most  true  that  Rex  is  Lex,  for
he  is  Lex  loquens,  &amp;  living,  a  speaking,  an  acting  law.  He  is  the  head  of  society  in  the  Kingdom.
All  degrees  of  nobility,  are  or  have  been  derived  by  grant  from  the  Crown.  All  titles  of  honour
are  in  the  gift  of  the  Crown,  and  all  corporations  owe  their  charters,  either  directly  or  indirectly,
to  the  same  source.  The  Sovereign  alone  can  coin  money,  impress  what  stamp  he  chooses  upon  it,
and  impart  to  it  its  legally  current  value.  The  Sovereign,  being  Supreme  governor  as  well  in  all
epiritual  or  ecclesiastical  things  or  causes  temporal,  appoints  all  archbishops  and  bishops  of  the
Established  Church.  In  respect  of  external  affaire,  the  Sovereign  appointe  all  ambassadors  and
diplomatic  agents  to  foreign  governmente,  receives  foreign  potentates  and  ambassadors,  and
conducte  all  negotiations  with  those  States;  appoints  Commissions  of  enquiry;  concludes  treaties,
and  makes  war  or  peace;  has  the  supreme  command  of  the  army  and  navy,  and  appoints  all  the
officers  of  those  services;  appointe  the  Viceroys  of  Ireland  and  India,  and  the  governors  of  colonies
and  foreign  possessions.  In  the  case  of  certain  of  the  Colonies  he  prescribes  the  form  of  government,
  and  in  all  of  them  his  assent  is  essential  to  the  validity  of  all  acts  of  colonial  legislation?.
Still,  to  speak  with  Thiers:  Le  roi  regne,  mais  il  ne  gouverne  pas.

6  2  The  Realm.

a.  Wales.  Since  Edward  I.  annexed  the  territories  of  Liewellyn  in  Wales  (1284,  announced
in  Staetutum  Wallise)  the  union  of  England  and  Wales  may  be  said  to  date.  And  by  27  Hen.VIII.
c.  26,  $  1°,  all  of  Wales  was  annexed  to  the  realm  of  England.  By  an  Act  passed  in  1747  (20  Geo.
II.  c.  42,  $  3)  “it  was  enacted  that  the  mention  of  England  in  an  Act  of  Parliament  should  be
taken  to  include  Wales’®.

b.  Scotland.  By  the  accession  of  King  James  VI.  of  Scotland  to  the  English  Crown  the
first  steps  to  union  between  the  two  countries  were  taken,  though  they  remained  separate  for
over  a  century.  An  act  of  Parliament  (1  Jac.  I  oc.  I)  declared  the  two  countries  to  be  one;  but
it  was  not  till  1707  (6  Anne,  c.  11)  that  this  great  work  was  happily  effected.  Scotland  however
retained  her  rules  of  private  law,  and  the  constitution,  and  procedure  of  her  Courts®,  all  of  which
devisate  considerably  from  those  of  England  (Wales  and  Ireland).

ı  SrW.R.Anson,  “The  Law  and  Custom  of  the  Constitution’  (3rd  Ed.  Oxford  1903),
Vol.II,  Part.  II,  p.  1.

?  Stephen,  'Commentaries  of  the  Laws  of  England”  (7th  ed.  1874),  vol.  II.  414—422;
IV,  162.  By  the  Act  of  Settlement,  1701  (12  and  13  Wm.  III.  c.  2).  the  Crown  was  limited  to
Princess  Sophia  of  Hanover,  and  to  the  heirs  of  her  body  being  Protestante.

®  «The  Constitutional  Year  Bork’’  (1909)  pp.  24/5.

*  j.  e.,  The  26th  Chapter,  section  I,  27th  Parliament  of  H.  VIII.

s  Anson,  vol.  II,  Part  II,  p.  4.

°C,  Blackstone,  Il.  9  ıy  and  Anson,  II.  6.