Chapter the fourth.
Of the King’s royal family.
The firſt and most conſiderable branch of the king’s royal family, regarded by the laws of England, is the queen.
The queen of England is either queen regent, queen conſort, or queen dowager. The queen regent, regnant, or ſovereign, is ſhe who holds the crown in her own right; as the firſt (and perhaps the ſecond) queen Mary, queen Elizabeth, and queen Anne; and ſuch a one has the ſame powers, prerogatives, rights, dignities, and duties, as if ſhe had been a king. This was obſerved in the entrance of the laſt chapter, and is expreſſly declared by ſtatute 1 Mar. I. ſt. 3. c. 1. But the queen conſort is the wife of the reigning king; and ſhe by virtue of her marriage is participant of divers prerogatives above other women[1].
And, firſt, ſhe is a public person, exempt and diſtinct from the king; and not, like other married women, ſo cloſely connected as to have lost all legal or ſeparate exiſtence ſo long as the marriage continues. For the queen is of ability to purchaſe lands, and to convey them, to make leaſes, to grant copyholds, and do other acts of ownerſhip, without the concurrence of her lord; which no other married woman can do[2]: a privilege as old as the
