authority: or, in other words, his dignity and regal power; to which laſt the name of prerogative is frequently narrowed and confined. The other diviſion, which forms the royal revenue, will require a diſtinct examination; according to the known diſtribution of the feodal writers, who diſtinguiſh the royal prerogatives into the majora and minora regalia, in the latter of which claſſes the rights of the revenue are ranked. For, to uſe their own words, “majora regalia imperii prae-eminentiam ſpectant; minora vero ad commodum pecuniarium immediate attinent; et haec proprie fiſcalia ſunt, et ad jus fiſci pertinent[1].”
First, then, of the royal dignity. Under every monarchical eſtabliſhment, it is neceſſary to diſtinguiſh the prince from his ſubjects, not only by the outward pomp and decorations of majeſty, but alſo by aſcribing to him certain qualities, as inherent in his royal capacity, diſtinct from and ſuperior to thoſe of any other individual in the nation. For, though a philoſophical mind will conſider the royal perſon merely as one man appointed by mutual conſent to preſide over many others, and will pay him that reverence and duty which the principles of ſociety demand, yet the maſs of mankind will be apt to grow inſolent and refractory, if taught to conſider their prince as a man of no greater perfection than themſelves. The law therefore aſcribes to the king, in his high political character, not only large powers and emoluments which form his prerogative and revenue, but likewiſe certain attributes of a great and tranſcendent nature; by which the people are led to conſider him in the light of a ſuperior being, and to pay him that awful reſpect, which may enable him with greater caſe to carry on the buſineſs of government. This is what I underſtand by the royal dignity, the ſeveral branches of which we will now proceed to examine.
I. And, firſt, the law aſcribes to the king the attribute of ſovereignty, or pre-eminence. “Rex eſt vicarius,” ſays Bracton[2], “et miniſter Dei in terra: omnis quidem ſub eo eſt, et ipſe ſub nullo,
