upon all ſhipping in time of war[1], will be equally binding as an act of parliament, becauſe founded upon a prior law. A proclamation for diſarming papiſts is alſo binding, being only in execution of what the legiſlature has firſt ordained: but a proclamation for allowing arms to papiſts, or for diſarming any proteſtant ſubjects, will not bind; becauſe the firſt would be to aſſume a diſpenſing power, the latter a legiſlative one; to the veſting of either of which in any ſingle perſon the laws of England are abſolutely ſtrangers. Indeed by the ſtatute 31 Hen. VIII. c. 8. it was enacted, that the king's proclamations ſhould have the force of acts of parliament: a ſtatute, which was calculated to introduce the moſt deſpotic tyranny; and which muſt have proved fatal to the liberties of this kingdom, had it not been luckily repealed in the minority of his ſucceſſor, about five years after[2].
IV. The king is likewiſe the fountain of honour, of office, and of privilege: and this in a different ſenſe from that wherein he is ſliled the fountain of juſtice; for here he is really the parent of them. It is impoſſible that government can be maintained without a due ſubordination of rank; that the people may know and diſtinguiſh ſuch as are ſet over them, in order to yield them their due reſpect and obedience; and alſo that the officers themſelves, being encouraged by emulation and the hopes of ſuperiority, may the better diſcharge their functions: and the law ſuppoſes, that no one can be ſo good a judge of their ſeveral merits and ſervices, as the king himſelf who employs them. It has therefore intruſted with him the ſole power of conferring dignities and honours, in confidence that he will beſtow them upon none, but ſuch as deſerve them. And therefore all degrees of nobility, of knighthood, arid other titles, are received by immediate grant from the crown: either expreſſed in writing, by writs or letters patent, as in the creations of peers and baronets; or by corporeal inveſtiture, as in the creation of a ſimple knight.
