ſual pieces are coined, that value muſt be aſcertained by proclamation. In order to fix the value, the weight and the fineneſs of the metal are to be taken into conſideration together. When a given weight of gold or ſilver is of a given fineneſs, it is then of the true ſtandard, and called ſterling metal; a name for which there are various reaſons given[1], but none of them entirely ſatisfactory. And of this ſterling metal all the coin of the kingdom muſt be made, by the ſtatute 25 Edw. III. c. 13. So that the king's prerogative ſeemeth not to extend to the debaſing or inhancing the value of the coin, below or above the ſterling value[2]: though ſir Matthew Hale[3] appears to be of another opinion. The king may alſo, by his proclamation, legitimate foreign coin, and make it current here; declaring at what value it ſhall be taken in payments[4]. But this, I apprehend, ought to be by compariſon with the ſtandard of our own coin; otherwiſe the conſent of parliament will be neceſſary. There is at preſent no ſuch legitimated money; Portugal coin being only current by private conſent, ſo that any one who pleaſes may refuſe to take it in payment. The king may alſo at any time decry, or cry down, any coin of the kingdom, and make it no longer current[5].
VI. The king is, laſtly, conſidered by the laws of England as the head and ſupreme governor of the national church.
To enter into the reaſons upon which this prerogative is founded is matter rather of divinity than of law. I ſhall therefore only obſerve that by ſtatute 26 Hen. VIII. c. 1. (reciting that the king's majeſty juſtly and rightfully is and ought to be the ſupreme head of the church of England; and ſo had been recognized by the clergy of this kingdom in their convocation) it is enacted, that the king ſhall be reputed the only ſupreme head in earth of the church of England, and ſhall have, annexed to the imperial crown of this realm, as well the title and ſtile thereof, as all juriſdic-
