Chapter the eighth.
Of the KING's REVENUE.
HAVING, in the preceding chapter, conſidered at large thoſe branches of the king's prerogative, which contribute to his royal dignity, and conſtitute the executive power of the government, we proceed now to examine the king's fiſcal prerogatives, or ſuch as regard his revenue; which the Britiſh conſtitution hath veſted in the royal perſon, in order to ſupport his dignity and maintain his power: being a portion which each ſubject contributes of his property, in order to ſecure the remainder.
This revenue is either ordinary, or extraordinary. The king's ordinary revenue is ſuch, as has either ſubſiſted time out of mind in the crown; or elſe has been granted by parliament, by way of purchaſe or exchange for ſuch of the king's inherent hereditary revenues, as were found inconvenient to the ſubject.
When I ſay that it has ſubſiſted time out of mind in the crown, I do not mean that the king is at preſent in the actual poſſeſſion of the whole of this revenue. Much (nay, the greateſt part) of it is at this day in the hands of ſubjects; to whom it has been granted out from time to time by the kings of England: which has rendered the crown in ſome meaſure dependent on the people for it's ordinary ſupport and ſubſiſtence. So that I muſt be obliged to recount, as part of the royal revenue, what lords of
