e so much the stronger. It is, then, settled
law, gentle monikins of the jury, that the sovereign of this realm can
do no wrong. It is also settled law--their lordships will correct me, if
I misstate--it is also settled law that the sovereign is the fountain of
honor, that he can make war and peace, that he administers justice, sees
the laws executed--"

"I beg your pardon, again, brother Downright," interrupted the
chief-justice. "This is not the law, but the prerogative. It is the
king's prerogative to be and do all this, but it is very far from being
law."

"Am I to understand, my lord, that the court makes a distinction between
that which is prerogative, and that which is law?"

"Beyond a doubt, brother Downright! If all that is prerogative was also
law, we could not get on an hour."

"Prerogative, if your lordship pleases, or prerogativa, is defined to
be 'an exclusive or peculiar privilege.' (Johnson. Letter P, page 139,
fifth clause from bottom; edition as aforesaid. Speaking slow, in
order to enable Baron Longbeard to make his notes.) Now, an exclusive
privilege, I humbly urge, must supersede all enactments, and--"

"Not at all, sir--not at all, sir--not at all, sir," put in my lord
chief-justice, dogmatically-looking out of the window at the clouds, in
a way to show that his mind was quite made up. "Not at all, good sir.
The king has his prerogatives, beyond a question; and they are sacred--a
part of the constitution. They are, moreover, exclusive and peculiar, as
stated by Johnson; but their exclusiveness and peculiarity are not to
be constructed in the vulgar acceptations. In treating of the vast
interests of a state, the mind must take a wide range; and I hold,
brother Longbeard, there is no principle more settled than the fact,
that prerogativa is one thing, and lex, or the law, another." The baron
bowed assent. "By exclusion, in this case, is meant that the prerogative
touches only his majesty. The prerogative is exclusively his property,
and he may do what he pleases with it; but the law is made for the
nation, and is altogether a different matter. Again: by peculiar, is
clearly meant peculiarity, or that this case is analogous to no other,
and must be reasoned on by the aid of a peculiar logic. No, sir--the
king can make peace and war, it is true, under his prerogative; but then
his conscience is hard and fast in the keeping of another, who alone can
perform all legal acts."

"But, my lord, justic