ute book, of "the
king's majesty, his heirs, and successors." In which we may observe,
that as the word, "heirs," necessarily implies an inheritance or
hereditary right, generally subsisting in the royal person; so the
word, "successors," distinctly taken, must imply that this inheritance
may sometimes be broke through; or, that there may be a successor,
without being the heir, of the king. And this is so extremely
reasonable, that without such a power, lodged somewhere, our polity
would be very defective. For, let us barely suppose so melancholy a
case, as that the heir apparent should be a lunatic, an ideot, or
otherwise incapable of reigning: how miserable would the condition of
the nation be, if he were also incapable of being set aside!--It is
therefore necessary that this power should be lodged somewhere: and
yet the inheritance, and regal dignity, would be very precarious
indeed, if this power were _expressly_ and _avowedly_ lodged in the
hands of the subject only, to be exerted whenever prejudice, caprice,
or discontent should happen to take the lead. Consequently it can no
where be so properly lodged as in the two houses of parliament, by and
with the consent of the reigning king; who, it is not to be supposed,
will agree to any thing improperly prejudicial to the rights of his
own descendants. And therefore in the king, lords, and commons, in
parliament assembled, our laws have expressly lodged it.

4. BUT, fourthly; however the crown maybe limited or transferred, it
still retains it's descendible quality, and becomes hereditary in the
wearer of it: and hence in our law the king is said never to die, in
his political capacity; though, in common with other men, he is
subject to mortality in his natural: because immediately upon the
natural death of Henry, William, or Edward, the king survives in his
successor; and the right of the crown vests, _eo instanti_, upon his
heir; either the _haeres natus_, if the course of descent remains
unimpeached, or the _haeres factus_, if the inheritance be under any
particular settlement. So that there can be no _interregnum_; but as
sir Matthew Hale[b] observes, the right of sovereignty is fully
invested in the successor by the very descent of the crown. And
therefore, however acquired, it becomes in him absolutely hereditary,
unless by the rules of the limitation it is otherwise ordered and
determined. In the same manner as landed estates, to continue our
former comparison,