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24 Denning L.J. 1 (2012)

handle is hein.journals/denlj24 and id is 1 raw text is: The Denning Law Journal 2012 Vol 25 pp 1-19

THE GRADUAL CURTAILMENT OF THE ROYAL
PREROGATIVE
Noel Cox
INTRODUCTION
In the United Kingdom and those countries that recognise Elizabeth II as their
Queen,' there are to be found certain fundamental constitutional principles.
One of these is that much of the legal basis of executive power derives from
the Crown,2 though this has, in the past, often been downplayed for political
and other reasons. Indeed, in the Commonwealth as a whole, political
independence has often been equated with the reduction of the role of the
Crown to a position of subservience to the political executive.3 What remains
important is the position of the Crown as an organising principle of
government (the framework upon which the structure of government is built4),
as a source of legitimacy, and as a symbol for permanent government.
Executive power, therefore, remains based on the royal prerogative, and the
'third source' of authority (the legal powers of the legal natural person, as the
Crown is a corporation aggregate), as well as upon statute law.
The royal prerogative is the residue of royal power which derives from the
ancient rights, privileges and powers of the Sovereign, including the
prerogative of mercy, political prerogatives such as declaring war or peace,
and financial prerogatives such as bona vacantia. Within the scope of the
Aberystwyth University.
These countries include Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, the Bahamas, Barbados,
Belize, Canada, Grenada, Jamaica, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Saint Kitts and
Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu,
and the United Kingdom.
2 B V Harris The 'Third Source' of Authority for Government Action (1992) 108
Law Quarterly Review 626. For a definition of the Crown, see Janine Hayward In
Search of a Treaty Partner: Who, or What, is 'The Crown?' (1995) Victoria
University of Wellington PhD thesis.
3 David E Smith Bagehot, the Crown, and the Canadian Constitution (1995) 28
Canadian Journal of Political Science 623-624.
4 Recent examples include Crown Health Enterprises.

1

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