[metal all the coin of the kingdom must be made, by the statute 25 Edw. III. c. 13 (0). So that the royal prerogative seemeth not to extend to the debasing or enhancing the value of the coin, below or above the sterling value (p): though Sir Matthew Hale (g) appears to be of another opinion. The sovereign may also, by his proclamation, legitimate foreign coin, and make it current here; declaring at what value it shall be taken in payments (r),] by comparison with the standard of our own coin; and may, moreover, [at any time decry, or cry down, any coin of the kingdom, and make it no longer current (s).] But though the regulation of the coinage thus forms part of the prerogative of the crown, yet it is a subject over which parliament also exercises a control; and since the Revolution it is under the authority of parliament that the coinage has been in fact principally regulated (†).

12. [The sovereign is, also, considered by the laws of England as the head and supreme governor of the national Church.

To enter into the reasons upon which this prerogatiɣe is founded is matter rather of divinity than of law. It will be sufficient therefore to observe that, by statute 26 Hen. VIII. c. 1, (reciting that the king's majesty justly and rightfully

seems to be that adopted by those two etymologists, that the name was derived from the Esterlingi, or Easterlings; as those Saxons were antiently called, who inhabited that district of Germany, now occupied by the Hanse Towns and their appendages; the earliest traders in modern Europe.

(0) The ascertaining whether coin is of the proper standard, is called pixing it; and there are occasions on which resort is had, for this purpose, to an antient mode of inquisition called the trial of the pix, before a jury of members of the Goldsmiths' Company. For information on this subject, vide Archæologia, vol. xvi. ; Rudding's Annals of the Coinage.

As to defacing light coin, see 14 Geo. 3, c. 70; 2 Will. 4, c. 34. The constitution of the Mint was remodelled in the year 1815.

(p) 2 Inst. 577.

(q) 1 Hale, P. C. 194.
(r) Ibid. 197.
(s) Ibid.

(t) See as to the coinage the following statutes-9 Will. 3, c. 2; 14 Geo. 3, c. 92; 18 Geo. 3, c. 30; 38 Geo. 3, c. 67; 43 Geo. 3, c. 139; 56 Geo. 3, c. 68; 2 & 3 Will. 4, c. 34; 12 & 13 Vict. c. 41. We may take occasion also to mention here, the statutes of 7 & 8 Vict. c. 22; 17 & 18 Vict. c. 96; and 18 & 19 Vict. c. 60, as to the standard of gold wares, and the assaying of gold and silver wares.

[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 style thereof, as all jurisdictions, authorities, and commodities, to the said dignity of the supreme head of the Church appertaining. And another statute to the same purport was made, 1 Eliz. c. 1.

In virtue of this authority the sovereign convenes, prorogues, restrains, regulates, and dissolves all ecclesiastical synods or convocations. This is an inherent and antient prerogative of the crown, as appears by the statute 8 Hen. VI. c. 1, and the many authors, both lawyers and historians, vouched by Sir Edward Coke (u).] It is to be observed, that [a convocation in England differs considerably in its constitution from the synods of other Christian kingdoms: these consisting usually of bishops;] whereas with us the convocations (of which there are two, one for the province of Canterbury, the other for that of York), are more in the nature of a parliament, all the lower orders of clergy having representatives therein, who share with the dignitaries the right of making canons (v) for, and taxing the possessions of, the church. [This constitution is said to be owing to the policy of Edward the first, who at one and the same time let in the inferior clergy to the privileges of forming ecclesiastical canons (which before they had not), and also introduced a method of taxing ecclesiastical benefices, by consent of convocation (a).]

All deans and archdeacons are members of the convocation of their province; each chapter sends one proctor or representative, and the beneficed parochial clergy in each diocese in Canterbury, two proctors; but on account of the small number of dioceses in the province of York, each archdeaconry, there, elects two proctors. In York, the

(u) 4 Inst. 322, 323.

(v) As to canons, vide sup. vol. I.

P. 66.

(x) Gilb. Hist. of Exch. c. 4.

convocation consists only of one house; but in Canterbury, there are two houses, of which the archbishop and bishops form the upper house, and the lower consists of deans, archdeacons, the proctors for the chapters, and the proctors for the parochial clergy. The convocations, however, can make no canons, or even confer for that purpose, without licence from the sovereign; nor make any repugnant to the common or statute law: and none of their canons bind the laity unless they pass both houses of parliament (y). And though till the 15 Car. II. c. 10, the clergy continued to tax themselves in convocation, they have not done so since; it being judged more advantageous to include them in the money bills passed by the commons, and to allow them on the other hand to vote for knights of the shire in parliament a privilege that did not formerly belong to them (z). Under these circumstances the convocations, though still regularly summoned and assembled together on such summons, have long ceased in fact to exercise any legislative power.

[From this prerogative also, of being the head of the church, arises the king's right of nomination to vacant bishoprics, and certain other ecclesiastical preferments; which will more properly be considered when we come to treat of the church (a). It will be sufficient at present to observe, that this is now done in consequence of the statute 25 Hen. VIII. c. 20.

As head of the church, the sovereign is likewise the dernier ressort in all ecclesiastical causes;] an appeal formerly lying to him in chancery (b), and now by 2 & 3 Will. IV. c. 92, in council (c), from the sentence of every ecclesiastical judge (d).

(y) 25 Hen. 8, c. 19; 12 Rep. 72; Middleton v. Croft, Str. 1056; vide sup. vol. 1. p. 67.

(z) As to convocations, see 4 Inst. 322; Gilb. Exch. c. 4; Burn's Eccl. Law, Convoc.; Com. Dig. Convoc.; Hallam's Constit. Hist. vol. 3, pp. 236, 324 (3rd edit.)

(a) Vide post, as to the church in general, bk. IV. pt. II.

(b) 25 Hen. 8, c. 19.

(c) Et vide 3 & 4 Will. 4. c. 41; 6 & 7 Vict. c. 38.

(d) See Gorham v. Bishop of Exeter, 15 Q. B. 52; post, bk. v.

C. V.

CHAPTER VII.

OF THE ROYAL REVENUE.

[HAVING, in the preceding chapter, considered at large those branches of the sovereign's prerogative, which contribute to his royal dignity, and constitute the executive power of the government, we proceed now to examine his 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.]

The royal revenue, formerly under the control of the lord treasurer (a), is now under that of the lords commissioners of the treasury (who in modern times have been appointed in substitution for that high and important officer); but it has always been more immediately under the management of the exchequer (b), which is an establishment of very remote antiquity (c)-consisting of two divisions—the first being the office of the receipt of the exchequer, for collection of the royal revenue; the second being a court for the administration of justice (d). The former (to which we here exclusively refer), received a new constitution under a late act of parliament, 4 & 5 Will. IV. c. 15, by which

(a) 4 Inst. 103.

(b) 2 Inst. 197.

(c) Madox, Hist. of Exch.; Gilb. Court of Exch.

(d) 4 Inst. 103. The court of exchequer here referred to was formerly a court both of law and equity,

but the equitable jurisdiction is now taken away by 5 Vict. c. 5, and it remains a court only of law and reveAs to this court and its constitution, further information will be found, post, bk. v. c. IV.

nue.

many of its former officers were abolished, and it was provided that the establishment should thereafter consist of a comptroller-general, an assistant comptroller, a chief clerk, and such number of clerks and assistants as the lords commissioners of the treasury should from time to time appoint. And by the same act, persons accounting to the crown are directed to make their payments at the Bank of England, into an account to be there opened to the credit of the royal exchequer; and regulations are also. made as to the manner of placing sums to the credit of that account, and making payments thereout (e).

[This revenue is either ordinary or extraordinary. The 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 sovereign's inherent hereditary revenues as were found inconvenient to the subject.

venue.

When it is said that it has subsisted time out of mind in the crown, it is not to be understood that the crown is at present in the actual possession of the whole of this reMuch (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 its ordinary support and subsistence. So that it is necessary to recount, as part of the royal revenue, what lords of manors and other subjects frequently look upon to be their own absolute inherent rights; because they are and have been vested in them and their ancestors for ages, though in reality originally derived from the grants of our antient princes.

I. The first of the crown's ordinary revenues which shall be taken notice of, is of an ecclesiastical kind, viz. the cus

(e) See also 18 & 19 Vict. c. 96, s. 1, amending 4 & 5 Will. 4, c. 15, in reference to the regulations under which monies are to be paid into

the exchequer account at the bank, and received to the credit of such account.