United Kingdom/Addendum: Difference between revisions
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==The Royal Prerogatives== | ==The Royal Prerogatives== | ||
The royal prerogatives operate in three distinct ways, as the sovereign’s constitutional prerogatives, as the legal prerogatives of the Crown, and as the legal prerogatives of the Crown, | The royal prerogatives operate in three distinct ways, as the sovereign’s constitutional prerogatives, as the legal prerogatives of the Crown, and as the legal prerogatives of the Crown<ref>[http://www.parliament.uk/documents/commons/lib/research/briefings/snpc-03861.pdf Lucinda Maer and Oonagh Gay: ''The Royal Prerogative'', House of Commons Library, December 2009]</ref>. | ||
===The sovereign’s constitutional prerogatives=== | ===The sovereign’s constitutional prerogatives=== | ||
The personal discretionary powers of the Sovereign include the rights to advise, encourage and warn | The personal discretionary powers of the Sovereign include the rights to advise, encourage and warn | ||
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* The granting of pardons and the Attorney-General’s power to stop prosecutions. | * The granting of pardons and the Attorney-General’s power to stop prosecutions. | ||
Those powers may be exercised without the prior assent of Parliament but Ministers may be accountable to parliament for their application | Those powers may be exercised without the prior assent of Parliament but Ministers may be accountable to parliament for their application | ||
==References== | |||
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Revision as of 05:41, 13 February 2012
The Royal Prerogatives
The royal prerogatives operate in three distinct ways, as the sovereign’s constitutional prerogatives, as the legal prerogatives of the Crown, and as the legal prerogatives of the Crown[1].
The sovereign’s constitutional prerogatives
The personal discretionary powers of the Sovereign include the rights to advise, encourage and warn Ministers in private; to appoint the Prime Minister and other Ministers; to assent to legislation; and to prorogue or to dissolve Parliament. The Sovereign may, in a grave constitutional crisis, act without or against contrary to or without ministerial advice. In ordinary circumstances, however the Sovereign, accepts and gives way t Ministerial advice.
The legal prerogatives of the Crown
There is a range of traditional legal prerogatives which can be exercised by the Crown. They include the principle that the Crown can do no wrong, and that the Crown is not bound by statute "unless named". Many of them been amended by parliament and many are obsolete.
The prerogative executive powers
Prerogative powers that are used by Ministers as agents of the Crown include:.
- The making and ratification of treaties;
- The conduct of diplomacy, and the appointment of ambassadors and High Commissioners.
- The declaration of war;
- The use of the armed forces in support of the police;
- The appointment and removal of Ministers by the Prime Minister;
- The granting of peerages, and honours;
- The granting of pardons and the Attorney-General’s power to stop prosecutions.
Those powers may be exercised without the prior assent of Parliament but Ministers may be accountable to parliament for their application