KING, in the general acceptance of the word, is a person who has a supreme authority, with the power of levying taxes, making laws, and enforcing an obedience to them: but in Britain, which is a limited monarchy,
monarchy, the power of the king is greatly restrained; which is so far from diminishing his honour, that it adds a glory to his crown; for while other kings are absolute monarchs over innumerable multitudes of slaves, the king of England has the distinguished glory of governing a free people, the least of whom is protected by the laws: he has great prerogatives, and a boundless power in doing good; and is at the same time only restrained from acting inconsistently with his own happiness, and that of his people. He has all the signs of royalty, and all the marks of sovereignty; but while he has the power of making treaties, of sending and receiving ambassadors, of conferring titles of honour, creating privy counsellors, officers of state, and judges, and may raise men and arms both for sea and land, he cannot force his subjects to maintain them, or raise one tax by his sole authority: he has the privilege of coining money, but he cannot force the meanest subject to part with his property: he can pardon a criminal; but he cannot put a subject to death, till he is condemned by his peers: he may at his pleasure call, continue, prorogue, and dissolve parliaments, and without his royal assent no bill in parliament can pass into a law; yet he can neither act contrary to law, nor make new laws by his sole authority; on the contrary, he may even be sued and cast in his own courts.
At his coronation, he takes an oath to govern his people according to the statutes agreed on in parliament, to cause law and justice in mercy to be executed in all his judgments; to maintain, as much as in him lies, the laws of God, the true profession of the gospel, and the protestant reformed religion by law established. But tho' he may mitigate the rigour of the law, and forgive offenders, he cannot pardon murder, where an appeal is brought by the subject; nor any other crime, when the offender is impeached by the house of commons. He may lay an embargo on shipping; but then it ought to be for the public good, and not for the private advantage of any particular traders. Writs, processions, commissions, &c. are in his name; and he has a power not only to make courts, but to create universities, colleges, and boroughs; to incorporate a city or town, and to grant franchises to such corporations; but they must not, under colour thereof, set up a monopoly. He is esteemed the head of the church in that part of his dominions called England. But notwithstanding these and other prerogatives, the king can take what he has a right to only by due course of law. In short, he has a principal share in the legislative power, and the whole executive power is lodged in him; he is supposed present in all his courts, he can do no wrong, and, according to the laws of England, he never dies.