a public notice given of anything of which the king thinks proper to advertise his subjects.

Proclamations form a branch of the king's prerogative, and they have a binding force, when they are grounded upon and enforce the laws of the realm. For though the making of laws is entirely the work of a distinct part, the legislative branch of the sovereign power, yet the manner, time, and circumstances of putting those laws in execution, must frequently be left to the discretion of the executive magistrate; and therefore his constitutions or edicts, concerning those points, which we call Proclamations, are binding upon the subject, where they do not either contradict the old laws, or tend to establish new ones, but only enforce the execution of such laws as are already in being, in such manner as the king shall judge necessary.