ABSTRACT
At one time during our constitutional history the Monarch was the sovereign political power within the State through direct or indirect control of the executive, legislature and judiciary. The source of the Monarch’s power was the Royal Prerogative, a term derived from the latin pre (before) and rogo (I demand). Thus the Royal Prerogative is what the Monarch demanded and was entitled to in preference to all others. The scope of the Monarch’s absolute and discretionary powers became a matter for bitter dispute in Stuart times between royalist and parliamentary lawyers.
