ABSTRACT
Proclamations of the Crown, issued under the royal prerogative, do not have the force of law. To understand the status of proclamations, it is necessary to turn to the reign of Henry VIII. Under the Statute of Proclamations 1539, the King was given wide – though not unlimited – power to make law without parliament’s consent. The Act was repealed in 1547, although monarchs continued to ‘legislate’ by proclamation. The Case of Proclamations (1611) clarified the constitutional position. The most significant aspects of the case lay in the findings, first, that the King could not by proclamation create an offence previously unknown to law, and secondly, that the King had only such prerogative power as was granted under law.
