ABSTRACT
Prior to the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011, the Crown dissolved Parliament under the royal prerogative at the request of the Prime Minister. In constitutional theory, the Queen under the royal prerogative may appoint whomsoever she pleases to the office of Prime Minister. Counsel for the Home Secretary argued that the exercise of the royal prerogative of mercy was not reviewable in the instant case, on the basis that the criteria upon which the pardon should be granted was a question of policy, which was not justiciable. As with national security, declarations of war and peace remain within the royal prerogative and are not justiciable before the courts. The Master of the Rolls accepted that the Home Secretary had the power to invite Parliament to repeal the provisions or to seek enactment of the tariff provisions in statute, or, alternatively, to seek to have the statutory provisions abolished and then implement the tariff provisions under the royal prerogative.
