Constitutional Law Essays -- International Law

The royal prerogative is a source of constitutional law; it is derived from common law powers that have been handed down from the monarchy to the executive. The significance of the prerogative in constitutional law is that it provides the executive with considerable power to act without following ‘normal’ parliamentary procedures. As Dicey explained, the prerogative is ‘every act which the executive government can lawfully do without the authority of an Act of parliament’. In constitutional terms, it is therefore important to explore the means by which the UK constitution secures the accountability for the exercise of prerogative powers by the executives. Historically the prerogative was exercised by the monarchy, the majority of powers are now used by ministers, and very few remained the personal preserve of the sovereign. The extent to which the judiciary and the legislature are able to regulate the exercise of prerogative powers by the executive has increased. However, there are still some who are concerned by the lack of control that can be exerted by the other constitutional bodies. The challenges to the power of the Monarch was by the reign of James I (1603-25) the monarch was faced with an increasing effective Parliament, culminating in the temporary abolition of the monarchy in (1625). Consequently, the monarchy’s powers were eroded by both revolution and by legal challenges, which included the case of Proclamations (1611) , the monarchy could not change the law by proclamation. The law of the land, which required that the law be made by Parliament, limited the prerogative. In the case of Prohibitions Del Roy (1607) the Monarch had no right to act as a judge, and in the case of the Ship Money Case (1637), although th... ...(1994) QB 349 R v Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth affairs, ex parte Rees-Mogg (1994) QB 552 Full case R v Ministry of Defence Ex Parte Smith (1996) QB 517 Full case R (Abbasi) v Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs and Secretary of State for Home Department (2002) All ER (D) 70 Full case R (Al Rawi) v Foreign Secretary (2007) 2 WRL 1219 Full case CND v Prime Minister of United Kingdom(2002) All ER 245 Full case Attorney General v De Keysers Royal Hotel (1920) AC 508 Full case Laker airways v Secretary of state for trade (1977) Straw, J, ‘Abolish the royal prerogative’, in A. Barnett Ed., Power and the throne; the monarch Debate (1994) London: Vintage, p. 129. The Governance of Britain, presented to Parliament, by the Secretary of State for Justice and Lord Chancellor, by Command of Her Majesty, July 2007.