Intimations of legality amid the clash of arms

Abstract

This power to act according to discretion for the publick good, without the prescription of the Law and sometimes even against it, is that which is called Prerogative.1 For prerogative consisting (as Mr. Locke has well defined it) in the discretionary power of acting for the public good, where the positive laws are silent, if that discretionary power be abused to the public detriment, such prerogative is exerted in an unconstitutional manner.2