▪ I. prerogative, n.
(prɪˈrɒgətɪv)
[a. F. prérogative (14th c. in Littré) a prerogative, ad. L. prærogātīva a previous choice or election; a foretoken, prognostic; preference, privilege, prerogative; prop. fem. sing. of prærogātīvus adj. (see next) agreeing with tribus or centuria, applied to the tribe or century to which it fell by lot to give its vote first in the Roman comitia.
‘The box being shaken, so that the lots might lie equally,..the century which came out first gave its vote first, and hence was called Prærogativa... Its vote was held of the greatest importance... Hence prærogativa is put for a sign or pledge, a favourable omen or intimation of any thing future;..for a precedent or example,..a choice,..or favour,..and among later writers for a peculiar or exclusive privilege’ (Adam Rom. Antiq. (1801) 91).
(As the sense-development took place before the word was taken into English, the chronological order here, as will be seen, does not correspond with it; the original or etymological sense is of late use: see 3.)]
1. A prior, exclusive, or peculiar right or privilege. a. esp. in Constitutional Hist. That special pre-eminence which the sovereign, by right of regal dignity, has over all other persons and out of the course of the common law, the royal prerogative, a sovereign right (in theory) subject to no restriction or interference.
In Great Britain, the extent of the royal prerogative has been a matter of discussion, more especially since the 17th century: see the quots. At present it includes the right of sending and receiving ambassadors, of making treaties, and (theoretically) of making war and concluding peace, of conferring honours, nominating to bishoprics, and giving all commissions in the army and navy, of choosing ministers of state, summoning Parliament, and refusing assent to a bill, of pardoning those under legal sentence; with many other political, ecclesiastical, and judicial privileges. The exercise of many of these prerogative rights is practically limited by the rights of parliament or of other bodies or persons, the constitutional obligation to take the advice of ministers, and the need to secure the general approval and support of the nation.
| [1293 Rolls of Parlt. I. 117/1 Quod Dominus Rex Presentationem suam ratione Prerogative sue,..ad predictam Vicariam habeat. 1308–9 Ibid. 274/1 Pur la Prerogative & le droit le Roy.] 1404 Ibid. III. 549/1 By the lawe of his [the King's] land, or by his prerogatif. 1494 Fabyan Chron. vii. 343 The wood or madde parlyament;..at this Counceyll, were made many actis agayn the Kynges prerogatyue and pleasure, for the reformacion of the state of the land. 1553 T. Wilson Rhet. 87 b, The kynges prerogatiue declareth his power royall aboue all other. 1637 Documents agst. Prynne (Camden) 88, I heare all the Judges..have concluded the Bishopps have noe whitt incroacht uppon the King's prerogative or the subject's liberties. 1678 Marvell Growth Popery Wks. (Grosart) IV. 249 His [the king of England's] very Prerogative is no more than what the Law has determined. a 1680 Butler Rem. (1759) I. 210 Princes had Prerogative to give Convicted Malefactors a Reprieve. 1690 Locke Govt. ii. xiv. §160 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. 1765 Blackstone Comm. I. vii. 257 The king has also the sole prerogative of making war and peace. For it is held by all the writers on the law of nature and nations, that the right of making war, which by nature subsisted in every individual, is given up by all private persons that enter into society, and is vested in the sovereign power. 1769 Junius Lett. viii. (1797) I. 52 Every ungracious or severe exertion of the prerogative should be placed to the account of the minister. 1839 Keightley Hist. Eng. I. 410 The parliament by perseverance, and by taking advantage of foreign wars, disputed successions and other circumstances, gradually set limits to prerogative. 1863 H. Cox Instit. iii. ii. 592 Writers on the constitution have frequently used the word ‘prerogative’ in a restricted sense, confining it to those political powers of the Crown which are not conferred by statute; and in this sense the word will be here employed. 1887 Spectator 27 Aug. 1143 The exercise of the prerogative of mercy is no easy or pleasant duty. |
b. generally. The peculiar right or privilege of any person, class, or body of persons; as the prerogatives of parliament, of a peer, of a manor, of a free man, etc.
| 14.. [see next, 2]. 1494 Fabyan Chron. vii. 330 The kynge consyderynge the great prerogatyues belongynge to that erledome. 1495 Act 11 Hen. VII, c. 34 §1 The same Manoris..with all liberties prerogatyves and fraunchises in the same. 1538 Starkey England ii. i. 151 Thys thyng schold much intyse men to maryage, specyally yf we gaue vnto them also certayn pryuylegys and prerogatyf. 1623 Gouge Serm. Extent God's Provid. §8 The Church, and every member of it..challengeth the speciall care of God, as a prerogative to itselfe. 1655 M. Carter Hon. Rediv. (1660) 60 The Crown set on his head by the Archbishop of Canterbury, a Prerogative to that See. 1685 Dryden Thren. August. 301 Freedom, an English subjects sole prerogative. 1751 Johnson Rambler No. 180 ¶2 Every one must have remarked, what powers and prerogatives the vulgar imagine to be conferred by learning. 1757 Smollett Reprisal i. ii, The prisoners to be plundered, which you know is the prerogative of pirates and privateers. 1850 Merivale Rom. Emp. (1865) I. i. 13 It was for their existence rather than their prerogatives that the Romans had to contend. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) I. 52 Will he not entrust to us the prerogative of making soup, and putting in anything that we like? |
2. fig. A faculty or property by which a being (or formerly a thing) is specially and advantageously distinguished above others; a natural or divinely-given advantage or privilege.
| 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) II. 213 In many poyntes of manis condicioun, of his prerogatif and his worþynesse [orig. in nonnullis conditionis prærogativis; 1432–50 [Harleian tr.] in mony prerogatifes of his condicion]. c 1400 Laud Troy Bk. 3778 Thei are at home In here contre And that is hem [MS. tyme]—so mote I thryue—A wondir gret prerogatyue. c 1407 Lydg. Reson & Sens. 6444 [The panther] hath a prerogatyf That al[le] bestys specialy Desire of kynde hys companye And to be in his presence. 1485 Caxton St. Wenefr. 1 This prouynce..was embellisshed and decorate with innumerable prerogatyuys. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 123 b, The gyfte of prerogatyue called discrecyon or discernynge of spirytes is but in fewe persones. 1555 Eden Decades 166 Other prerogatiues whiche nature hath plentifully giuen to this blessed Iland. 1665 Boyle Occas. Refl. v. iv. (1848) 309 Rare Qualities may sometimes be Prerogatives, without being Advantages. 1773 Ld. Monboddo Lang. (1774) I. Introd. 1 This distinguishing prerogative of our Nature. 1845 Corrie Theol. in Encycl. Metrop. 861 It is man's high prerogative to be endowed with reason and conscience. a 1862 Buckle Misc. Wks. (1872) I. 37 It is the peculiar prerogative of certain minds to be able to interpret as well as to originate. |
† b. Precedence, pre-eminence, superiority.
Obs.| c 1407 Lydg. Reson & Sens. 4422 Hyt hath swych A prerogatyf And of vertu so grete myght. 1412–20 ― Chron. Troy (E.E.T.S.) 2600 For trewly ȝe..In bewte han a prerogatyfe, Passyng echon,..Amongis flouris as doth þe rede rose. 1555 Eden Decades 340 The moste noble..metals haue obteyned the prerogatiue to be estemed aboue other. 1588 J. Read Compend. Method 62 This medicine hath a great prerogatiue in healing the French poxe. 1605 Camden Rem. (1637) 37 The Greek and Latin have always borne away the prerogative from all other tongues. 1624 Capt. Smith Virginia 22 A country that may haue the prerogatiue over the most pleasant places knowne, for large and pleasant navigable Rivers. 1671 J. Webster Metallogr. iii. 41 What prerogative have Vegetables over Metals. |
3. The right of giving the first vote and thus of serving as a guide or precedent to the votes that follow. (Only an etymological use in English.)
| 1600 Holland Livy xxiv. 513 When it hapned that the centurie of the younger sort was drawne out first by lot, and had the prerogative. 1897 Daily News 20 May 5/1 Tomorrow the vote will be given, and..Cambridge has, in this instance, to use an old word in its original sense, the prerogative. If Cambridge gives women degrees, Oxford cannot continue to withhold them. 1906 Daily Chron. 4 Jan. 6/6 The..attempt to get the Birmingham pollings fixed for an earlier date,..was an effort for ‘prerogative’ in its original sense. |
4. Short for
prerogative court: see 6.
| 1603 Constit. & Can. Eccl. xcii, The Probate..under the seal of the Prerogative. |
5. attrib. and
Comb., as
prerogative-monger,
prerogative notion,
prerogative party;
prerogative case, a cause within the jurisdiction of the prerogative court (see 6);
prerogative copy, a book of which the copyright is a prerogative of the crown;
prerogative lawyer, a lawyer retained in behalf of the royal prerogative;
prerogative man, an advocate or supporter of prerogative;
prerogative office = prerogative court: see 6.
| 1589 Nashe Martins Months Minde 51 My will, being a *prerogatiue case..will hardlie passe with such expedition, as is conuenient. 1596 Harington Metam. Ajax (1814) 62, I have small skill in the law especially in prerogative cases. |
| 1667 Modern Rep. I. 257 The almanack that is before the common-prayer proceeds from a public constitution..and is under the government of the Archbishop of Canterbury, so that almanacks may be considered *prerogative copies. 1766 Blackstone Comm. II. xxvii. 410. |
| 1681 Nevile Plato Rediv. 120 If a Controversie should arise..between the House of Commons and the *Prerogative Lawyers, about the choice of their Speaker. a 1797 H. Walpole Mem. Geo. II (1847) II. iv. 118 Beckford finished the Debate with reflections on the notorious ductility of prerogative lawyers. |
| 1710 M. Henry Comm. Bible, John iv. 46 He was an Herodian, a royalist, a *prerogative man. |
| 1747 Richardson Clarissa (1811) II. xxiii. 152 That little piddling part of the marriage-vow which some *prerogative-monger foisted into the office. |
| 1716 M. Davies Athen. Brit. II. 136 In the *Prerogative Office of the Province of Canterbury. |
| a 1850 J. C. Calhoun Wks. (1874) II. 399 That most dangerous spectacle in a country like ours, a *prerogative party, who take their creed wholly from the mandate of their chief. |
6. prerogative court. The court of an archbishop for the probate of wills and trial of testamentary causes in which effects to the value of five pounds had been left in each of two (or more) dioceses within his province; its jurisdiction was transferred in 1857 to the Court of Probate.
b. In New Jersey,
U.S.A.: A court held by the chancellor sitting as ordinary, in which probate and similar causes are determined.
| [1603 Constit. & Can. Eccl. xcii, Apparitors, both of inferior courts, and of the courts of the Archbishop's Prerogative. Ibid., To prove the said will..in the court of the said Prerogative.] Ibid., The Apparitor of the Prerogative Court. 1610 Holland Camden's Brit. (1637) 181 The Prerogative Court, in which the Commissarie sitteth upon Inheritances fallen either by the Intestate, or by will and testament. a 1613 Overbury Charac., Vertuous Widow Wks. (1856) 138 She would doe it were there no prerogative court. 1766 Blackstone Comm. II. xxxii. 509 The court where the validity of such wills is tried, and the office where they are registered, are called the prerogative court, and the prerogative office, of the provinces of Canterbury and York [Abbrev. P.C.C. and P.C.Y.]. 1846 McCulloch Acc. Brit. Empire (1854) II. 187 The Prerogative Court has jurisdiction of all wills and administrations of personal property left by persons having bona notabilia, or effects of a certain value, in divers jurisdictions within the province. 1857 Act 20 & 21 Vict. c. 79 §7 (Ireland), The Person who..may be the judge of the Prerogative Court, shall be the First Judge of His Majesty's Court of Probate. |
7. prerogative writ. A writ issued on extraordinary occasions in the exercise of the royal prerogative: see
quots.| 1759 Ld. Mansfield in Burrows Reports II. 855 Writs, not ministerially directed, (sometimes called prerogative writs, because they are supposed to issue on the part of the king,) such as writs of mandamus, prohibition, habeas corpus, certiorari, are restrained by no clause in the constitution given to Berwick. 1771 Junius Lett. lxiv. (1797) II. 225 Prerogative writs,..though liable to the greatest abuses, were never disputed. 1898 G. H. B. Kenrick in Encycl. Laws Eng., Prerogative writs..are issued upon cause shown in cases where the ordinary legal remedies are inapplicable or inadequate. Ibid., The prerogative writs in present use are the writs of habeas corpus, mandamus, prohibition, certiorari, procedendo. |
▪ II. prerogative, a. (
prɪˈrɒgətɪv)
[ad. L. prærogātīv-us characterized by being asked first, deriv. of prærogāt-us, pa. pple. of prærogāre to ask before (others), f. præ, pre- A. 1 + rogāre to ask: see prec. and -ive. So F. prérogatif, -ive. The example from Wyntoun in sense 2 stands quite alone in date.] 1. Rom. Hist. Characterized by having the right to vote first. Of a vote: Given first and serving as a precedent for those that follow. Also
transf. prerogative century: see
quot. 1850.
| 1600 Holland Livy xxvi. 601 This fore-dome & choise of the prerogative centurie, all the rest followed after, and by their suffrages confirmed. 1656 J. Harrington Oceana (1658) 76 The Lord High Sheriff, who..is the first Magistrate of the Phylarch, or prerogative Troop. 1783 W. Gordon Livy v. xviii. (1823) 425 Licinius Calvus was by the prerogative tribes chosen military tribune. 1850 Merivale Rom. Emp. (1865) I. ix. 387 note, The prerogative century was chosen by lot from the hundred and ninety-three which constituted the whole number, to give its decision first. 1885 Pall Mall G. 3 Nov., The municipal elections..do not constitute a ‘prerogative’ vote in favour of the Tories. |
2. Of, pertaining to, or arising from prerogative or special privilege; held, enjoyed, or exercised by exclusive prerogative or privilege; privileged.
| 14.. Wyntoun Cron. (Wemyss MS.) iv. 1809 To þis fredome þan, And dignite prerogative, Foroutin ganecalling or strive The Scottis fra þe Pichtis wan [Cott. MS. Þis prerogatywe þan Þe Scottis fra þe Peythtis wan]. |
| 1622 T. Stoughton Chr. Sacrif. ii. 18 He arrogateth the prerogatiue title of Christ Iesus, styling himselfe King of Kings and Lord of Lords. 1768 Blackstone Comm. III. xvii. 258 Much easier and more effectual remedies are usually obtained by such prerogative modes of process, as are peculiarly confined to the crown. 1854 Milman Lat. Chr. vi. iii. (1864) III. 425 It established a kind of prerogative right in the Roman clergy to the Pontificate. 1863 H. Cox Instit. i. v. 28 Many of the prerogative Orders in Council have a legislative character. 1906 Bp. Gore in Westm. Gaz. 1 Sept. 8/3 This means the establishment in the public schools of one kind of religious teaching in the prerogative position. |
3. Having precedence or priority; having the right to lead, leading; pre-eminent.
rare.
| 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. 27 The affirmative hath the prerogative illation, and Barbara engrosseth the powerfull demonstration. 1894 M. W. Maccallum Tennyson's Idylls 87 It might have been expected that the adapter of knightly stories like Palamon and Arcite..would above all be attracted to the prerogative romances of chivalry. |