Ch. XL Sec. III.] Prerogative CopyrigJiL 239 the Crown, and all printing, not only of public books, contain- ing ordinances, religious or civil, but every species of publica- tion whatsoever, was regulated by the King's proclamations, prohibitions, charters of privilege, and, finally, by the decrees of the Star Chamber. " After the demolition of that odious jurisdiction, the Long Parliament, on its rupture with Charles the First, assumed the same power, which had before been in the Crown. After the Restoration, the same restrictions were re-enacted, and re- annexed to the prerogative, by the statute of the 1 3th and 1 4th of Charles the Second, and continued down by subsequent Acts till after the Revolution. In what manner they expired at last, in the time of King William, I need not state in this House. Their happy abolition, and the vain attempts to revive them in the end of that reign, stand recorded on your own journals, I trust, as perpetual monuments of your wisdom and virtue. It is sufficient to say, that the expiration of these disgraceful sta- tutes, by the refusal of Parliament to continue them any long- er, formed the great sera of the liberty of the press in this country, and stripped the Crown of every prerogative over it, except that which, upon just and rational principles of govern- ment, must ev^r belong to the executive magistrate in all coun- tries, namely, the exclusive right to publish religious or civil constitutions — in a word, to promulgate every ordinance by which the subject is to live, and be governed. These always did, and from the very nature of civil government always ought, to belong to the Sovereign, and hence have gained the title of prerogative copies." It is, therefore, on grounds of political and public conveni- ence, that the prerogative copyright exists, and its applicability must be restrained to the reasons for its existence. The law reprobates monopolies, and even in the case of the Crown, they are only allowed to subsist when necessity requires it. It is — 1. As executive magistrate^ that the Crown has the right of promulgating to the people all acts of state and govern- ment. This gives the King the exclusive privilege of printing, at his own press, or that of his grantees, all Acts of Parlia- ment, proclamations, and orders of council {a), 2. As supreme (a) 1 Bla. Rep. 105. 2 Burr. 661. tit. Prerogative, F. 5. Generally, Millar 2 Bla. Com. 410, And see 5 Bac. Ab. u. Taylor. 4 Burr. 2905. head
