The defence of royal prerogative in matters ecclesiastical had a long high church lineage.
These were the areas, he argued, in which the struggle between the royal prerogative and ' constitutional forces ' - as he defined ' politics ' - took place.
No civil servant, no matter how exalted his rank, questioned the royal prerogative to entertain such direct appeals and to act on them.
He would not allow encroachment, as he saw it, on royal prerogative.
However, the lords cannot be criticized for trying to plumb the depths of the legal labyrinth without prejudice either to royal prerogative or the liberty of the subject.
Concerns had been raised in the 1610 parliament that the politic mystification of the royal prerogative by apologists for absolutism was designed to undermine parliamentary privileges.
The truth is that the royal prerogative is a phrase of the widest possible import.
Nor is the royal prerogative of mercy used to grant special remission in respect of civil cases.
