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prerogativemore about prerogative

prerogative


  3  definitions  found 
 
  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913)  [web1913]: 
 
  Prerogative  \Pre*rog"a*tive\,  n.  [F.  pr['e]rogative,  from  L. 
  praerogativa  precedence  in  voting,  preference,  privilege,  fr 
  praerogativus  that  is  asked  before  others  for  his  opinion, 
  that  votes  before  or  first  fr  praerogare  to  ask  before 
  another;  prae  before  +  rogare  to  ask  See  {Rogation}.] 
  1.  An  exclusive  or  peculiar  privilege;  prior  and  indefeasible 
  right  fundamental  and  essential  possession;  --  used 
  generally  of  an  official  and  hereditary  right  which  may  be 
  asserted  without  question,  and  for  the  exercise  of  which 
  there  is  no  responsibility  or  accountability  as  to  the 
  fact  and  the  manner  of  its  exercise. 
 
  The  two  faculties  that  are  the  prerogative  of  man  -- 
  the  powers  of  abstraction  and  imagination.  --I. 
  Taylor. 
 
  An  unconstitutional  exercise  of  his  prerogative. 
  --Macaulay. 
 
  2.  Precedence;  pre["e]minence;  first  rank.  [Obs.] 
 
  Then  give  me  leave  to  have  prerogative.  --Shak. 
 
  Note:  The  term  came  into  general  use  in  the  conflicts  between 
  the  Crown  and  Parliaments  of  Great  Britain,  especially 
  in  the  time  of  the  Stuarts. 
 
  {Prerogative  Court}  (Eng.  Law),  a  court  which  formerly  had 
  authority  in  the  matter  of  wills  and  administrations, 
  where  the  deceased  left  bona  notabilia,  or  effects  of  the 
  value  of  five  pounds,  in  two  or  more  different  dioceses. 
  --Blackstone. 
 
  {Prerogative  office},  the  office  in  which  wills  proved  in  the 
  Prerogative  Court  were  registered. 
 
  Syn:  Privilege;  right  See  {Privilege}. 
 
  From  WordNet  r  1.6  [wn]: 
 
  prerogative 
  n  :  a  right  reserved  exclusively  by  a  particular  person  or  group 
  (especially  a  hereditary  or  official  right);  "suffrage 
  was  the  prerogative  of  white  adult  males"  [syn:  {privilege}, 
  {perquisite},  {exclusive  right}] 
 
  From  THE  DEVIL'S  DICTIONARY  ((C)1911  Released  April  15  1993)  [devils]: 
 
  PREROGATIVE,  n.  A  sovereign's  right  to  do  wrong 
 
 




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