From the ſame principle alſo ariſes the prerogative of erecting and diſpoſing of offices: for honours and offices are in their nature convertible and ſynonymous. All offices under the crown carry in the eye of the law an honour along with them; becauſe they imply a ſuperiority of parts and abilities, being ſuppoſed to be always filled with thoſe that are moſt able to execute them. And, on the other hand, all honours in their original had duties or offices annexed to them: an earl, comes, was the conſervator or governor of a county; and a knight, miles, was bound to attend the king in his wars. For the ſame reaſon therefore that honours are in the diſpoſal of the king, offices ought to be ſo likewiſe; and as the king may create new titles, ſo may he create new offices: but with this reſtriction, that he cannot create new offices with new fees annexed to them, nor annex new fees to old offices; for this would be a tax upon the ſubject, which cannot be impoſed but by act of parliament[1]. Wherefore, in 13 Hen. IV, a new office being created by the king's letters patent for meaſuring cloths, with a new fee for the ſame, the letters patent were, on account of the new fee, revoked and declared void in parliament.
Upon the ſame, or a like reaſon, the king has alſo the prerogative of conferring privileges upon private perſons. Such as granting place or precedence to any of his ſubjects, as ſhall ſeem good to his royal wiſdom[2]: or ſuch as converting aliens, or perſons born out of the king's dominions, into denizens; whereby ſome very conſiderable privileges of natural-born ſubjects are conferred upon them. Such alſo is the prerogative of erecting corporations; whereby a number of private perſons are united and knit together, and enjoy many liberties, powers, and immunities in their politic capacity, which they were utterly incapable of in their natural. Of aliens, denizens, natural-born, and naturalized ſubjects, I ſhall ſpeak more largely in a ſubſequent chapter; as alſo of corporations at the cloſe of this book of our commentaries.
