Prerogative
Encyclopedia
In law
, a prerogative is an exclusive right
given from a government
or state
and invested in an individual or group, the content of which is separate from the body of rights enjoyed under the general law
of the normative state. It was a common facet of feudal law
.
In modern popular culture
usage, the word prerogative has come to mean the egalitarian
condition of the right for anyone's own self-determination
, e.g., that it is "one's prerogative" to do as they please. The antithesis of the legal historic use of the term, being private exclusion from anyone & determined to the individual from without.
Law
Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...
, a prerogative is an exclusive right
Exclusive right
In Anglo-Saxon law, an exclusive right is a de facto, non-tangible prerogative existing in law to perform an action or acquire a benefit and to permit or deny others the right to perform the same action or to acquire the same benefit. A "prerogative" is in effect an exclusive right...
given from a government
Government
Government refers to the legislators, administrators, and arbitrators in the administrative bureaucracy who control a state at a given time, and to the system of government by which they are organized...
or state
State (polity)
A state is an organized political community, living under a government. States may be sovereign and may enjoy a monopoly on the legal initiation of force and are not dependent on, or subject to any other power or state. Many states are federated states which participate in a federal union...
and invested in an individual or group, the content of which is separate from the body of rights enjoyed under the general law
Law
Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...
of the normative state. It was a common facet of feudal law
Feudalism
Feudalism was a set of legal and military customs in medieval Europe that flourished between the 9th and 15th centuries, which, broadly defined, was a system for ordering society around relationships derived from the holding of land in exchange for service or labour.Although derived from the...
.
In modern popular culture
Popular culture
Popular culture is the totality of ideas, perspectives, attitudes, memes, images and other phenomena that are deemed preferred per an informal consensus within the mainstream of a given culture, especially Western culture of the early to mid 20th century and the emerging global mainstream of the...
usage, the word prerogative has come to mean the egalitarian
Egalitarianism
Egalitarianism is a trend of thought that favors equality of some sort among moral agents, whether persons or animals. Emphasis is placed upon the fact that equality contains the idea of equity of quality...
condition of the right for anyone's own self-determination
Self-determination
Self-determination is the principle in international law that nations have the right to freely choose their sovereignty and international political status with no external compulsion or external interference...
, e.g., that it is "one's prerogative" to do as they please. The antithesis of the legal historic use of the term, being private exclusion from anyone & determined to the individual from without.
Topics
- Royal PrerogativeRoyal PrerogativeThe royal prerogative is a body of customary authority, privilege, and immunity, recognized in common law and, sometimes, in civil law jurisdictions possessing a monarchy as belonging to the sovereign alone. It is the means by which some of the executive powers of government, possessed by and...
- Prerogative writPrerogative writPrerogative writs are a class of writs which originate from English law. Originally they were available only to the Crown, but later they were made available to the monarch's subjects through the courts.The prerogative writs are:*certiorari...
- Prerogative courtPrerogative courtA prerogative court is a court through which the discretionary powers, privileges, and legal immunities reserved to the sovereign were exercised. In England in the 17th century a clash developed between these courts, representing the crown's authority, and common law courts. Prerogative courts...
- ExtraterritorialityExtraterritorialityExtraterritoriality is the state of being exempt from the jurisdiction of local law, usually as the result of diplomatic negotiations. Extraterritoriality can also be applied to physical places, such as military bases of foreign countries, or offices of the United Nations...