Pre-rŏg'a-tive, n.

n. [Fr. prerogative, Pr., Sp., Pg., & It. prerogativa, from Lat. prærogativa, precedence in voting, preference, privilege, from prærogativus, that is asked before others for his opinion, that votes before or first, from prærogare, to ask before another, from præ, before, and rogare, to ask.] 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.

☞— The term occurs most frequently in the history of the conflicts between the Crown and Parliaments of Great Britain, especially in the time of the Stuarts.

Prerogative court (Eng. Law), a court which, before the recent changes in the probate system of England, 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. Brande. Blackstone. Wharton.—Prerogative office, the office in which wills proved in the Prerogative Court are registered.

Synonyms—Privilege; right. See PRIVILEGE.