Pre*rog"a*tive (?), n. [F.
prérogative, 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; preëminence; first
rank. [Obs.]
Then give me leave to have
prerogative.
Shak.
☞ 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.