Note 863 — MAGNA CARTA. (continued 5)

So far all authorities are agreed, though a difference of opinion exists as to the source of these prerogatives. Thus (a) Stephen Dowell, History of Taxation and Taxes in England, I. 75, considers that the duties on imports and exports were in their origin of the nature of voluntary dues paid by foreign merchants in return for freedom of trade and royal protection; (b) Hubert Hall, Customs Revenue of England, I. 58-62, considers the prerogative as merely one aspect of purveyance, that is of the right of the king to requisition what he required for his own needs and those of his household. Many such “theories” are anachronisms. The prerogative was founded on fact—on the brute force at the Crown’s disposal. Kings took what they could, and left future ages to invent theories to justify or explain their actions.