\Pre*rog"a*tive\, n. [F. pr['e]rogative, 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; pre["e]minence; first rank. [Obs.]
         Then give me leave to have prerogative. --Shak.
Note: 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}.