746 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
Now I would turn to the second part of the question, namely, whether Parliament need be consulted in a matter of this sort. As you know, in England, the position has varied from time to time. At one time the view that was taken was this, that was a matter which related to the prerogative of the king. And prerogative means what ? Let me define it briefly. Prerogative means the power of the king to do something for which Parliamentary sanction is not necessary. This is the gist of what is called the prerogative right of the king. Therefore the old view was that since cession of territory was the result of the prerogative of the king, it was not necessary to bring the matter before Parliament because the king was supreme, unless Parliament, by specific law took away the prerogative of the king to make treaty and to cede territory. And as Parliament has not done that, the king has got the power. All the same, treaties ceding territory have come before Parliament in England and I will briefly explain the reason why they have come before Parliament. In the first place, the Government in England has felt that it is much better to obtain the sacntion of Parliament to the cession of territory because it was deducting so much territory belonging to sovereignty and over which Parliament exercised supremacy. Therefore, nothing ought to be done without the consent of Parliament. The second reason why it became necessary for the British Government to bring treaties of cession before Parliament was this. It was felt that the transfer of territority was after all, a transfer of the nationality of the people residing in that particular territory. The reason is that when you transfer territory, by virtue of that transfer you also practically transfer the nationality of the people. They became citizens of another State. It was felt that this was too much and it was necessary to consult Parliament whether such a step should be taken, because it was possible that Parliament may insist that the cession should not be in absolute terms but subject to certain conditions. For instance, Parliament may say that although the territory may be transferred, the nationality of the people should not be transferred by virtue of the transfer and that the people may be permitted to maintain their old nationality