Reserve Power

In a parliamentary or semi-presidential system of government, a reserve power is a power that may be exercised by the head of state without the approval of another branch of the government. Unlike in a presidential system of government, the head of state is generally constrained by the cabinet or the legislature in a parliamentary system, and most reserve powers are usable only in certain exceptional circumstances. The reserve powers of the President of Ireland are called discretionary powers.

Read more about Reserve Power:  Constitutional Monarchies, Republics

Famous quotes containing the words reserve and/or power:

    I do not know what right I have to so much happiness, but rather hold it in reserve till the time of my desert.
    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)

    I know not whether the remark is to our honour or otherwise, that lessons of wisdom have never such power over us, as when they are wrought into the heart, through the ground-work of a story which engages the passions: Is it that we are like iron, and must first be heated before we can be wrought upon?
    Laurence Sterne (1713–1768)