On 3/21/07, wikien-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org < wikien-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org> wrote:
From: Jimmy Wales jwales@wikia.com
Of course, England has the same thing. The Queen has to approve each
law. The monarch has done so without exception since, well, I don't know right now, but you could look it up in Wikipedia.
Since 1708 (last Bill refused Royal Assent was to allow a Scottish nobleman to set up a private army, incidentally). The House of Lords analogy is a good one but poorly timed since last night they knowingly broke one of their few self-imposed rules and vetoed a Bill at second reading.
Jimbo clearly has a prerogative of mercy, unblocking some community blocked users (such as Anittas) when they apologise and ask to be let back.
Maybe my English way but I like the idea of keeping Jimbo's power unspecified. We can never know when there may be an intractable dispute over some arcane matter which needs someone to come down and decree a solution. Keeping it unspecified also amounts to a restriction to only important exceptions. A specified power is a restricted one but also turns into a duty to exercise it when the specifications are met.