A proclamation (Lat. proclamare, to make public by announcement) is an official declaration. In English law, a proclamation is a formal announcement ("royal proclamation"), made under the great seal, of some matter which the King in Council or Queen in Council desires to make known to his or her subjects: e.g., the declaration of war, or state of emergency, the statement of neutrality, the summoning or dissolution of Parliament, or the bringing into operation of the provisions of some statute the enforcement of which the legislature has left to the discretion of the king in the announcement.