PARLIAMENT 305
even purchased charters, withdrawing franchises which they had not yet learned to value. Nor, in truth, did the representation of towns at this period afford much protection to the rights and interests of the people. Towns were enfranchised at the will or caprice of the crown and the sheriffs; they could be excluded at pleasure; and the least show of independence would be followed by the omission of another writ of summons. But the principle of representation, once established, was to be developed with the expansion of society; and the despised burgesses of Edward I., not having seceded, like the clergy, were destined to become a potential class in the parliaments of England.
Sitting of Parliament at Westminster. – Another constitutional change during this reign was the summoning of parliament to Westminster instead of to various towns in different parts of the country. This custom invested parliament with the character of a settled institution, and constituted it a high court for the hearing of petitions and the redress of grievances. The growth of its judicature, as a court of appeal, was also favoured by the fixity of its place of meeting.
Authority of Parliament recognized by Law. – Great was the power of the crown, and the king himself was bold and statesmanlike; but the union of classes against him proved too strong for prerogative. In 1297, having outraged the church, the barons, and the commons by illegal exactions, he was forced to confirm the Great Charter and the Charter of Forests, with further securities against the taxation of the people without their consent, and, in return, obtained timely subsidies from the parliament.
Henceforth the financial necessities of a succession of kings ensured the frequent assembling of parliaments. Nor were they long contented with the humble function of voting subsidies, but boldly insisted on the redress of grievances and further securities for national liberties. In 1322 it was declared by statute 15th Edward II. that "the matters to be established for the estate of the king and of his heirs, and for the estate of the realm and of the people, should be treated, accorded, and established in parliament, by the king, and by the assent of the prelates, earls, and barons, and the commonalty of the realm, according as had been before accustomed." The constitutional powers of parliament as a legislature were here amply recognized, not by royal charter, or by the occasional exercise of prerogative, but by an authoritative statute. And these powers were soon to be exercised in a striking form. Already parliament had established the principle that the redress of grievances should have precedence of the grant of subsidies; it had maintained the right of approving councillors of the crown, and punishing them for the abuse of their powers; and in 1327 the king himself was finally deposed, and the succession of his son, Edward III., declared by parliament.
Union of Knights of the Shire and Burgesses. – At this period the constitution of parliament was also settling down to its later and permanent shape. Hitherto the different orders or estates had deliberated separately, and agreed upon their several grants to the crown. The knights of the shire were naturally drawn, by social ties and class interests, into alliance with the barons; but at length they joined the citizens and burgesses, and in the first parliament of Edward III. they are found sitting together as "the Commons."
This may be taken as the turning point in the political history of England. If all the landowners of the country had become united as an order of nobles, they might have proved too strong for the development of national liberties, while the union of the country gentlemen with the burgesses formed an estate of the realm, which was destined to prevail over all other powers. The withdrawal of the clergy, who would probably have been led by the bishops to take part with themselves and the barons, further strengthened the united commons.
Increasing Influence of Parliament. – The reign of Edward III. witnessed further advances in the authority of parliament, and changes in its constitution. The king, being in continual need of subsidies, was forced to summon parliament every year, and in order to encourage its liberality he frequently sought its advice upon the most important issues of peace or war, and readily entertained the petitions of the commons praying for the redress of grievances. During this reign also, the advice and consent of the commons, as well as of the lords spiritual and temporal, was regularly recorded in the enacting part of every statute.
Separation of the Two Houses. – But a more important event is to be assigned to this reign, the formal separation of parliament into the two Houses of Lords and Commons. There is no evidence – nor is it probable – that the different estates ever voted together as a single assembly. It appears from the Rolls of Parliament that in the early part of this reign, the causes of summons having been declared to the assembled estates, the three estates deliberated separately, but afterwards delivered a collective answer to the king. While their deliberations were short, they could be conducted apart, in the same chamber; but, in course of time, it was found convenient for the commons to have a chamber of their own, and they adjourned their sittings to the chapter-house of the abbot of Westminster, where they continued to be held after the more formal and permanent separation had taken place. The date of this event is not clearly established, but is generally assigned to the 17th Edward III.
The Commons as Petitioners. – Parliament had now assumed its present outward form. But it was far from enjoying the authority which it acquired in later times. The crown was still paramount; the small body of earls and barons – not exceeding forty – were connected with the royal family, or in the service of the king, or under his influence; the prelates, once distinguished by their independence, were now seekers of royal favour; and the commons, though often able to extort concessions in return for their contributions to the royal exchequer, as yet held an inferior position among the estates of the realm. Instead of enjoying an equal share in the framing of laws, they appeared before the king in the humble guise of petitioners. Their petitions, together with the king's answers, were recorded in the Rolls of Parliament; but it was not until the parliament had been discharged from attendance that statutes were framed by the judges, and entered on the statute rolls. Under such conditions legislation was, in truth, the prerogative of the crown rather than of parliament. Enactments were often found in the statutes at variance with the petitions and royal answers, and neither prayed for by the commons nor assented to by the lords. In vain the commons protested against so grave an abuse of royal authority; but the same practice was continued during this and succeeding reigns. Henry V., in the second year of his reign, promised "that nothing should be enacted to the petitions of the commons, contrary to their asking, whereby they should be bound without their assent"; but, so long as the old method of framing laws was adhered to, there could be no security against abuse; and it was not until the reign of Henry VI. that the introduction of the more regular system of legislating by bill and statute ensured the thorough agreement of all the estates in the several provisions of every statute.
