In 1295 Edwrad I, one of the ablest men that ever sat on the English
throne, adopted De Montfort's scheme of representation. The King was
greatly pressed for money, and his object was to get the help of the
towns, and thus secure a system of taxation which should include all
classes. With the significant words, "That which toucheth all should
be approved by all," he summoned to Winchester the first really
complete or "Model Parliament" (S217),[4] consisting of King, Lords
(temporal and spiritual), and Commons.[5] The form Parliament then
received it has kept substantially ever since. We shall see how from
this time the Commons gradually grew in influence,--though with
periods of relapse,--until at length they have become the controlling
power in legislation.
[4] De Montfort's Parliament was not wholly lawful and regular,
because not voluntarily summoned by the King himself. Parliament must
be summoned by the sovereign, opened by the sovereign (in person or by
commission); all laws require the sovereign's signature to complete
them; and, finally, Parliament can be suspended or dissolved by the
sovereign only.
[5] The lower clergy were summoned to send representatives to the
Commons; but they came very irregularly, and in the fourteenth
centrury ceased coming altogether. From that time they voted their
supplies for the Crown in Convocation, until 1663, when Convocation
ceased to meet. The higher clergy--bishops and abbots--met with the
House of Lords.
Two years after the meeting of the "Model Parliament," in order to get
money to carry on a war with France, Edward levied a tax on the
barons, and seized a large quantity of wool belonging to the
merchants. So determined was the resistance to these acts that civil
war was threatened. In order to avert it, the King was obliged to
summon a Parliament, 1297, and to sign a confirmation of all previous
charters of liberties, including the Great Charter (S202). He
furthermore bound himself in the most solemn manner not to tax his
subjects or seize their goods without their consent. Henceforth
Parliament alone was considered to hold control of the nation's purse;
and although this principle was afterwards evaded, no king openly
denied its binding force. Furthermore, in Edward's reign the House of
Commons gained (1322), for the first time, a direct share in
legislation. This step had results of supreme constitutional
importance.
13. Division of Parliament into Two Houses; Growth of the Power of the
Commons; Legislation by Statute; Impeachment; Power over the Purse.
In Edward III's reign a great change occurred in Parliament. The
knights of the shire (about 1343) joined the representatives from the
towns, and began to sit apart from the Lords as a distince House of
Commons. This union gave that House a new charactyer, and invested it
with a power in Parliament which the representation from the towns
alone could not have exerted. But though thus strengthened, the
Commons did not venture to claim an equal part with the Lords in
framing laws. Their attitude was that of humble petitioners. When
they had voted the supplies of money which the King asked for, the
Commons might then meekly beg for legislation. Even when the King and
the Lords assented to their petitions, the Commons often found to
their disappointment that the laws which had been promised did not
correspond to those for which they had asked. Henry V pledged his
word (1414) that the petitions, when accepted, should be made into
laws without any alteration. But, as a matter of fact, this was not
effectually done until the close of the reign of Henry VI (about
1461). Then the Commons succeeded in obtaining the right to present
proposed laws in the form of regular bills instead of petitions.
These bills when enacted became statues or acts of Parliament, as we
know them to-day. This change was a most important one, since it made
it impossible for the King with the Lords to fraudulently defeat the
expressed will of the Commons after they had once assented to the
legislation which the Commons desired.
Meanwhile the Commons gained, for the first time (1376), the right of
impeaching such ministers of the Crown as they had reason to believe
were unfaithful to the interests of the people. This, of course, put
an immense restraining power in their hands, since they could now make
the ministers responsible, in great measure, for the King.[1]
[1] But after 1450 the Commons ceased to exercise the right of
impeachment until 1621, when they impeached Lord Bacon and others.
Next (1406), the Commons insisted on having an account rendered of the
money spent by the King; and at times they even limited[2] their
appropriations of money to particular purposes. Finally, in 1407, the
Commons took the most decided step of all. They boldly demanded and
obtained *the exclusive right of making all grants of money* required
by the Crown.[3]
[3] This right the Commons never surrendered.
In future the King, unless he violated the law, had to look to the
Commons--that is, to the direct representation of the mass of the
people--for his chief supplies. This made the will of the Commons
more powerful than it had ever been.
14. Religious Legislation; Emancipation of the Villeins;
Disfranchisement of County Electors.
The Parliament of Merton had already (1236) refused to introduce the
canon or ecclesiatical law (S265). In the next century two very
important statutes relating to the Church were enacted,--that of
Provisors (1350)[4] and the Great Act of Praemunire,
1393,[1]--limiting the power of the Pope over the English Church. On
the other hand, the rise of the Lollards had caused a statute to be
passed (1401) against heretics, and under it the first martyr had been
burned in England. During this period the villeins had risen in
insurrection (1381) (SS250-252), and were gradually gaining their
liberty. Thus a very large body of people who had been practically
excluded from political rights now began to slowly acquire them.[2]
But, on the other hand, a statute was enacted (1430) which prohibited
all persons having an income of less than forty shillings a year--or
what would be equal to forty pounds at the present value of money--
from voting for knights of the shire (S297). The consequence was that
the poorer and humbler classes in the country were no longer directly
represented in the House of Commons.
[4] Provisors: this was a law forbidding the Pope to provide any
person (by anticipation) with a position in the English Church until
the death of the incumbent.
[1] Praemunire: see Constitutional Documents, p. xxxii. Neither the
law of Provisors nor of Praemunire was strictly enforced until
Henry VIII's reign.
[2] Villeins appear, however, to have had the right of voting for
knights of the shire until the statute of 1430 difranchised them.
15. Wars of the Roses; Decline of Parliament; Partial Revival of its
Power under Elizabeth.
The Civil Wars of the Roses (1455-1485) gave a decided check to the
further development of parliamentary power. Many noble families were
ruined by the protracted struggle, and the new nobles created by the
King were pledged to uphold the interests of the Crown. Furthemore,
numerous towns absorbed in their own local affairs ceased to elect
members to the Commons. Thus, with a House of Lords on the side of
royal authority, and with a House of Commons diminished in numbers and
in influence, the decline of the independent attitude of Parliament
was inevitable.
The result of these changes was very marked. From the reign of
Henry VI to that of Elizabeth, a period of nearly a hundred and forty
years, "the voice of Parliament was rarely heard." The Tudors
practically set up a new or "personal monarchy," in which their will
rose above both Parliament and the constitution;[3] and Henry VII,
instead of asking the Commons for money, extorted it by fines
enforcedby his Court of Star Chamber, or compelled his wealthy
subjects to grant it to him in "benevolences" (S330)--those "loving
contributions," as the King called them, "lovingly advanced"!
[3] Theoretically Henry VII's power was restrained by certain checks
(see S328, note 1), and even Henry VIII generally ruled according to
the letter of the law, however much he may have violated its spirit.
It is noticable, too, that it was under Henry VIII (1541) that
Parliament first formally claimed freedom of speech as one of its
"undoubted privieges."
During this period England laid claim to a new continent, and
Henry VIII, repudiating the authority of the Pope, declared himself
the "supreme head" (1535) of the English Catholic Church. In the next
reign (Edward VI) the Catholic worship, which had existed in England
for nearly a thousand years, was abolished (1540), and the Protestant
faith became henceforth--except during Mary's short reign--the
established religion of the kingdom. It was enforced by two Acts of
Uniformity (1549, 1552). One effect of the overthrow of Catholicism
was to change the character of the House of Lords, by reducing the
number of spiritual lords from a majority to a minority, as they have
ever since remained (S406, note 2).
At the beginning of Elizabeth's reign the Second Act of Supremacy
(1559) shut out all Catholics from the House of Commons (S382),
Protestantism was fully and finally established as the state
religion,[1] embodied in the creed known as the Thirty-Nine Articles
(1563); and by the Third Act of Uniformity (1559) very severe measures
were taken against all--whether Catholics or Puritans--who refused to
conform to the Episcopal mode of worship. The High Commission Court
was organized (1583) to try and to to punish heretics--whether
Catholics or Puritans. The great number of paupers caused by the
destruction of the monasteries under Henry VIII and the gradual decay
of relations of feudal service caused the passage of the first Poor
Law (1601) (S403), and so brought the Government face to face with a
problem which has never yet been satisfactorily settled; namely, what
to do with habitual paupers and tramps.
[1] By the Third Act of Uniformity and the establishment of the High
Commission Court (S382). The First and Second Acts of Uniformity were
enacted under Edward VI (S362).
The closing part of Elizabeth's reign marks the revival of
parliamentary power. The House of Commons now had many Puritan
members, and they did not hesitate to assert their right to advise the
Queen on all questions of national importance. Elizabeth sharply
rebuked them for presuming to meddle with questions of religion, or
for urging her either to take a husband or to name a successor to the
throne; but even she did not venture to run directly counter to the
will of the people. When the Commons demanded (1601) that she should
put a stop to the pernicious practice of granting trading monopolies
(S388) to her favorites, she was obliged to yield her assent.