The National Register.
London, England, 1817-04-07 00:00:00

vtioirr+

Pitter: 9,),d.

large, which is and always must have been impracti-
cable.
In Edw. I. Legate to the ,pope, there is ft testimony
to the practice of parliaments meeting twice in a year,
well worthy of our observation ; it relates to a yearly
tribute of 1000 marks, which the popes from the time
of King John enacted. and of which there were at this
time some arrears. The king's excuse to the nuncio
was, that from the pressure of business, and I,is own
sickness, he haul not come to any resolution in his par-
liament which he had accustomed to hold at Easter,
but by common advice, he would give him an answer
In his 'Michaelmas parliament, thus rpcakirg of them
both as customary. Pro firm° sciheri pie pelt rrt domino,
quad in alio porliamo. nostro quad ad Pstion
preer. petur. intendimus, daele domino, cciebrarr, hahio
cl ronnonnirata ea-cilia emus prelatio et proceribus me-
moratis vends super pramissis ipsorum consilio aahinus
responsionem. " Know, pious father and lord, that in
our other parliament, which we desire to hold at the
next feast of 't. Michaelmas, with God's permission,
we and the prelates, and peers aforesaid, in council had
thereon, will by their advice, give you an ans-.euer. on
premises.—See clause rolls 3, Edw. I. in. 9, scedula.
Prvin p. 158.
It no where appears that prorogation or any length
of' adjournments were practised in those days ; and the
law being that parliaments should be held twice cr
oftener, this record is a complete proof that there were
two parliaments in that year.
The sitting of parliament was usually 40 days, so
low as Rie. II.; and if they were longer detained the
subject of the wages of the knights and burgesses came
into dispute ; and Knyghtun, p. has preserved
one memorable record of this fact, Meant <giant, 4-c.
" In short they say that they have an ancient statute,
whereby if the King wilfully absent himself from his
Parliament, not having any infirmities or other cause
of necessity, but per immoderatam roluntatem proiervi ,
Bx. 40 days, not caring for the vexation of his people
and their heavy expense, it shall then be lawful fir
them all to withdraw from the chnnigerioregis, and re-
turn to their own homes.

It is supposed by Lord Coke that until 8 Henry IV.
the whole parliament sat together, because at that date
they ordered their speaker to put his seal to their uct
concerning the succession to the crown ; previous to
which date there is no such instan,se, but, an the
contrary, at the parliament of :28 Edward the First,
in the letters then sent to the Pope, the coneltte
ing► teste is, In cu/as rei leslitnun:uni sigilla nat.
tra tam pro nobis ream pro tulu eunmunitahr pred.
Regni Anglia presentik stint appensa. Certain, it is,
that ut the first both houses sat together, as it silvan
in the treatise De nwdo tenendi Parliontentum.—
And in the parliamentary rolls of Edward 111.
nu. and 6 Edward 111. in divers places; and
that the commons had no continual speaker ; but after
consultation had, they agreed upon some one or more of
them that had greatest aptitude fine present business to
deliver their resolution, which wrought great delo!ys of
proceeding, and thereupon the houses were divided ;
and the surest mark of the time of the divition of then
is, when the House of Commons at the first had a con.
tinual speaker, us at this day it bath. After the divi.
sion, the commons sat in the chapter house if the abbot
of Westminster. (Rol. Par. 30 Ed. 111. nu. 8.-4 kora,
.!.) until I Edw. VI. 1517, when the statute iNf that
year, ch. 14, having vested in the crown the (alleges,
chapels, and chauntries of monastic foundation, the
king became possessed of the ancient unl beautiful Irre
chipel of St. Stephen, founded lJy King Stephen ; and
since that time it has served for the Ihru,se of Comracus,
4 Inst. '25.1

In these early times it dory ant appear haw tte,sc
mem. wi re acco‘tomed to :pienitile, unr whether they :vet
in ode or in different ; tint ia Kir. II otos to ;;an
ericn in, 1317, and a:ital.:l till I 3 119 , the Ott in Ito limo. ss
:mil this was the case at the ilittlimoielli holden. at
)lort•OVer—lst Cotton's alit Moneta c 1 Cie Records in the
.r„„„,.. 5 Edw. IL. A. I). 131'4. It Iltat a raslim.
meta shalt tie held one sir too time, a uri a hat9l ii may
ire atttril, that the rule of ultee w yi•iir is SMACChati,,Cti
into mace or to jet,. •
3'; Edw. LI I. .t. I). t203--Hot maintenance of :the .sill
articles and statute.,, anti ri•slreAs of dncr, ini‘chiets, which
(laity happen, positameet ••1i..1; he beide,* c,ct**% year; as , fec t• ,
stmt tunem slateed ity .1.0%4, Edw. 111. , is
order' d, that a porilanient shall be Ismail, et el. year mice, -r t. 41,N,0"-
aml mere ofti n it need be.
.." 'tat*
50 Edw. 111. A. 1). l:;77 -The parliament's demon() Sto,
1„.;;;,„, thitt a milli-mm.o may lit li•-kt• every yele the j
kiti4;llA Of ILL: rill nt Wily he chosen Pt :h. talicl.stoutt- •0-
mid that lite sheriff lit e.:l,brmt he
Tlic king's aloe rr iaa to the parliament !lure are
•
• ,j!jra
•

106

made therefore ; to the sheriffs there is answer made ; to the
knights it is agreed that they shall be chosen by the common

conseut of every county.
It. ll.—Ttie petition was, p. 165, that a parliament may be
yearly holden, in convenient place, to redress delays in snits,
and to end such cases as the juilees doubt of. To which the
kina's answer was, it shall be as it bath been used : and in
2 Ric. 11. the reason fur opening the parliament was stated
to he, secondly, for that it was enacted that a parliament
stoma! yearly be livid.
This law remained lin a space of 262 years, till 16 Car. I.
when that klag having discontinued parlianiente for 12 years,
the nation found a necessity of having a cautionary parlia-
ment every third year t' secure their annual parliaments fur
the two year- immediately foregoing. This is said to be the
tine reason of the act for a triennial parliament, A. D. 1640.
The first enactineat of this statute was, that the laws for a
parliament, to be holden at least once a year, shall hereafter
be duly kept and observed. Scohel. Collat. 16111 Carl. e. 1.
This Act was afterwards repealed by 16 Car. 11. c. 1. whit It
in its preamble denounces the Act of Car. L as in derogation
of his Majesty's jll4 light% and prerogative inherent to the
Imperial Crown of this realm, for the calling and assembling
of Parliament, and may he an occasion of manila,' inkehiels
and inconveniences' and much eudanger the peace and surely
of his Majesty, and all his liege people of this realm. And
after having enacted, in s. 2, the repeal, it proceeds, a. 3, to
declare the law to be, that because by the ancient laws and
statutes of this realm (made 4 Ed. lit. c. 11, and 36 Ed. 111.
C. 10), " parliaments are to be held very often;" that here.
after the sitting and holding of parliaments shall not be
intermitted or discontinued above three years at the most,
but that within three years from the deteraiination of that
parliament, and so from time to time within three years after
the determination of any other parliament : or if there be
occasion inure often, the King and his successors should issue
writs fur calling, assembling, and holding another parliament,
to the end there may be a frequent calling, !ex. once in three
years at the least.
Thus the parliamentary law continued until 1691, 6 W. and
ta 2, when the la-t ,talute was re-enacted. but in s. 3, it
was further declared, that no parliament whatsoever that
sautild at any time hereafter be called, should have any coa-
tinuance longer th to tin three years only at the farthest, from
the day of meetine specified in the munitions'; and that that
parliament should' cease on Ist Nuv. 106, unless sooner
dissolved.
There was a dissolution and anew parliament begun on 22d
of Nov 1695, at Westminster; and by an act in 1696, c. 2a,
for regulativas elections, the qualification of voters is, freehold
lands or heridaincots of the yearly value of 40s.
The period of parliaments having thus crept on, continued
21 years npon the last statute when, in 1715, 1 (leo. 1. it was
further extended, c. 3H, to it term of seven years and no
longer, not only fur that, bat for all future parliaments, nuicss
sooner dissolved. It is stated in the preamble, that it had
been found by experience that the triennial act hail proved
very grievous and burdensome, by occasioning much greater
and more continued e spences in order to elections, and more
violent and lastiog heats and animosities amongst the subjects
of the realm, than were ever known before that clause was
enacted; and that the provision, if it should continue' might
probably at that juncture, when a restless and Popishfite'ion
wei e designing and endeavouring totenew the rebellion within
the kingdom, and an invasion from abroad, be destructive to
the peace and security of the government.
This bill originated with the Duke of Devonshire in the
house of Lords, and was much opposed by Earls of Notting-
ham, Abingdon, and Pinilet, on the grounds that frequent
pailia cents were required by the fundamental constitaitioll
of the kingdom, ascertained in the practice of wally ages ;
alt that the members of the lower In Rise were chosen by the
body of the nation. In a certain term of years, at the expira-
tion of which they conk' be no longer representatives R f the
people; who, by the parliament's aroma., mg its own auilim
rity, would be deprived of the illy remedy which they had
against those who, through ignorance or corruption, betrayed
the trust reposed in them: and that a long parliament would
yield a greater temptation, as well as a better opportunity, to
a vicious iteeistry, to corrupt the members, than they could
possibly have when the parliaments were short and fralness' ;
2 :Smut. 330. The bill passed in the tipsier house by a majority
of 35—Thor being 96 in the affiimative, and 61 in the
negative, and 30 lords entered a strong protest against it. In
eonsequetice of this proceeiline, various petitions were
presented to the House of Commons from ihtleresit parts of the
country, declaring that the people looked upon it as an
attempt to overturn the constitution—but it passed by 264
against 121.—Hiss. Mag. ch. xxxviii.
From these testimonies it appears, that annual parliaments,
and sometimes two parliaments within the year, were the
custom of the realm ; hut that the legislature afterwards
thought fit to extend their duration to three years; and the
same high authority, in later tittles, further extended them to
seven years: but it does not any where appear that unisersal
mithriree was ever the light of the people, for a qualification
and free hargeeses, a rent of 40s. gave this privilege to the few
VllO held solllrlenore of that value, over those who held not
any properly to qualify them for more than labour. A. H.

NATIONAL REGISTER._