In later times, the House of Commons took upon themselves, without the sanction of any legal ordinance and enactment, to be the sole Judges in their own Causes, and to extend their Privileges far beyond their Speaker's Petition, the King's Concessions and their ancient Boundaries; so that few or none have been able to know or determine their abitrary, and almost boundless limits. In 13 Car. II., an important Resolution for confining Protections to menial Servants was adopted by the Commons, and strongly recommended to the Lords; and Feb. 20, 1663, a further vote of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, requires, "that no Protections shall be granted to any Person or Persons, that are not, or shall not be their Lordships' Menials, or Persons necessarily and properly employed about their Estates:" which latter clause had never before appeared, in the Rolls, Writs of Privilege, or in the Commons' Votes. The Writs "de Expensis" supply not only precise information as to the amount of Wages paid to the several Members of the Parliaments and Councils, and as to the term of their Privilege, but they ascertain with sufficient accuracy the duration of all those meetings in which such Writs were issued. They are generally tested on the last day of the Session. This, however, is not universally the case. The Test is sometimes on the day following, as in 35 and 43 Edward III., &c., and, if a Sunday intervenes, on the Monday following, or two days after. The Writs are sometimes several days after the Session, as in Í Richard II., when the Parliament ended Nov. 28, and the Writs bear date Dec. 5. This sometimes arose from the circumstance, that certain Members were detained longer than others, and that all the Writs are not extant. In the earlier Parliaments, it happened occasionally, that two several Writs were issued by the King, one being on the first, the second on the last day of the Session, a fact which requires some attention. Thus, in the Parliament, 5 Edward I., there is a Writ, tested Jan. 20, the first day of the Session, directing the Expences for those just arrived "Nuper Venientibus," and a Second Writ of March 10, ordering the same for those "qui venerunt in 8vis Si. Hilarii proximo præteriti." In 14 Edward I., the Test is on the day of meeting, and there is no record of a Second Writ. It has been observed, that the Writs for the same Parliament now and then differ from one another, some individuals having been detained after the rest had been dismissed. Examples of this kind occur, 27 Edward III., 12 and 20 Oct., and 28 Edward III., 20 and 22 May. Notwithstanding these variations, the Rule of the Writ bounding the Session or Parliament, is the safest that can be adopted, where no positive Record exists precisely determining the day; and in numerous instances, it is the only guide which we possess. The Table of Parliaments hereunto annexed is, in the earlier Reigns, constructed entirely on this principle. (9) (9) On this Table the following remarks may be made. It is drawn up in the earlier Reigns from the Writs "de Expensis," and from the Rolls. The Authority of the former is distinguished by the Letter (W), and of the latter, by the Letters (R) or (D). Where the Letter D occurs, the fact of the Dissolution is accurately known; where the letter R is inserted, the term of the Parliament is fixed either by the specific assignment of "the last day," or it has been ascertained from certain particulars connected with the Proceedings, as in 25 Henry 6, Rolls 11., 133. In many instances neither the Writs, nor Rolls, contain the required information. The term prescribed for the duration of the Parliament includes both the first and last days, which appears from the Writ, 1 Richard 2, to have been the customary practice. The several Sessions are constituted by the Prorogations commanded by the King, and are marked with the Numerals 1, 2, 3, 4, &c. The Adjournments, even by the King's command, did not constitute a Session, much less so those which were the Acts of the Houses themselves. It is not, however, easy to determine always which were actual Sessions, constituted by Prorogation, as the terms" adjornare" and "continuare" are used very indiscriminately, and sometimes both together. The shorter Adjournments by the Houses are altogether omitted. In the later Reigns, the Rolls and Journals are the sources of information, but often disappoint our most careful inquiry. The duration of the earlier Parliaments is easily measured by Days, as there was generally It will be observed with regard to the frequent Prorogations, and variable duration of many of these Parliaments, that the cause was more frequently to be ascribed to uncontrollable or accidental circumstances, than to the mere arbitrary will, or indolence of the Sovereign. The first clear instance of two several Sessions occurs in 5 Ric. II., when on account of the Christmas Holidays, and the Marriage of the King, an adjournment takes place. In 7 Henry IV., again, the Festival of Easter, and the Period of Hay and Corn Harvest, are, as frequently afterwards happens, a reason for proroguing the Parliament. Even before this time, and in many of the succeeding instances of long and frequent Adjournments or Prorogations, a much more stringent necessity for such intervals of vacation, existed in the awful dispensations of Pestilence with which the Nation, and especially the Cities of London and Westminster were so often afflicted. For instances of this kind see the Reigns of Edward III., Henry VI., (23), Henry VIII., (21-26), Edward VI., Elizabeth, (5-8-9), James I., (4-8), and Charles II., (1-4), in whose reign occurred also the calamitous visitation of Fire. To these causes, if we add the frequent interruption arising from Wars, Rebellion, Tumults, and the desires of the Parliaments themselves, it will be found that much less blame is attributable to the Sovereign than to circumstances over which he had no controul. Though the same impediments often stood in the way of holding frequent Parliaments, it is not possible in the same degree to extenuate the errors of those Sovereigns of later times, who, in breach of the existing Laws, and therefore of the Privilege of the Subject, suffered many years to elapse without assembling the States of the Realm for the removal of Grievances and the correction of Abuses, by the establishment of new or improved Legislative Enactments. Whatever may have been the previous practice as to the holding of the King's Courts at certain stated seasons of the year, determinable by the great Festivals, it is certain that such practice as regarded Assemblies meeting for the purposes of Legislation had been either in abeyance, or had deviated from its former original and customary purpose, when in the Charter of John, it was enacted that a Common Council of the Kingdom should be summoned according to a definite and prescribed Law. It is, however, remarkable that the renewed Charter, 1 Henry III., altogether omits the Clauses which relate to the Constitution of the Commune Concilium, and it is not till the 3d of Edward the Second, that among certain Ordinances made by the Ordainers, and which were confirmed, A. R. 5, it is decreed that to remedy Delays in the Courts of Justice, the King should hold a Parliament once in every year, or twice, if there should be need. This same Law, "That a Parliament shall be holden every year once, more often, if necessary, is again accorded, 4 Edward III.; a third and fourth times, 50 Edw. III. and 1 Rich. II. These Regulations, it is evident, applied to earlier periods of the Constitution of England, when the business to be transacted was very limited, and was previously prepared and arranged by the King and his Council. In those times, the Commons were chiefly called for the purposes of giving their consent, and of granting Aids and Scutages; and if ever they were consulted on the Proceedings of the Parliament, considered themselves so little competent to afford advice, that, according to the practice of many Centuries, they earnestly and humbly requested the assistance of a Committee of Lords Spiritual and Temporal, declaring, upon such occasions, (7 Rich. II.) "that but a Single Session. In later times the whole term, from the first to the last day, is included, though there may have been numerous Prorogations and Adjournments, and the days actually occupied by business may have been a small portion of that Period. The Text itself of this Volume, upon some occasions, requires to be supplied from this Table, which though deficient, offers, it is hoped, a more complete and accurate arrangement of the Parliaments of England than has hitherto been published. it did not beseem them to give advice on the great affairs of the nation." With the increasing importance of the Commons, grew also the necessity for a longer period of sitting; and the extension of the term of Parliaments was co-existent with the acknowledged requirements of the State. The prolongation of the Session, or Parliament, was then frequently conceded on the Petition of the Commons, and the Sovereign with difficulty coerced the influence which by this enlargement of their time for acting, was easily acquired by the Third Estate. To this struggle for superiority, the Nation owes all the misfortunes and miseries which resulted from the Long Parliament, when, for so many years, “a handful of tyrants" set at defiance Laws human and divine, and trampled on the Liberties and Privileges of the free born subjects of England. It will be recollected however, that the Triennial Act, 16 Car. I., was an Act "to prevent the Inconveniences happening by the long Intermission of Parliaments," and notwithstanding its Preamble, which recites the Laws and Statutes for holding a Parliament at least once every year, enacts only a duration of 50 days, unless with the consent of either House respectively; and no intermission for a longer period than three years beyond the dissolution of such Parliament: so that though the term of sitting could not be less than 50 days, it might extend through the whole three years, and be followed by an interval of three years short of the space between Sept. 3 and the 2d Monday in November following. In the 16th Car. II. this Act was repealed, and a new one adopted, "That Parliaments shall not be Intermitted above Three years." By the Charter of John, it was ordained, that a Summons to attend the great Councils should be issued at least 40 days before the day of their meeting, and though this clause was wholly omitted in the subsequent Charters, yet the practice so introduced extended through all succeeding Reigns. There were, however, in cases of extreme necessity, some occasional exceptions to this Rule. Even in 49 Henry III., the Summons to the Bishops, is but of 26 days, and of the Barons of the Cinque Ports, but of one day. Again, in 4 Edward III., the tests of the Writs are at a distance of 31 and 23 days only, with a Clause against the Precedent. (r) In 1 Henry IV., there were but 6 days between the Writs of Summons and the Parliament then to be holden. In 28 Eliz., the Writ tested 15 Sept. orders the Parliament to meet on the 15th October, 30 days. In ancient times, Parliaments were frequently summoned to meet on Sunday, of which instances may be seen, 27 Edward I., (3); 2 Edward II., (2); 3, 6, 7, 9, 10, 18 Edward II.; 1, 2, 3, 30, 35, 43 Edward III.; after which no Parliament appears to have been so appointed, excepting in the case of the prorogued Meeting of 5 Ric. II. The first Record which relates to the Place of the Parliament assembling, is, 17 Edward III., when, according to the Rolls, the Prelates and Lords met in the Chambre Blanche, and the Commons in the Chambre de Peynte, and both afterwards united in the Chambre Blanche. These were apartments in the Palatial Buildings, at Westminster, which formed the principal Residence of Edward, the Confessor. According to Messrs. Brayley and Britton, tradition has even identified the Chamber where he died as that which after generations called the Painted Chamber, by which name it is yet distinguished. In 1478, it was known by the appellation of St. Edward's Chamber. The Commons, however, did not continue to occupy this as their peculiar place of assembling, for, in 1352, 25 Edward III., they are Ordered to repair to the "Chapter House;" and in 1376, 50 Edward III., they meet "in their (r) The term was, however, generally of 50 days, and sometimes of two months. In 28 Edward 1, the Summons for the 8ves. of St. Hilary following, is tested Sept 26, and such instances are not infrequent. wonted place, the Chapter House of the Abbey. (s) In the following year, 51 Edward III, the Parliament meets in the Painted Chamber. In 1 Rich. II., The Assembly is first held in the "Chambre Blanke" of the Palace, and then in the Chambre de Peintée. In 2 Ric. II., "The House called the Chapitre, in the Great Cloister of the Abbey, is assigned to the Commons," and the Parliament meets in the Chambre de Peintée. In 18 Rich. II., The Commons assemble in "the Chapter House, or Refectory." In 7 Hen. IV., The Parliament meets in the Chambre de Peintée. 3 Henry V., "The Commons go to their accustomed Place, the Freytour in the Abbey." 15 and 39 Henry VI., The Parliament meets in the "Camera depicta, juxta magnam Cameram Parliamenti, infra Palatium Westmonasterii." 17 Edward IV., The Parliament assembles in the "Camera depicta, vulgariter nuncupata, Camera Sancti Edwardi, infra Palatium.” 1 Henry VII, in the "Camera communiter dicta Crucis, infra Palat. Westm.," and so in the years, 3, 4, 5, 7, 11, 12. In the year 19, in the "Camera Magna, vulgariter dicta Crucis, juxta Capellam et Oratoria infra Pal. Westm." Under Henry VIII., the Parliament met, annis 1, 3, 6, in the Painted Chamber; 31, in the "Parliament Chamber; "and 35, in "the House of Lords," so designated for the first time. The Commons continued to occupy the Chapter House till the year 1547, when Edward VI. granted the Chapel of St. Stephen for their meetings. But though the Cities of London and Westminster were always considered the chief seat of the Parliament, yet many accidental circumstances occasioned its frequent removal to other Cities. During the King's necessary absence from his Metropolis, from Wars or other causes, and under the constant recurrence of the Plague or other calamitous inflictions in its neighbourhood, they were held, as convenience recommended, or as the King's pleasure dictated, at Cambridge, Coventry, Carlisle, Gloucester, Leicester, Lincoln, Northampton, Nottingham, Oxford, Reading, New Sarum and Winchester; and at these several places the same rule for the payment of Wages, according to distance, was observed, as was so carefully adopted at London, or Westminster. (t) The first use of the word Parliament, according to Prynne, occurs in the Writ of Summons to the Cinque Ports, 49 Henry III.; but there is one previous Record of the employment of the term in the King's Letters of Safe Conduct to the Envoys of Llewelin, to attend the meeting at Oxford, tested, 2 June, A. R. 42. It next occurs in the Writ of Prorogation, 3 Edw. I., as "generale Pleamentum nostrum" and "eidem Pleamento." We find it, afterwards, 23 Edward I.; but all the following Writs to 28 Edward I., employ the term "Colloquium." Even this latter Writ says, "Pleamentum tenere, vobiscum speciale Colloquium et Tractatum habere.' The Prologue to the Statutes of Westminster, 1,3 Edward I., and 7 Edw. I., and the Statutes of Westminster, 2, 13 Edward I., are the first Acts or Statutes which employ this term. The first Historian who applies the word Parliament to the Councils of (s) The ancient Chapter House, Westminster, according to Matthew of Westminster, was erected by Henry 3. It was very early devoted to State purposes. Soon after the Commons ceased to occupy it (1547), certainly in the reign of Elizabeth, this building was used as a Repository for the Records of the "Four Treasuries of the Exchequer." On an Address of the House of Lords to Queen Anne, voted 4th March, 1705, the Chapter House was put into thorough Repair, under Sir Christopher Wren. See Brayley's Hist. and Antiq. of Westminster Abbey, ii., 298. In the History of the Ancient Palace, and late Houses of Parliament, Westminster, St. Stephen's Chapel, Westminster Hall, Court of Requests, and the Painted Chamber, by Messrs. Brayley and Britton, 1836, see a Chronological Account of the Parliaments, Councils, and Courts, held in these Palatial Residences from the year 1225, 9 Henry 3. (t) In Prynne, iv., 662. See a Calendar or Diurnal of the Days allowed for Expences, according to these several distances. the Realm, is Matthew Paris, who flourished about the middle and died before the end of the Reign of Henry III., a. 43, 1259. In his Historia Angliæ, till 1246, 30 Henry III., he always uses the words Concilium, Concilium Magnum, Colloquium, Tractatus, to express all Parliamentary great Councils and State Assemblies, held nearly 200 years before he wrote. In the years 1246-7, and in no other years before or after, he employs this word five or six times. His Continuator, William Riskanger, under Edward I. and II., makes frequent use of it, and so does Matthew, of Westminster, who continued the History of Matthew, of Paris, under Edward III. In the Reign of the latter Sovereign, and those of the succeeding Kings, it grew into vulgar use, as appears from the Historia Anglia of Thomas Walsingham and Henry de Knyghton. "The distinction," says Sir Harris Nicolas, "between a Statute, Act and Ordinance of Parliament, is still involved in such obscurity, that no positive conclusion can be drawn from the various statements which have been published." With regard to the ancient mode of promulgating the Statutes, it appears, that "the Council having called the Clerk of the Parliament before them, certain Acts made in the preceding Parliament were read, and he was directed to shew the said Acts to the Justices of both Benches, in order that those which were Statutes of the Realm, might be seen by them, and be fairly transcribed, (it may be presumed in the Statute Roll) and be afterwards shewn to the Lords and proclaimed, and that Copies of the other Acts, relating to the Governance of the Lords of the Council and of the Realm, should be sent to the Clerk of the Council, and having been reduced to writing, should be enrolled in Chancery according to Custom. "It would consequently appear, that it was left to the Judges to determine what were Statutes of the Realm; that all Statutes were enrolled upon a particular Roll, and were proclaimed: that all the other Acts and Proceedings of Parliament, which were entered on the Parliament Roll, were considered Acts of Parliament in the modern acceptation of the expression, and consequently that they had the full force of a Statute, although, from not usually being of so important, or of so general a nature as Enactments of the Laws of the Kingdom, it was deemed unnecessary to give the same publicity to them. Some analogy to that practice may be traced in the modern system of distinguishing Acts of Parliament as 'Public' and 'Private Acts; the former being what was termed 'Statutes,' and the latter all other Parliament Proceedings to which the Assent of the three Estates was given. It may be observed, that this vexata questio is much elucidated by the Minutes of Council which have been cited; and that, in any future inquiry, some caution should be observed in giving the common acceptation to the words 'Assent of Parliament,' there being reason to believe, that, in many cases, those words were not intended to, and did not, imply such an Assent, as to impart to the Proceeding the force and character either of a Statute of the Realm, or of an Act or Ordinance of Parliament." (u) (u) See Proceedings and Ordinances of the Privy Council of England by Sir Harris Nicolas, Chancellor and Commander of the Order of St. Michael and St. George, of which Seven Volumes extending to 33 Henry 8 are published. In Vol. vi., which contains the Index to the Prefaces to all the Volumes, under the word Parliament, the following References are given; I. lxiv., Anomalies in the Rolls explained,: III. Ixi., Persons summoned and sitting in Jure Uxorum; III. Ixii., Parliament in 1429, signifying a General Assembly of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal in the Parliament Chamber; IV. cxvi., Parliament a meeting of Peers only, in the presence of the King; V. xi., Petitions unanswered 1437, and referred to the Council, to be recorded in the Rolls of Parliament; V. xviii, n: Rolls of Henry 6 imperfect; V. lxxxi, Exemptions from serving in Parliament; VI. Ixv,. Peers fined for non attendance. In the Preface III. vi., vii.. the subject of Statutes is considered, and a note refers to the authorized Edition of the Statutes, 1. xlv. for a learned statement respecting the ancient mode of promulgating Statutes, and for a Copy of the Writs issued for that purpose, Stat. 25, Edward 3, 324, and a note 332. See also Appendix No. ix., to a Report of the Proceedings on the claim to the Earldom of Devon, by Sir Harris Nicolas, 1832. In the Speech of the same Author on the Vaux and Bray Case, see the Effect of a Writ to Parliament. Also Retrospective Review, Aug, Oct. 1827. |