The Constitution of England

Chapter IV

55 u c h a p t e r i v u Of the Legislative Power. In almost all the States of Europe, the will of the Prince holds the place of law; and custom has so confounded the matter of right with the matter of fact, that their Lawyers generally represent the legislative authority as essentially attached to the character of King; and the plenitude of his power seems to them necessarily to flow from the very definition of his title. The English, placed in more favourable circumstances, have judged differently : they could not believe that the destiny of Mankind ought to depend on a play of words, and on scholastic subtilties; they have therefore annexed no other idea to the word King, or Roy, a word known also to their laws, than that which the Latins annexed to the word Rex, and thenorthern Nations to that of Cyning. In limiting therefore the power of their King, they have acted more consistently with the etymology of the word; they have acted also more consistently with reason, in not leaving the laws to the disposal of the person who is already invested with the public power of the State, that is, of the person who lies under the greatest and most important temptations to set himself above them. The basis of the English Constitution, the capital principle on which all others depend, is that the Legislative power belongs to Parliament alone; that is to say, the power of establishing laws, and of abrogating, changing, or explaining them. The constituent parts of Parliament are the King, the House of Lords, and the House of Commons. The House of Commons, otherwise the Assembly of the Representa- 56 book i tives of the Nation, is composed of the Deputies of the different Counties, each of which sends two; of the Deputies of certain Towns, of which London, including Westminster and Southwark, sends eight,— other Towns, two or one: and of the Deputiesof theUniversitiesof Oxford and Cambridge, each of which sends two. Lastly, since the Act of Union,1 Scotland sends forty-fiveDeputies;who, added to those just mentioned, make up the whole number of fivehundred and fifty-eight. Those Deputies, though separately elected, do not solely represent the Town or County that sends them, as is the case with the Deputies of the United Provinces of the Netherlands, or of the Swiss Cantons; but, when they are once admitted, they represent the whole body of the Nation. The qualifications required for being a Member of the House of Commons are, for representing a County, to be born a subject of Great Britain, and to be possessed of a landed estate of six hundred pounds a year; and of three hundred, for representing a Town, or Borough. The qualifications required for being an elector in a County, are, to be possessed, in that County, of a Freehold of forty shillings a year (a). With regard to electors in Towns or Boroughs, they must be Freemen of them; a word which now signifies certain qualifications expressed in the particular Charters. When the King has determined to assemble a Parliament, he sends an orderforthatpurposetotheLordChancellor,who,afterreceivingthesame, sends a writ under the great seal of England to the Sheriff of everyCounty, directing him to take the necessary steps for the election of Members for the County, and the Towns and Boroughs contained in it. Three days after the reception of the writ, the Sheriff must, in his turn, send his precept to the Magistrates of the Towns and Boroughs, to order them to make their (a) This Freehold must have been possessed by the elector one whole year at least before the time of election, except it has devolved to him by inheritance, by marriage, by a last will, or by promotion to an office. 1. The 1707 Act of Union created the “Parliament of Great Britain,” which replaced the previously independent parliaments of England and Scotland. chapter iv 57 election within eight days after the reception of the precept, giving four days notice of the same. And the Sheriff himself must proceed to the election for the County, not sooner than ten days after the receipt of the writ, nor later than sixteen. The principal precautions taken by the law, to insure the freedom of elections, are, that any Candidate, who after the date of the writ, or even after the vacancy, shall have...