In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

LECTURE 17 Origin ofthe division ofthe English Parliament into two Houses. ~ Its originalconstitution. ~ Reproduction ofthe classifications ofsociety in the Parliament. ~ Causes which led the representatives ofcounties to separatefrom the barons, and coalesce with the representatives ofboroughs . ~ Effects ofthis coalition. ~ Division ofthe Parliament into two houses in the I4th century. OuRattention has hitherto been directed only to the elements ofwhich the Parliament was composed, and to the proceedings that took place at its formation , that is to say, to the process ofelection: we have now to consider another question; we must enquire what were the internal and external constitution and organisation ofthe Parliament thus composed. The Parliament at the beginning of the fourteenth century was not divided , as at present, into the House ofLords and the House ofCommons; nor did it, on the other hand, consist ofa single body. Accounts vary regarding the date at which it assumed its present form. Carte fixes it in the seventeenth year ofthe reign ofEdward III. (1344); the authors ofthe Parliamentary History, in the sixth year ofthe same reign (1333); Mr. Hallam in the first year ofthe reign of Edward III. (1327), or, perhaps, even in the eighth year of the reign of Edward II. (1315). The principal cause of this diversity of opinion is the different circumstance with which each author connects the fact ofthe union ofcounty and borough members into one single assembly. This fact is deduced by some from the date of their assembling together in the same place; by others from the period oftheir common deliberation; and by others again, from the union oftheir votes upon the same question. And as each of these circumstances occurred in one particular Parliament independently ofthe others, the period which Parliament first existed in its present form is carried back or forward according to the circumstance which is regarded as decisive in this respect. However this may be, it may be affirmed that the division of Parliament into two Houses-one comprising the lords or great barons individually summoned, and the other all the 353 ESSAYS OF REPRESENTATIVE GOVERNMENT IN ENGLAND elected representatives ofcounties and boroughs; and both these houses deliberating and voting together in all matters ofbusiness-was not completely and definitively effected, until towards the middle of the fourteenth century. It is necessary to trace the steps bywhich this fact was gradually accomplished. This is the only way thoroughly to comprehend its nature and its causes. Originally, as we have seen, all the immediate vassals of the king had the same right ofrepairing to Parliament and taking part in its deliberations. Mere knights, therefore, when they repaired thither, sat, deliberated, and voted, with the great barons. When election was substituted for this individual right in the case of the knights of shires, and only those elected by the county-courts were entitled to attend the Parliament, they still continued to be members ofthe class to which they had previously belonged. Although elected and deputed not only by those knights who were immediate vassals ofthe king, but also by all the freeholders of their county, they continued to sit, deliberate, and vote, together with the great barons who were individually summoned. The representatives of the boroughs, on the contrary, whose presence in Parliament was a novel circumstance (which was not connected with any anterior right exercised merely under a new shape), formed a distinct assembly from their first appearance in Parliament, sitting apart, deliberating and voting on their own account, and as thoroughly separated from the knights ofthe shire as from the great barons. This separation is evident from the votes ofParliament at this period. At the Parliament held at Westminster under Edward I., in 1295, the earls, barons, and knights of the shire granted the king an eleventh part of their personal property, the clergy a tenth part, and the citizens and burgesses a seventh. In 1296, the former granted a twelfth part, and the latter an eighth. In 1305, the former gave a thirtieth part, and the clergy, the citizens, and burgesses a twentieth. Under Edward II., in IJ08, the barons and knights granted one twentieth, the clergy a fifteenth, the citizens and burgesses a fifteenth. Under Edward III., in 1333, the knights ofthe shire granted a fifteenth, the same as the prelates and the nobles, and the citizens and burgesses a tenth; and yet the records of this Parliament expressly declare that the knights ofthe shire and the burgesses deliberated in common. In IJ4I, the prelates, earls and barons, on the...

Share