CONTENTS. PAGE VII. ON THE ENGLISH CONSTITUTION FROM THE ACCESSION OF NOTE TO CHAPTER VII. THE STUDENT'S CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF ENGLAND. CHAPTER I. ON THE ENGLISH CONSTITUTION FROM HENRY VII. TO MARY. § 1. Ancient Government of England. 2. Limitations of Royal Authority. § 3. Difference in the effective Operation of these. § 4. Sketch of the state of Society and Law. 5. Henry VII. § 6. Statute for the Security of the Subject under a King de facto. 7. Exactions of Money under Henry VII. § 8. Taxes demanded by Henry VIII. Illegal Exactions of Wolsey in 1523 and 1525. 9. Acts of Parlia、 ment releasing the King. from his Debts. 10. A Benevolence again exacted. Oppressive Treatment of Reed. 11. Severe and unjust Executions for Treason. Earl of Warwick. Earl of Suffolk. Duke of Buckingham. 12. New Treasons created by Statute. Executions of Fisher and More. 13. Cromwell. § 14. Duke of Norfolk. 15. Anne Boleyn. 16. Act giving Proclamations the force of Law. § 17. Character of Henry VIII. § 18. Government of Edward VI.'s Councillors. Attainder of Lord Seymour and Duke of Somerset. 19. Violence of Mary's Reign. § 20. The House of Commons recovers part of its independent power in these two Reigns. § 21. Attempt of the Court to strengthen itself by creating new Boroughs. 22. Causes of the High Prerogative of the Tudors. § 23. Jurisdiction of the Council of Star-Chamber. 24. This not the same with the Court erected by Henry VII. § 25. Influence of the Authority of the Star-Chamber in enhancing the Royal Power. Tendency of Religious Disputes to the same end. § 1. THE government of England, in all times recorded by history, has been one of those mixed or limited monarchies which the Celtic and Gothic tribes appear universally to have established in preference to the coarse despotism of eastern nations, to the more artificial tyranny of Rome and Constantinople, or to the various models of republican polity which were tried upon the coasts of the Mediterranean Sea. It bore the same general features, it belonged, as it were, to the same family, as the governments of almost every European state, though less resembling, perhaps, that of France than any other. But, in the course of many centuries, the boundaries which determined the sovereign's prerogative and the people's liberty or power having seldom been very accurately defined by law, or at least by such law as was deemed fundamental and unchangeable, ST. C. H. E. B 27 POLITY OF ENGLAND AT CHAP. I. the forms and principles of political regimen in these different nations became more divergent from each other, according to their peculiar dispositions, the revolutions they underwent, or the influence of personal character. England, more fortunate than the rest, had acquired in the fifteenth century a just reputation for the goodness of her laws and the security of her citizens from oppression. This liberty had been the slow fruit of ages, still waiting a happier season for its perfect ripeness, but already giving proof of the vigour and industry which had been employed in its culture. I have endeavoured, in a work of which this may in a certain degree be reckoned a continuation, to trace the leading events and causes of its progress. It will be sufficient in this place briefly to point out the principal circumstances in the polity of England at the accession of Henry VII. § 2. The essential checks upon the royal authority were five in number.-1. The king could levy no sort of new tax upon his people, except by the grant of his parliament, consisting as well of bishops and mitred abbots or lords spiritual, and of hereditary peers or temporal lords, who sat and voted promiscuously in the same chamber, as of representatives from the freeholders of each county, and from the burgesses of many towns and less considerable places, forming the lower or commons' house. 2. The previous assent and authority of the same assembly were necessary for every new law, whether of a general or temporary nature. 3. No man could be committed to prison but by a legal warrant specifying his offence; and by an usage nearly tantamount to constitutional right, he must be speedily brought to trial by means of regular sessions of gaoldelivery. 4. The fact of guilt or innocence on a criminal charge was determined in a public court, and in the county where the offence was alleged to have occurred, by a jury of twelve men, from whose unanimous verdict no appeal could be made. Civil rights, so far as they depended on questions of fact, were subject to the same decision. 5. The officers and servants of the crown, violating the personal liberty or other right of the subject, might be sued in an action for damages to be assessed by a jury, or, in some cases, were liable to criminal process; nor could they plead any warrant or command in their justification, not even the direct order of the king. § 3. These securities, though it would be easy to prove that they were all recognized in law, differed much in the degree of their effective operation. It may be said of the first, that it was now completely established. After a long contention, the kings of England had desisted for near a hundred years from every attempt to impose taxes without consent of parliament; and their recent device of demanding benevolences, or half-compulsory gifts, though |