1327-1377. two events in 45 and 46 Edward III. Parliament made a EDWARD III. mistake in the assessment of the taxation, but were dissolved without its being discovered. Upon its detection, the king summoned a council, consisting of one knight, citizen, and burgess, named by himself, out of two that had been returned to the last parliament; and such council rectified the mistake, and which was not made a ground of subsequent complaint. In 46 Edward III., after the petitions of the commons had been answered, and the knights dismissed, the citizens and burgesses were convened, before the Prince of Wales and the lords, in a room near the White Chamber, and solicited to renew their subsidy of 408. upon the tun of wine, and 6d. in the pound upon other imports, for safe convoy of shipping, during one year more; to which they assented, and so departed 10. Taxation sanc tioned by citizens and burgesses only. Origin of the quiring a right interference in and policy. commons, ac of cases of abuse Nothing indicates more forcibly a change in the constitution, than the artful policy of Edward, in consulting the commons upon the questions of war and peace with France; so that seemingly acting under their advice, no complaints could be urged as to the expenses ": and the equally artful policy, adopted by the Prince of Wales and the Earl of March, in employing the commons as tools to overthrow an unpopular ministry, by petitioning the king to increase his council, by A.D. 1376. "ten or twelve bishops, lords, and others, to be constantly at hand, so that no business of weight should be dispatched without the consent of all, nor smaller matters without that of four and six;" and in another petition impeaching Lords Latimer and Nevil, with four merchants, for public abuses 12. Precedents were thus established, and the commons ultimately succeeded in acquiring a right of interference, into all cases of public abuse and policy. Rot. Parl. Edward III. 304. 2 Brady, 161. Prynne's 4 Register, 289. 8 Henry, 147. Rot. Parl. Edward III. 310. 3 Hallam's Middle Ages, 70. 15 Rymer, 165. Cotton's Abr. 108, 120. 2 Hume, 487. 12 Cotton's Abr. 122. Rot. Parl. Edward III. 322-329, 374. 3 Hallam's Middle Ages, 83. 3 Lingard, 106. RICHARD II. 1377-1399. Causes of the in the people. SECTION VIII. RICHARD II. June 21, A. D. 1377,-September 29, A.D. 1399. 1. General State of the Country. 2. Provisions to enforce the attend ance of Members of Parlia King to create Peers, and grant the right of Parliamentary Representation. ment; Prerogative of the 3. Pecuniary Impositions. 1. General State of the Country. The reign of Richard II. affords, but little matter that may shine in history; and cannot boast of any one great and distinguished captain; any one memorable battle or important siege; but prorogations of truces, abstinences, sufferances, patiences, tolerances, were the language and amusement of the times; and treaties were all the while kept on foot for a perpetual peace,-treaties hitherto fruitless, illusory, and impracticable. The vicissitudes of this period have, however, rendered it an important period in the constitutional history of the country: the deposition of the king, and the substitution of a successor to his throne, not the heir of the royal family, by the authority of the lords and commons assembled in parliament, taught the people the increased power of that assembly. William Rufus, Henry I., Stephen, and John, had acquired the throne out of the direct line of succession; but their advancement was attributable to accidental circumstances, united with the power and influence of individuals, and not to a national spirit of liberty, manifested in any great legislative assembly. The spirit of independence, and the power and importance creased power of of the body of the people, which was manifested in this era, may be ascribed to the subdivision of property, the increase of tenancy in chief of the crown, alienations of the crown lands, grants of franchises, the civil contests in the reign of John and Henry III., the necessities of Edward I., the weak and disturbed government of Edward II., his dethronement, and the succession of his son, sanctioned by the authority of a legislative assembly, the vast expenses of the wars in the reign of Edward III., which had compelled that prince frequently to have recourse to his people for pecuniary aid, and had at length par RICHARD II. 1377-1399. abuses. given to the legislative assembly of the kingdom, and ticularly to the commons assembled in parliament, a portion of that power', which in time produced the constitutional system, on which the government of the country now rests. In this reign, the greatest abuses and violations of law and Unconstitutional justice obtained; high prerogative doctrines were insisted on ; judgments of treason and attainders were had, without due examination or trial; the encroachments of the civil law were favoured, because they inculcated doctrines of passive obedience; the Statute of Treasons was infringed; and a member of the legislature (Sir Thomas Haxey) was condemned to die the death of a traitor, for having moved, that economy might be promoted at court, and that, to attain such end, the court should not be so much frequented by bishops and ladies*. Salutary provisions were however made, for regulating the prices of labour and provisions; increasing the number, and regulating the proceedings, of justices of the peace; and also for the encouragement of navigation, trade, and commerce, by which merchants of England, could neither export nor import any goods but in English ships, which may be considered as the first "Navigation Act." Regulations of police and com merce. At the commencement of this reign, the insurrection of Public anarchy. the people threatened the dissolution of all government; about the middle of it, a powerful combination of the nobles annihilated the prerogatives of the crown, and engrossed the whole power of the state; and towards its termination, the court party gained the ascendant: and Richard, supported by a junto of his favourites, invested with unconstitutional powers by an obsequious parliament, acted in a manner so arbitrary and imprudent, that he lost the affections of his subjects, and gave an opportunity to a bold usurper, to deprive him of his crown and life. It is difficult to determine in which of the above situations the people were most oppressed, or the greatest acts of tyranny were perpetrated': but the 3 1 Rot. Parl. Richard II. passim. 2 Cotton's Abr. 362. 8 Henry, 164. 2 Froissard, cc. 74, 75, 77. Walsing. 248-267. Knyghton, 2637. 3 Hume, 10-12. 3 Lingard, 176–184. Cotton, 315-322. Knyghton, 2686-2715. 3 Hume, 17, et seq. Stat. 11 Richard II. c. 1, et seq. 3 Lingard, 208–210, 220. 58 Rymer, 7. Cotton, 368. 4 Froissard, c. 90. Walsing. 354. Stat. 21 Richard II. c. 20. 3 Hume, 31. 3 Lingard, 224. 6 Cotton, 399, 400. 2 Dugdale, 71. 3 Tyrrel, part ii. 991. 3 Hume, 36-42. 3 Lingard, 258. 3 Hallam's Middle Ages, 114, 119. 7 8 Henry, 168. 1377-1399. RICHARD II. ancient history of England is nothing but a catalogue of reversals; everything is in fluctuation and movement; one faction was continually undoing what was established by another; and the multiplied oaths, which each party exacted for the security of their present acts, betray a perpetual consciousness of their instability". Stat. 5 Rich. II. Statute refers to custom as a right to a writ of summons to parliament. Creation of peers by patent. 2. Provisions to enforce the attendance of Members of Parliament; Prerogative of the King to create Peers, and grant the right of Parliamentary Representation. An act to secure the regular attendance of persons in parliament was passed in 5 Richard II. ', by which all persons and commonalties, who thenceforth had summons of parliament, were to come to the parliament in manner as they were bound to do, and had been accustomed in the kingdom of England of ancient time; and that whomsoever thenceforth had such summons, be he archbishop, bishop, abbot, prior, duke, earl, baron, bannerett, knight of county, citizen of city, burgess of borough, or other singular person or commonalty whatsoever, and should be absent, or should not come on such summons, if he could not reasonably and honourably (honestement) have excuse towards the king, was to be amerced and otherwise punished, according to what had of old time been before used in the kingdom in such case; and if any sheriff was negligent in making returns of the writs of parliament, or should leave out from such returns any cities or boroughs which were bound, and of ancient time used, to come to parliament, he should be punished in the manner accustomed to be done in the case of old time. This statute refers generally to custom, respecting the temporal, as well as the spiritual lords; and may be considered as tending to give a permanent title to those, whose ancestors had been summoned to parliament by writ, and might thereupon be deemed to have gained a right to like summons by usage; but, in practice, there are many instances of persons summoned to parliament, whose descendants were not so summoned. It has been said, that earls were always created by letters patent; but it should be remembered it was the highest official 1 Rot. Parl. Richard II. 129. Stat. 2, c. 4. 8 3 Hume, 34. 1377-1399. dignity. The title of duke originated, as previously stated, RICHARD II. with Edward III.; Richard II. introduced the rank of marquis by patent, and also created a baron by letters patent, being the first creation of the dignity of baron by patent; and Henry VI. instituted the title of viscount 2. These grants by patent, had the effect of insuring the succession to the dignity, according to its limitations; and confined the title to such heirs as were therein specified. From this time, the descendants of all those who were then peers, and not so created by letters patent, could claim the dignity by prescription, if summoned by a general writ; and the apprehension that such would be the effect of a general writ, led, as in the case of Baron Vescy, to a specification in the writ of summons of the special heirs, to whom it was the king's intention the dignity should descend. The abbots and priors insisted that holding by barony alone, was not a sufficient ground for requiring their attendance in parliament; and that such only were bound to attend, as not only held by barony, but whose predecessors had been accustomed to attend; thus referring their attendance to ancient custom 3. Usage is equally applied to counties, cities, and boroughs, as to the lords spiritual and temporal; and this statute, combined with that of 15 Edward II., gave a more fixed character to the legislative body. Succession into the terms of sured according the patent. Attendance of abbots and priors influenced by in parliament usage. Usage applied to counties and boroughs. Preserving to the archbishops, bishops, abbots, and priors, Fixed character accustomed to be summoned to parliament, their dignities; gislative body. to the temporal peers, then in possession of the dignity, hereditary titles, qualified wherever the title had been qualified by its original and known creation, and in other cases descendible to all the heirs of the body of the then peer, or of his ancestor first summoned, and under whom he claimed his dignity; and to the counties, cities, and boroughs, which then sent members of parliament, it also confirmed their rights of representation : but applying to the rights and obligations of all, "usage," as the evidence of those rights and obligations*. 2 Selden's Titles of Honor, 680. 2 Dugdale's Baronage, 54. 10 Henry, 54. 3 Selden's Titles of Honor, 617, 618. 8 Henry, 160. The House of Lords, in the first Parliament of Richard II., consisted of the archbishops and bishops, twenty-two abbots, and two priors, one duke, thirteen earls, forty-seven barons, twelve judges and privy councillors. Dugdale's Summons, 299. 8 Henry, 154. |