The sittings of an early Plantagenet parliament did not extend over many days. Travelling was difficult, dangerous and costly; members could not afford to stay long away from their homes. The main object of the meeting was usually to strike a bargain between the king and his subjects. The king wanted a grant of money, and it was made a condition of the grant that certain grievances, about which petitions had been presented, should be redressed. When an agreement had been arrived at as to how much money should be granted and on what terms, the commoners and most of the lords went their ways, leaving the king's advisers, the mem-、 bers of his council, to devise and work out, by means of legislation or otherwise, such remedies as might be considered appropriate and advisable.

It is to the Plantagenet period that we owe the most picturesque of our parliamentary ceremonials, those which attend the opening of Parliament and the signification of the royal assent to Acts. And we ought to think of the Pantagenet parliament as something like an oriental durbar, such as was held by the late Amir of Afghanistan, with the king sitting on his throne, attended by his courtiers and great chiefs, hearing the complaints of his subjects and determining whether and how they should be met.

Of the changes in the composition of parliament which took place during this period

something will be said later on, but a few words must be said here about the changes in its powers and functions, specially with respect to the two main branches of its business, taxation and legislation.

Before the end of the fourteenth century A parliament had established two principles of taxation. In the first place they had taken away the power of the king to impose direct ་ taxes without their consent, and had restricted his power to impose indirect taxes without their consent to such taxes as might be justified under the customs recognized by the Great Charter. In the second place parliament had acquired the right to impose taxes, direct and indirect, of all kinds. In imposing these taxes they did not care to go beyond the immediate needs of the case. Hence the necessity for frequent parliaments.

According to the theory of the three estates, each estate would tax itself separately, and this theory was at first observed. The clergy granted their subsidies, not in parliament but in convocation, and continued to do so, in theory at least, until after the Restoration of 1660. But long before this time they had agreed to grant or submit to taxes corresponding to those imposed on the laity. At a much earlier date, before the end of the fourteenth century, the lords and commons, instead of making separate grants, agreed to join in a common grant. And, as the bulk of the burden fell upon the commons, they

adopted a formula which placed the commons in the foreground. The grant was made by the commons, with the assent of the lords spiritual and temporal. This formula appeared in 1395, and became the rule. In 1407, eight years after Henry IV came to the throne, he assented to the important principle that money grants were to be initiated by the house of commons, were not to be reported to the king until both houses were agreed, and were to be reported by the Speaker of the commons house. This rule is strictly observed at the present day. When

a money bill, such as the finance bill for the year or the appropriation bill, has been passed by the house of commons and agreed to by the house of lords it is, unlike all other bills, returned to the house of commons. On the day for signifying the royal assent the clerk of the house of commons takes it up to the bar of the house of lords, then hands it to the Speaker, who delivers it with his own hand to the officer charged with signifying the king's assent, the clerk of parliaments.

Ever since the reign of Henry VII the enacting formula of Acts of Parliament has run thus

"Be it enacted by the king's (or queen's) most excellent majesty by and with the advice and assent of the lords spiritual and temporal, and commons, in this present parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows." This formula grew into

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shape in what has been called above the mediæval period of parliament. At the beginning of this period the king made laws with the requisite advice and assent. One important early Act was expressed to be made at the instance of the great men. Later on the concurrence of the whole parliament, including the commons, became essential. But the commons usually appear at first in a subordinate position. Throughout the fourteenth century the kind of form most usually adopted is that a statute is made with the assent of the earls, prelates and barons and at the request of the knights of the shires and commons in parliament assembled. The commons appear as 'petitioners for laws rather than as legislators. And this is in fact what they were. They presented their petitions, which might ask for amendment or clearer declaration of the law. It was for the king, with the aid of those more intimately in his counsels, to determine whether legislation was required and if so what form it should assume. Throughout the fourteenth century there was much risk that, even if the making of a law were granted, the law, when made, would not correspond to the petition on which it was based.

The

statute was not drawn up until after the parliament was dissolved, its form was settled by the king's council, and there were many complaints about the variance between petitions and statutes. At last in 1414, soon after the accession of Henry V, the king con

ceded the point for which the commons had repeatedly pressed. The commons prayed "that there never be no law made and engrossed as statute and law neither by additions nor discriminations by no manner of term or terms which should change the sentence and the intent asked." And the king in reply granted that from henceforth "nothing be enacted to the petition of the commons contrary to their asking, whereby they should be bound without their assent. This concession led to an important change in the method of framing statutes. It became the practice to send up to the king, not a petition, but a bill drawn in the form of a statute, so that the king was left no alternative beyond assent or dissent. Legislation by bill took the place of legislation on petition. This practice became settled about the end of the reign of Henry VI.

The changes in practice were reflected by changes in the legislative formula. Statutes were expressed to be made by the advice and assent of the lords and the commons, thus putting the two houses on an equal footing. And before the middle of the fifteenth century a significant addition was made to the formula. Statutes were expressed to be made, not only with the advice. and assent of the lords and commons in parliament, but "by the authority of the same. This was an admission that the statute derived its authority from the whole parlia