Lecture XVII.
Origin of the division of the English Parliament into two Houses.
Its original constitution.
Reproduction of the classifications of society in the Parliament.
Causes which led the representatives of counties to separate from the barons, and coalesce with the representatives of boroughs.
q Effects of this coalition.
Division of the Parliament into two Houses in the fourteenth century.
Division Of The English Parliament.
Our attention has hitherto been directed only to the elements of which the Parliament was composed, and to the proceedings that took place at its formation, that is to say, to the process of election: we have now to consider another question; we must enquire what were the internal and external constitution and organisation of the Parliament thus composed.
The Parliament at the beginning of the fourteenth century was not divided, as at present, into the House of Lords and the House of Commons; nor did it, on the other hand, consist of a single body. Accounts vary regarding the date at which it assumed its present form. Carte fixes it in the seventeenth year of the reign of Edward III. (1344); the authors of the Parliamentary History, in the sixth year of the same reign (1333); Mr. Hallam in the first year of the 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 of the union of county 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 of their common deliberation; and by others again, from the union of their votes upon the same question. And as each of these circumstances occurred in one particular Parliament independently of the others, the period when 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 elected representatives of counties and boroughs; and both these houses deliberating and voting together in all matters of business—was not completely and definitively effected, until towards the middle of the fourteenth century. It is necessary to trace the steps by which this fact was gradually accomplished. This is the only way thoroughly to comprehend its nature and its causes.
Original Constitution Of Parliament.
Originally, as we have seen, all the immediate vassals of the king had the same right of repairing 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 of the class to which they had previously belonged. Although elected and deputed not only by those knights who were immediate vassals of the 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.