History of the Origin of Representative Government in Europe

by François Guizot

Practice Regarding Petitions.

On the opening of each Parliament, a certain number of days were fixed for the reception of petitions. A certain number of persons, chiefly judges or councillors of the king, were appointed to receive them, to investigate their nature, to classify them according to their objects, to set aside those which were to form the subject of discussion in the Parliament itself, and finally to present them to Parliament. This discussion was almost confined to the House of Barons, who were supposed to form a great intermediary council between the privy council of the king and the entire Parliament. The barons, when assembled in the privy council, deliberated and decided upon the demands of the Commons relative to matters of general interest. If these demands referred to certain complaints against abuses of the exercise of the royal power, or against the conduct of the sheriffs, for example, the king answered them in his own name alone, after having taking the advice of his privy council, of the judges, or of the barons, according to circumstances. If the petitions prayed for some interpretation or declaration of the existing law, the answer was given in the same manner. If they suggested the enactment of a new law, the king, when he judged it convenient, proposed this law to the Parliament; but in early times, this was very rarely the case; and when the petition had once been presented, the Commons ordinarily had nothing further to do with the matter than to receive the answer of the king.

As to those petitions which originated from individuals or from bodies unconnected with the Parliament, and which related only to matters of private interest, the meeting of Parliament was merely chosen as the occasion of their presentation, because it was more favourable than any other period for obtaining a reply. The royal council decided upon all those petitions which did not require the intervention of the barons or of the entire Parliament.

The presentation of petitions at this period is, therefore, a very complex fact with which are connected not only the right of petition to the Houses of Parliament, but also the right of petition to the government generally, the right of initiative, the jurisdiction of the Houses of Parliament, in short, a host of institutions essential to the representative system, and each of which it is necessary to consider separately. They all existed, but in a confused and embryo state, in this affluence of petitions of all kinds, which called into action very different powers, then exercised indiscriminately. This original confusion was, undoubtedly, one of the principal causes of the universality of the power of the British Parliament. We cannot now examine into all the institutions which sprang from this source, and progressively disentangled themselves, assuming a distinct form. The question of the right of petition, in the sense which is attached to it at the present day, is in itself deserving of our careful examination, and will form the subject of our next lecture.

Conditions Of Granting Subsidies.

One particular fact attests the progress which the Commons were beginning to make in the comprehension of their power and rights. It is beyond doubt that, originally, the voting of supplies always furnished them with an opportunity of obtaining some concessions or the redress of their grievances; this is proved by the history of English charters. But, in 1309, when granting Edward II. a twentieth part of their moveable goods, they expressly attached the condition that "the king should take into consideration, and should grant them the redress of certain grievances of which they had to complain." [Footnote 36]

[Footnote 36: These grievances were eleven in number, viz:
1. That the king's purveyors took all kinds of provisions without giving any security for the payment;
2. That additional duties had been imposed on wine, on cloth, and on other foreign imports;
3. That by the debasement of the coin, the value of all commodities had been advanced;
4. That the stewards and marshals of the king's household held pleas, which did not fall under their cognizance;
5. And exercised their authority beyond the verge, that is, a circuit of twelve leagues round the king's person;
6. That no clerks were appointed, as they had been under the last monarch, to receive the petitions of the Commons in Parliament;
7. That the officers appointed to take articles for the king's use in fairs and markets, took more than they ought, and made a profit of the surplus;
8. That in civil suits, men were prevented from obtaining their right by writs under the privy seal;
9. That felons eluded the punishment of their crimes by the ease with which charters of pardon were obtained;
10. That the constables of the castles held common pleas at their gates without any authority; and
11. That the escheators ousted men of their inheritances, though they had appealed to the king's courts. Rot. Parl. i. 441.]

These grievances had existed for a long while, and were perpetuated for a considerable period afterwards; but the Commons had begun to look them full in the face, and to insist year after year upon their redress, as the only condition upon which they would grant the supplies.