For law is steadfast, and a king has no stability.
No! law stands high above the king, for law is that true light
Without whose ray the king would stray and wander from the right.
When a king strays he ought to be called back into the way
By those he rules, who lawfully his will may disobey
Until he seeks the path, but when his wandering is o’er,
They ought to help and succour him and love him as before.”
(Translated by F. York Powell.)
[43] “The new form of government bears evidence of its origin; it is intended rather to fetter the king than to extend or develop the action of the community at large. The baronial council clearly regards itself as competent to act on behalf of all the estates of the realm, and the expedient of reducing the national deliberations to three sessions of select committees, betrays a desire to abridge the frequent and somewhat irksome duty of attendance in parliament rather than to share the central legislative and deliberative power with the whole body of the people. It must however be remembered that the scheme makes a very indistinct claim to the character of a final arrangement.”—Stubbs.
[44] A board of twenty-four—half chosen by the king and half by the barons—had laid a body of resolutions before the Oxford Parliament, and the first of these resolutions declared that all castles and estates alienated from the crown should be at once resumed.