The extreme indigence of this monarch towards the latter period of his reign, made it neceffary for him to look out for new fources for fupply. Hitherto that burden had fallen upon the land; and the towns, fecure through their humility, had efcaped taxation. But many of them being now grown wealthy by industry and commerce, began to contribute their share to the public expence. Talliage, which was a tax upon perfonal property as fcutage was upon land, was adopted about this period, and was probably the first and active cause of fummoning delegates from thofe places, who might have the appearance of granting what they were not ftrong enough to refufe. The crown indeed would fometimes take it without attending to this form; but the ftatute de Boden de Retalliagio non concedendo, made in the 25 E. 1. restrained this tyranny, and fecured the continuation of that right, which, though folemnly established by Hen. 3. would probably foon have grown into difufe. 3. Though it feems probable that during the Saxon æra the people had a fhare in legislation, yet it is from the end of the reign of Hen. only that it is poffible for a lawyer to date the commencement of parliamentary reprefentation. The antiquary may indulge himfelf in amufing fpeculations upon a parliament an Hen. 49 3. terior to the pub. lib. 1. c. 8. P. 272. p. 63. Carew's Pref. p. 8. Pryn. Bre. Par. Red. p. 2. p 3. eaa haities collected. The king's Council not a parliament. in the form of the prefent conftitution, as fome have contended*. The crown had always indeed a council, to which it might fummon by writ any perfons whofe advice it wanted; but this was cafual, at the will of the crown, and for its own benefit. The fummons was perfonal, and arofe out of the prerogative, which called for fervice from the fubject at fuch times, and in fuch manner, as became convenient to the crown, and did not authorize or depend upon any elective delegation by the people. The charter of king John bound him only to fummons, by writ under his feal, the archbishops, bishops, abbots, earls, and greater barons, and does not extend to milites, or any inferior description Who fummoned of perfons. This council confifted as well of clergy as fecular perfons, who might not happen to be lords or barons of the realm, as, namely, his treasurer, chancellor of the exchequer, judges, juftices in eyre, juftices affigns, barons of his exchequer, clerks, fecretaries of his council, and fometimes his ferjeants at law, to fuch council as afliftants. * Modus tenendi parliamentum, which feems to be the principal authority relied upon by Elfing, Hackwell, Sadler, Harrington, Dugdale, Lambert, Petyt, lord Coke, and others, to prove a parliament exifting in the reign of Edward the Confeffor, is now univerfally admitted a fabrication of no earlier date than the reign of Edw. 3. and probably of as late a date as the 31 H. 6. Pryn. Par. Red. pt.2. 173. 3 pt. 230. Plea for Lords, p. 164 to 214. Har Co. Lit. 69. b. n. 2. Selden rejects it as fpurious. Seid. Tit. Hon. 2d edit. pt. 2. c. 5. f. 26. with fuch other officers and perfons whom he chose to summon; and they were to affift the king and barons. The writs of fummons to thefe affiftants differ from the writs to the peers in this refpect, that the latter are fuminoned to advise, &c. nobifcum ac cum " cæteris” proceribus, &c. whereas in the writs to the former, "cæteris," which implies equality, is omitted. Writ, pt.2. P. 31. It is not to be supposed that the plan of representation was fo matured at this early period, as to exist in as perfect a manner as at this day. There are no writs of fummons extant, except those which iffued to the cinque Prynne's Parl. ports, until the 22d year of E. 1. which are entered in the claufe rolls at large; but by the memorandums of the writs iffued before that period, for electing knights, and entered on the parliament rolls, at a fmall distance from the entry of the writs of fummons to the fpiritual and temporal lords, the fheriffs are only generally directed to caufe to come &c. duos, milites, &c. without fpecifying whether they were in any manner, and how, to be elected. . And the fubfequent part of the entry in the 22 E. I. relating to citizens, burgeffes, and barons of the cinque ports, is, "In formâ prædicta "fcribitur civibus Eborum, &c. and cæteris "burgis Angliæ quod mittant duos, &c. Item "mandatum eft baronibus, &c. de quinq; por"tuum, &c." without fpecifying how they hould proceed; though indeed it is plain, B 3 that Carew's pref. p. 8. Hume, v. 2. p. 272. Brady on Bor. edit. 1777. p. 68. that the cities, boroughs, and cinque ports, could not concur in doing what was required of them without unanimity or fuffrage, which implies election. We may conjecture, how ever, from the form of the writs iffued to elect members for the cinque ports, which are preserved from the 49 Hen. 3. and which are addreffed "baronibus ballivis portus fui de "Sandivico, &c." [and not to the conftable of Dover, or warden of the cinque ports] that the firft writs for electing citizens and burgeffes were directed to the cities and boroughs. nominatim, and not to the sheriff of the county. And this conjecture feems the more probable, that, in the writs of 22 E. . directed to the fheriff to caufe knights to be elected for the county, no direction is given for electing citizens or burgeffes. It is not till the following year, that the writ to the fheriff orders him to caufe to be elected two citizens for every city, and two burgeffes for every borough, within his county. Carew, overlooking the records of writs iffued to the cinque ports, inclines to, think, that there was no reprefentation of cities. and boroughs till the 22 E. 1. but only of the counties by knights of the thire. Hume and Brady alfo fix it at this period., Mr. Prynne concludes, with great probability, that the reprefentation of cities and boroughs is coeval with that of the cinque ports, and that the writs have been loft. The of counties. The writs therefore of 22 E. r. are the firft Reprefentation authentic documents from whence we learn that the general fyftem of representation for counties exifted as at this time. The writs of that period are as full, as to the effential qualifications of eligibility for county members, as any fubfequent writ up to this day; for they require that fuch perfons fhould be knights of the fame county for which they are chofen, and that they fhould come with full power to confult and confent for themfelves and the whole commonalty of the county. Much however as yet depended upon the Brad. 125. fheriff, who was not exprejsly under any control as to the manner, time, or place of election, which often gave his arbitrary nomination the force of election. the writ. It would be both tedious and unneceffary to obferve upon the various terms and phrases of the writ between the 22 E. 1. and this Variations in period, otherwise than as they tend to illuftrate fome point of reprefentation, or fome material alteration or improvement of it. In fome writs there are fpecial caufes affigned for Prynne's Par. calling a parliament, as in the 25 E. 1. to confirm the great charter: in others, the number of delegates is varied. In the 45 E. 3. the freedom of election is by implication reftrained both as to the number and the objects of choice; for by the writ of that year, only * Statutes have made alterations which will afterwards be noticed. Writ, pt. 2. Ibid. 107. B 4 half |