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Introduction Consultative assemblies were well established in English political life by the fourteenth century, 1 but Edward II’s reign is important for two developments: the increasing role of the commons in parliament and parliament becoming more central to political crises. As parliament was called more frequently, so its practices and processes became regularised, its
The courts interpret and apply acts of Parliament, that is, outputs of Parliament. What happens up to the point of enactment is primarily deemed a matter for Parliament. The courts recognise that Parliament, and each House, enjoys exclusive cognisance, that is, the capacity to resolve its own affairs, free from judicial interference. This capacity pre-dates the Bill of Rights 1689 and is not conferred by statute, but derives from the fact that Parliament, as the high court of Parliament, was considered to have its own distinctive law . Though lawyers have
Elizabethan chroniclers and parliament Chapter 6 Elizabethan chroniclers and parliament Ian W. Archer C hronicles, annalistic in form and eclectic in content, remained the dominant form of historical writing for much of Elizabeth’s reign, only displaced by the new humanist histories from the 1590s onwards. Through the prolific labours of John Stow chronicles were made available in varying formats and at different prices which broadened their audience. Chroniclers recycled material from each other, albeit with significant differences in selection and emphasis
T HE emergence of parliament as an important forum for legal and political matters was a significant feature of the period 1215–1381. Parliament provided a focal point where views were expressed on issues of constitutional import connected to the Crown’s jurisdiction and the nature of royal governance, on problems of law and order and on many other issues within a
Whereas Chapter 2 addressed a hierarchy of principles (parliamentary sovereignty and the rule of law), here we address institutional relationships. The creation of the UK supreme court in 2009, replacing the appellate committee of the House of Lords as the nation’s highest court, raised the issue of the relationship between this new distinct body and the other elements of the constitutional system – the executive and Parliament. How has the relationship of the court to each other element changed in recent years? Three models have been developed that provide a
2 Historical institutionalism and parliament Introduction To understand why parliamentary reform does or does not take place requires a prior understanding of the context in which it does or does not occur. The characteristics of the institution of parliament are a product of its historical development, and that development has fostered the emergence of particular norms and values that continue to shape its functioning and capabilities. Crucially, parliament cannot be understood in isolation from government and, consequently, parliamentary reform cannot be
9 The Nordic parliaments: an alternative model? It is characteristic of this classical agricultural country and of the great importance of the farming community in Danish political affairs that the rear seats in the assembly should be known earthily as the ‘dung channel’ or grebningen – that is, the gutter behind cattle in a cow-shed! (Andersen 1974: 5) Any television producer charged with making a series of half-hour programmes on the Nordic parliaments without inducing a soporific switch-off among the viewing public should have no shortage of material with
1 Parliament and parliamentary reform For some time, there has been a sense that something is wrong with politics. Declining electoral turnout across many liberal democracies in recent decades has prompted concerns that the public has become disaffected about, and disengaged from, political processes and political institutions. As Stoker (2006: 7) notes,‘there appears to be a considerable amount of discontent and disenchantment about the operation of democracy both in those countries that have practiced democracy for decades and those that are more recent
Jason Peacey Chapter 9 ‘That memorable parliament’: medieval history in parliamentarian polemic, 1641–42 Jason Peacey I n 1647, Edward Chamberlayne professed that ‘The most probable way to know what will be, is to observe what hath beene’, adding that ‘The historian, by running backe to ages past, and then forward to present Affaires, comparing one with the other, can give a verdict of the State, well neer Prophetick’.1 Such sentiments were unremarkable in an age drawn to politic history, and scholars have done much to analyse the work of poets and writers
When Parliament came into being in the thirteenth century, it was a body that met infrequently and sometimes there were long periods when it was not summoned. Although in the fifteenth century, Henry IV and Henry V generally held annual parliaments, meetings thereafter became rarer. ‘Henry VII held only seven parliaments in a reign of twenty-four years and could claim it as a virtue that he held so few.’ 1 Charles I (1625–49) ruled without a Parliament for eleven years before his need for money became too great. When a Parliament was summoned, formally it