It is like wiſe true, that at the time of the revolution, A. D. 1688, the lords and commons by their own authority, and upon the ſummons of the prince of Orange, (afterwards king William) met in a convention and therein diſpoſed of the crown and kingdom. But it muſt be remembered, that this aſſembling was upon a like principle of neceſſity as at the restoration; that is, upon a full conviction that king James the ſecond had abdicated the government, and that the throne was thereby vacant: which ſuppoſition of the individual members was confirmed by their concurrent reſolution, when they actually came together. And in ſuch a caſe as the palpable vacancy of a throne, it follows ex neceſſitate rei, that the form of the royal writs muſt be laid aſide, otherwiſe no parliament can ever meet again. For, let us put another poſſible caſe, and ſuppoſe, for the ſake of argument, that the whole royal line ſhould at any time fail, and become extinct, which would indiſputably vacate the throne: in this ſituation it ſeems reaſonable to preſume, that the body of the nation, conſiſting of lords and commons, would have a right to meet and ſettle the government; otherwiſe there muſt be no government at all. And upon this and no other principle did the convention in 1688 aſſemble. The vacancy of the throne was precedent to their meeting without any royal ſummons, not a conſequence of it. They did not aſſemble without writ, and then make the throne vacant; but the throne being previouſly vacant by the king’s abdication, they aſſembled without writ, as they muſt do if they aſſembled at all. Had the throne been full, their meeting would not have been regular; but, as it was really empty, ſuch meeting became abſolutely neceſſary. And accordingly it is declared by ſtatute 1 W. & M. ſt. 1. c. 1. that this convention was really the two houſes of parliament, notwithſtanding the want of writs or other defects of form. So that, notwithſtanding theſe two capital exceptions, which were juſtifiable only on a principle of neceſſity, (and each of which, by the way, induced a revolution in the government) the rule laid down is in general certain, that the king, only, can convoke a parliament.
