Page:William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England (3rd ed, 1768, vol I).djvu/165

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Ch. 2.
of Persons
149

ſtatutes or deciſions are put in a manifeſt contradiſtinction to cuſtoms, or the common law. And in Edward the third’s time an act of parliament, made in the reign of William the conqueror, was pleaded in the caſe of the abbey of St Edmund’s-bury, and judicially allowed by the court[1].

Hence it indiſputably appears, that parliaments, or general councils, are coeval with the kingdom itſelf. How thoſe parliaments were conſtituted and compoſed, is another queſtion, which has been matter of great diſpute among our learned antiquarians; and, particularly, whether the commons were ſummoned at all; or, if ſummoned, at what period they began to form a diſtinct aſſembly. But it is not my intention here to enter into controverſies of this ſort. I hold it ſufficient that it is generally agreed, that in the main the conſtitution of parliament, as it now ſtands, was marked out ſo long ago as the ſeventeenth year of king John, A. D. 1215, in the great charter granted by that prince; wherein he promiſes to ſummon all arch-biſhops, biſhops, abbots, earls, and greater barons, perſonally; and all other tenants in chief under the crown, by the ſheriff and bailiffs; to meet at a certain place, with forty days notice, to aſſeſs aids and ſcutages when neceſſary. And this conſtitution has ſubſiſted in fact at leaſt from the year 1266, 49 Hen. III: there being ſtill extant writs of that date, to ſummon knights, citizens, and burgeſſes to parliament. I proceed therefore to enquire wherein conſiſts this conſtitution of parliament, as it now ſtands, and has ſtood for the ſpace of at leaſt five hundred years. And in the proſecution of this enquiry, I ſhall conſider, firſt, the manner and time of it’s aſſembling: ſecondly, it’s conſtituent parts: thirdly, the laws and cuſtoms relating to parliament, conſidered as one aggregate body: fourthly and fifthly, the laws and cuſtoms relating to each houſe, ſeparately and diſtinctly taken: ſixthly, the methods of proceeding, and of making ſtatutes, in both houſes: and laſtly, the manner of the parliament’s adjournment, prorogation, and diſſolution.

  1. Year book, 21 Edw. III. 60.
I. As