These are the conſtituent parts of a parliament, the king, the lords ſpiritual and temporal, and the commons. Parts, of which each is ſo neceſſary, that the conſent of all three is required to make any new law that ſhall bind the ſubject. Whatever is enacted for law by one, or by two only, of the three is no ſtatute; and to it no regard is due, unleſs in matters relating to their own privileges. For though, in the times of madneſs and anarchy, the commons once paſſed a vote[1], “that whatever is enacted or declared for law by the commons in parliament aſſembled hath the force of law; and all the people of this nation are concluded thereby, although the conſent and concurrence of the king or houſe of peers be not had thereto;” yet, when the conſtitution was reſtored in all it’s forms, it was particularly enacted by ſtatute 13 Car. II. c. 1. that if any perſon ſhall maliciouſly or adviſedly affirm, that both or either of the houſes of parliament have any legiſlative authority without the king, ſuch perſon ſhall incur all the penalties of a praemunire.
III. We are next to examine the laws and cuſtoms relating to parliament, thus united together and conſidered as one aggregate body.
The power and juriſdiction of parliament, ſays ſir Edward Coke[2] is ſo tranſcendent and abſolute, that it cannot be confined, either for cauſes or perſons, within any bounds. And of this high court he adds, it may be truly ſaid “ſi antiquitatem ſpectes, eſt vetuſtiſſima; ſi dignitatem, eſt honoratiſſima; ſi juridictionem, eſt capaciſſima.” It hath ſovereign and uncontrolable authority in making, confirming, enlarging, reſtraining, abrogating, repealing, reviving, and expounding of laws, concerning matters of all poſſible denominations, eccleſiaſtical, or temporal, civil, military, maritime, or criminal: this being the place where that abſolute deſpotic power, which muſt in all governments reſide ſomewhere, is entruſted by the conſtitution of theſe kingdoms.
