Discussion
on foreign
politics.
On the
treaty of
Troyes.
On the
quarrels of
the lords.
Share of the
commons in
legislation.
268 Constitutional History. [chap.
urged the king to labour1. The treaty between Henry V and
Sigismund in 1416 was read before the commons as well as the
lords, and by their common advice and assent, in the parliament
and by authority of the same, ratified, approved, and confirmed2.
The treaty of Troyes contained a provision that without the con-
sent of the three estates of the two kingdoms peace should not
be made with the dauphin ; in 1446 the commons joined in the
act by which the king was released from that obligation3. Kor
was any great reluctance felt to allow the commons to touch the
most delicate questions that came before the council: in 1426
the speaker of the commons was bold enough to express to the
duke of Bedford their sorrow for the quarrels which had taken
place between the great lords, referring unquestionably to
Beaufort and Gloucester4; in 1427 they petitioned the king to
intercede with the pope in favour of archbishop Chichele ° ; in
1433 they joined in taking the oath of concord by which Bed-
ford attempted to secure union in the government and national
support for it before he left England, and in the same parliament
they petitioned the king that Bedford might remain in the
country 6. It is, however, unnecessary to multiply examples of
a truth which is apparent in every article of the parliamentary
rolls. With the single exception of the cases in which the
parliament attempted to tax the spiritualities or otherwise
interfere with the administration of the clergy, there is really
no exception to the accepted rule, that every question of home
administration or foreign policy might be canvassed in the
assembly of the commons.
The share of the commons in legislation, whether expressed
by the mention of their petition in the preamble of the statutes,
or by their assent to measures which had been previously dis-
cussed by the lords, may be regarded as theoretically complete
before Henry IV began to reign. But for several, years there
continues to be seen some mistrust of the honesty of the officials
in the process of turning petitions into acts, or iugrossing the
l Rot. Part. iiɪ. 465, 492 ; ɪv. 70 sq. 2 lb. ɪv. 96, 79: Rymer, ix. 403.
3 See above, p. 138. 4 Rot. Part. iv. 296. s lb. ɪv. 322.
6 lb. iv. 422 sq. ; above, p. 122.
XVXii.] Share of Commons in Legislation. 269
acts themselves. In 1401, as we have seen, the speaker had to Painstaken
petition that the commons might not be hurried through public nions to
- . . 1 ∙ 1 ∙, secure the
business ; and that the petitions which were granted might be exact enrol-
enrolled before the justices left the parliament ɪ. In the same their peti-
parliament they informed the king that they had been told that
the permission given him in the last session to dispense with
the statute of provisors had been enacted and entered in the
roll in a form different from that in which it was granted.
The king under protest allowed the rolls to be searched, and it
was found that the commons were mistaken 2. In 1406 they
asked that certain elected members might be appointed to view
the enrolment and ingrossing of the acts of parliament ; and
this was granted ɜ. But the prejudice no doubt continued to be Henry v
strongly felt, and it was not until the second year of Henry V them ɪɪɪ
that the full security was obtained, and the king undertook
that the acts when finally drawn up should correspond exactly
with the petitions 4. The plan, subsequently adopted, of ini-
tiating legislation by bill rather than by petition, completed, so
far as rules could insure it, the remedy of the evil. A good
instance of the careful superintendence which the commons
kept up over the wording of public documents is found in the
parliament of 1404, when the king submitted to them the form
of the commissions of array about to be issued ; the commons
cancelled certain clauses and words and requested that for the
future such commissions should be issued only in the corrected
form. The king consulted the lords and judges, and very
graciously agreed 5.
The attempt to bind together remedial legislation and grants Attempt t∣>
of money, to make supply depend upon the redress of griev- dependon'y
aɪɪees, was directly and boldly made by the commons in 1401 ;
the commons prayed that before they made any grant they
might be informed of the answers to their petitions6.
The The king's
refusal.
king’s answer, given on the last day of the session, amounted to
a peremptory refusal ; he said ‘ that this mode of proceeding
had not been seen or used in the time of his progenitors or
1 Rot. Parl. ɪiɪ. 455, 456. 2 lb. ɪiɪ. 465. j lb. ɪiɪ. 585.
1 See above, p. 84. 5 Rθt∙ Parl. ɪv. 526, 527, 6 lb. iɪɪ. 458.