The king’s
}x>wer to
«liter the
V πts.
His v ιsh
to maintain
custom j
and to en-
force older.
Writs to the
slιenffs of
cities,
to the
( mque
Poits and
Lancashiie,
416 Constitutional History. [chap.
at work in the county courts ; and to have a general intention
of urging the election of men of knightly rank and education,
to the exclusion of professional lawyers and the maintainers
of private suits. The mischief of faction and the danger of
sacrificing public interest to private emolument were sufficient
reasons for the restrictions inserted. The fact that the king
could insert them without remonstrance does not prove that
by dealing with the sheriffs he could procure their enforcement :
the number of variations implies some power of resistance ; the
lawyers were not excluded and belted knights were not always
chosen. Yet the king no doubt felt that his power, even thus
liable to be thwarted, was safer as it was than it would be if it
were hampered with any constitutional change in the body of
electors. He maintained accordingly the customary right of the
county courts. The changes introduced under the Lancaster
kings have already been noticed : they possibly imply a more
important change in the constitution of the country society,
and claim a more distinct place in social history. We cannot
question that the act of 1430 was demanded by the disorderly
condition of the county courts, or that that of 1445 was the
result of the choice of unfit and incompetent members. The
lack of governance common to the whole Lancaster period is
exemplified in both the complaints. The tenour of the history
is enough, without a statutory rehearsal, to prove that there
were riots even in the most solemn shiremoots, and that un-
worthy members sat in the fickle and subservient parliaments.
The writs to the sheriffs did not quite complete the com-
position of the lower house. Those cities and towns which
were made counties by themselves, or had sheriffs of their own,
London, Bristol, York, Norwich, Lincoln, Newcastle-On-Tyne,
Hull, Southampton, Nottingham, Coventry, Canterbury, had
writs addressed to their sheriffs; the constable of Dover and
warden of the Cinque Ports had the writ for the election of
the barons of the Cinque Ports ; the duke of Lancaster, or more
generally the chancellor of the duchy or county palatine of
Lancaster, had the writ for Lancashire and its towns. None
of these writs exhibit any important differences.
XX.] Writs of the Knights. 417
420. The abbots, barons, and judges, on the receipt of their Proceedings
writs, had little to do except to obey : the bishops had besides ∞ipt oF'
this to order the election of the clerical proctors, which they 'mte,
did by forwarding the writ with a precept of their own to the
archdeacons to enforce it1; and, where the process was trans-
acted at all, it was transacted in much the same way as the
elections to convocation, by summoning the whole body of the
beneficed clergy in the several archdeaconries. The work of the
sheriffs was much more critical and complicated. The method
of election to the house of commons, the questions of qualification
and suffrage, and the theory as compared with the practice of
the county court, open a wide field for discordant conjectures.
The writ was returnable, as we have seen, in about forty county
days, and the election was to be made in the county court : electωna∙
and this is nearly all that can be certainly affirmed of the early
elections. It would be a waste of ingenuity to speculate on
the different courses that a sheriff, unguided by custom, may
have adopted ; and, for the sake of a definite view, we must
advance at once to the period which was affected by the statute
of 1406. This statute orders that proceedings shall begin in Proceedings
the first county court holden after the receipt of the writ, and Xtuteof
that the election shall be made in full county court by the 14°δ'
persons present; it specifies further the form of the return2.
1 Forms of electing clerical proctors under the l praemunientes ’ clause
will be found, in the case of cathedrals, Par). Writs, I. ʒɪ, 34, 140,
II. i. 293-296 ; and in the case of the diocesan clergy, one of a.d. 1304,
Wake, State of the Church, app. p. 31. A list of the clerical proctors
in the parliament of Carlisle is given, Parl. Writs, I. 184-186. Atterbury
gives along series of instances in which proctors were elected under this
clause, coming down to the year 1678 ; Rights, Powers, and Privileges of
Convocation, Additions to the first edition, addenda, pp. 81-93.
2 7 Hen. IV, c. 15, Statutes, ii. p. 156: tItemnostre seigneur Ie roy al
grevouse compleint de sa commune del non dewe eleccion des chivalers des
Countees pur le parlement, queux aucune foitz sont faitz de affeccion des
viscountz et autrement encountre la forme des briefs as ditz viscountz
directe, a grand esclaundre des countees et retardacion des busoignes del
Communalte du dit countee, nostre soverein seigneur* le roy vuillant a ces
purveier de remedie, de Tassent des seigneurs espirituelx et temporelx
et de tout la commune en cest present parlement, ad ordeignez, et establiz
que desore enavant les eleccions des tielx chivalers soient faitz en la forme
quenseute ; cest a saver que al proschein countee a tenir apres la Iivere du
brief du parlement, proclamacion soit fait en plein countee de le jour et
lieu de parlement, et que toutz ceux qui Hleoques sont presentz sibien
VOL. IIL