Amount of
borough
representa-
tion.
Clerk of the
crown;
and of the
parliament.
468 Constitutional History. [chap.
dropped out in the next two reigns ; thus about eighty of
Edward’s boroughs continued to send members. Under Ed-
ward II ten new boroughs appear, some of which made but one
return. Edward III added the Cinque Ports and about six
short-lived boroughs. The bulk of the borough representation
was thus formed by the parliamentary boroughs in which
political interest was so strong, or over which the hold of the
executive was so firm, that they either would not or could not
shake off the burden, but survived to modern times. The
number of these at the close of the reign of Edward IV was
about 112 ; two members represented each borough except
Much Wenlock which had only one and the city of London
which had four ɪ ; these constituencies may be estimated as
returning 226 representatives, who, with the 74 knights of the
shire, would compose an assembly of 300 members2.
434. The business of parliament was recorded by clerks
specially appointed for the purpose. Of these the clerk of
the crown superintended the issue of writs and the reception
of the returns ; he also attested the signature of the king
attached to bills when they became statutes. The clerk of the
parliament registered the acts of the session ; his place was
in the house of lords, where he sat at the central table : to this
office William Ayremin was specially named and deputed by
EdwardII in 13163; but some such official must have been
1 The representation of London by four members was a matter of
historical growth or assumption : originally the writ directed the election
of two citizens, but it was very common to nominate four in order to make
sure that two would attend. Soin 1299 four were returned, in 1312 three,
in 1320 four, and in 1318 and 1322 three for two, in 1319 four for three,
and in 1326 six for two. In 1315, 1322, and 1324 two were returned.
After several other variations, the number was permanently raised to four
by the writs from 1378 onwards; see Parl. Writs, i. 80; II. i. 78, 108,
128, &c. ; Prynne, Peg. iv. 1041 ; iii. 369 sq. ; Lords’ Report, iv. 682. In
the year 1483, York elected four citizens for the parliament of Edward V ;
Davies, York Records, p. 144 ; this was in compliance with the writ, which
must have been unique.
2 Fortescue states the amount of parliamentary wisdom as ‘ plusquam
trecentorum electorum virorum ; ’ De Laudibus, c. 18. In 1509 there
weɪe 296 members; HatselltPrec. ii. 413.
3 ' Memoranda de parliamento . . . facta per Willelmum de Ayreminne
clericum de cancellaria praefati régis per eundeɪu regem ad hoc nominatum
et Specialiter deputatum ;’ Rot. Park i. 350. In the parliament held at
Mid-Lent, 1340, the first business done was the appointment of Thomas
XX.] Officers of Parliament. 469
employed, from the earliest times ; probably the chancellor was
allowed to employ any clerk he chose. The clerk of the house Clerk of the
of commons, ‘ the common clerk of the house,’ appears in the commons,
year 1388 as a person of established position; he was probably
an assistant of the clerk of the parliament, and had similar
duties in the lower house1. Each house had also its serieant- Serjeants
u and ushers,
at-arms, an officer whose duty it was to execute the warrants
and orders of the house while in session, and its usher, or
ostiarius, who kept the doors of the house and carried messages
between the two assemblies. The existence of these offices is
shown by occasional mention in the rolls, but the development
of their functions, and all matters of constitutional importance
connected with them, are of later growth.
As soon as the opening speech of the chancellor was ended, Receivers
, o ɪ , t and triers of
the names of the receivers and triers of petitions were read by petitions,
the clerk of the crown. The receivers were clerks or masters
in chancery ; the triers were selected by the king from the list
of the lords spiritual, the lords temporal, and the justices. The
triers sat in two divisions, in two smaller chambers adjoining
the house of lords2 : they could call to their assistance the
chancellor, treasurer, steward, and chamberlain. Of the two
committees, one examined the petitions for England, Ireland,
Wales, and Scotland ; the other those for Qascony and the
foreign possessions of the crown. By them was determined the
court to which the particular petitions ought to be referred,
and, if any required parliamentary hearing, the triers reported
them to the parliament3.
de Drayton to be ‘ clerk du Parlement ; ’ Rot. Parl. ii. ɪ ɪ 2 ; in 1347 it is
ordered that petitions be delivered to him; ib. p. 202. In 1371 the
clerk of the parliament reads the answers to the petitions ; Rot. Parl. ii.
304 : in 1388 he calls over the names of the receivers and triers ; iii. 228.
ɪ Rot. Parl. iii. 245 : ‘ Ie roi. . . granta d’aider Gefirey Martyn clerk
de la corone ; et granta auxint a la requeste des communes d’aider John
de Scardesburgh, lour commune clerk.’ The ‘modus tenendi parlia-
mentum ’ makes two chief clerks of parliament and five assistants, one for
each of the five grades (bishops, proctors, temporal lords, knights, and
burgesses) into which that tract divides the parliament. On the later
duties of the clerks see E. May, Treatise on Parliament, pp. 185 sq., 236 sq.
2 Generally the chamberlain’s chamber and Marculfs chamber; Rot.
Parl. iii. 323.
3 Triers are still appointed ; but the lords spiritual are not now nomi-
nated to serve ; E. May, Treatise on Parliament, p. 542.