The speaker.
The clerks.
Committees.
Writs of
summons.
Iilection of
members.
486 Constitutional History. [chap.
one for the higher house the other for the lower ɪ, and com-
mittees.
‘ The speaker is he that doth commend and prefer the bills
exhibited into the parliament, and is the mouth of the parlia-
ment. He is commonly appointed by the king or queen though
accepted by the assent of the house 2.
‘ The clerks are the keepers of the parliament rolls and
records, and of the statutes made, and have the custody of the
private statutes not printed.
‘ The committees are such as either the lords in the higher
house, or burgesses in the lower house do choose to frame the
laws upon such bills as are agreed upon, and afterward to be
ratified by the said houses 3.
‘The prince sendeth forth his rescripts or writs to every
duke, marquess, baron and every other lord temporal or spiritual
who hath voice in the parliament, to be at his great council of
parliament such a day (the space from the day of the writ is
commonly at the least forty days4) ; he sendeth also writs to the
sheriffs of every shire to admonish the whole shire to choose
two knights of the parliament in the name of the shire, to hear
and reason and to give their advice and consent in the name of
the shire, and to be present at that day ; likewise to every city
and town which of ancient time hath been wont to find bur-
gesses of the parliament, so to make election, that they might
be present there at the first day of the parliament. The knights
of the shire be chosen by all the gentlemen and j eomen of the
shire present at the day assigned for the election ; the voice of
any absent can be counted for none. Yeomen I call here, as
before, that may dispend at the least forty shillings of yearly
rent of free land of his own. These meeting at one day, the
two who have the more of their voices to be chosen knights of
the shire for that parliament ; likewise by the plurality of
1 See above, p. 468.
s This is a mark of Tudor innovation. See Coke, 4th Inst. p. 8 : ‘ for
avoiding of expense of time and contestation the use is, as in the congé
d’eslire of a bishop, that the king doth name a discreet and learned man
whom the commons elect.’
3 See above, p. 483. 4 See above, p. 364.
XX.] Parliamentary Forms. 487
the voices of the citizens and burgesses be the burgesses
elected.
‘ The first day of the parliament the prince and all the lords, Meeting of
in their robes of parliament, do meet in the higher house, parhament'
where, after prayers made, they that be present are written and
they that be absent upon sickness or some other reasonable
cause, which the prince will allow, do constitute under their
hand and seal some one of those who be present as their pro-
curer or attorney, to give voice for them, so that by presence or
attorney and proxy they be all there ; all the princes and
barons, and all archbishops and bishops, and, when abbots were,
so many abbots as had voice in parliament1. The place where The juriia-
the assembly is, is richly tapessed and hanged ; a princely and
royal throne, as appertaineth to a king, set in the middest of
the higher place thereof. Next under the prince sitteth the
chancellor, who is the voice and orator of the prince. On the
one side of the house or chamber sitteth the archbishops and
bishops each in his rank, on the other side the dukes and
barons.
‘ In the middest thereof upon woolsacks sitteth the judges Arrango-
of the realm, the master of the rolls, and the secretaries of state. house of
But these that sit on the woolsacks have no voice in the house,
but only sit there to answer their knowledge in the law, when
they be asked, if any doubt arise among the lords : the secre-
taries do answer of such letters or things passed in council
whereof they have the custody and knowledge : and this is
called the upper house, whose consent and dissent is given by
each man severally and by himself, first for himself, and then
severally for so many as he hath letters and proxies ; when it
cometh to the question, saying only Content or Fot Content,
without further reasoning or replying.
‘ In this meantime the knights of the shires and burgesses Meeting of
of parliament, for so they are called that have voice in parlia- ⅛a°'
ment and are chosen (as I have said before), to the number
betwixt three and four hundred2, are called by such as it
1 See above, p. 460.
2 The additions to the representative body made between the time of