IV.

History

Parliament is one of the oldest and most honored parts of the British government. Its name, from the French word parler (“to talk”), was given to meetings of the English king’s council in the mid-13th century. Its immediate predecessor was the king’s feudal council, the Curia Regis, and before that the Anglo-Saxon witan or witenagemot. It was a device resorted to by the medieval kings to help them in running their governments and reflected the idea that the king should consult with his subjects.

In the 13th century, several elements combined to influence the development of Parliament: the need, stated in the Magna Carta (1215), for taxes to have the consent of the taxed; the custom of summoning to the royal council not just barons but elected representatives of towns and counties; the convenience of dealing with petitions at enlarged meetings of the king’s council; and the genius of men such as King Edward I who saw how Parliament could be used to their advantage.

At first, Parliament was not an institution but an event. During the quarrel between King Henry III and his barons, the Oxford Parliament (1258) forced Henry to accept rule by a baronial committee. The barons’ leader, Simon de Montfort, summoned representatives of towns to Parliament for the first time in 1265. The so-called Model Parliament of Edward I (1295) contained all the elements of a mature Parliament: bishops and abbots, peers, two knights from each shire, and two representatives from each town.

A.

The Growth of Parliamentary Power

In the 14th century, Parliament split into two houses, gained control over statutes and taxation, created impeachment (1376), and presided over the abdications of Edward II (1327) and Richard II (1399). Growth continued under the Lancastrian kings (1399-1461) but then fell off, only to begin again in Henry VIII’s Reformation Parliament (1529-1536). Commons especially gained experience and confidence under Henry and his successors, but was generally subservient to the Crown.

Under the Stuart kings, cooperation changed to conflict, highlighted in 1649 by the overthrow and execution of Charles I and in 1688 and 1689 by the Glorious Revolution, which established parliamentary sovereignty. Beginning in the 18th century, the royal chief executive deferred to a prime minister and cabinet responsible to the House of Commons.

B.

The Modern Parliament

In the 19th century the House of Commons became democratic. The Great Reform Bill of 1832 gave the vote to the middle class for the first time. Acts in 1867 and 1884 enfranchised workingmen, and another in 1885 created equal electoral districts. The Parliament Act of 1911 weakened the House of Lords. Women aged 30 got the vote in 1918, those aged 21 in 1928. In 1969 the voting age for everyone was reduced to 18.

The union of England and Scotland in 1707 brought 16 Scottish peers and 45 representatives into Parliament. That with Ireland in 1800 brought in 32 more peers, 4 of whom were bishops from the church in Ireland, and 100 more representatives, although most withdrew when the Irish Free State was created in 1922. Britain’s legislature, sometimes called the Mother of Parliaments, has been the model for legislative assemblies in many other countries.