Page:Ruffhead - The Statutes at Large, 1763.djvu/16

xii The Commons were for a long Time, nevertheless, so far from being considered as essential Branches of the Legislature, that even after they were unquestionably restored to Parliament, yet we find that they were not constantly and regularly summoned as a distinct Order, the Sheriffs omitting them at Pleasure ; and the King sometimes, in the Writ of Summons, expressly naming the Representatives which the Sheriffs were to return

Their Attendance was, for a long Time, deemed a Burthen both to Representatives and Conssituents; and though after Election the Members gave Security for their Attendance, yet it is common to find the Parliament adjourned, because many of the Commons were not come, nor the Writs returned.

In most of the antient Statutes, they are not so much as named: And in several, even where they are mentioned, they are distinguished as Petitioners merely, the Assent of the Lords, being expressed in Contradistinction to the Request of the Commons.

One of the principal Causes, however, of their being summoned, which was to procure their Consent to the levying of Taxes, naturally contributed to extend and enlarge their Influence; for, after they had granted Supplies to the King, in which they were sometimes emulously and ostentatiously liberal, they reasonably expected some Return for their Liberality. Accordingly, after having provided for the King's Necessities, they took Occasion to present Petitions for the Redress of Grievances; from which Petitions, most of our early Statutes are framed. This Method of framing the Acts, seems to have taken rise from near the Beginning of the Reign of Ed. III. For, till then, the Acts were drawn up in the Form of a Law, in the first Instance; but, from that Time, the Petition, with the King's Answer, was entered on the Parliament Rolls, and from them, by Advice of the Judges, and others of the King's Council, the Act was framed, and for the most part entered in a Roll called the Statute Roll, and the Tenor thereof affixed to Proclamation Writs, directed to the several Sheriffs to proclaim it as a Law in their respective Counties.

Many Acts, however, though undoubtedly valid, were not entered on the Statute Roll: For if the Bill did not demand Novel Ley, that is, if the Provision quired