Publisher's Synopsis
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1903 edition. Excerpt: ... of the form in which parliamentary action had been taken, and upon which it had been based, is a sufficient indication of the inferior position of Parliament in the earlier days. We may then distinguish three periods in the growth of the historic order of business which, speaking approximately, are successive, but which cannot, of course, be sharply divided one from the other. I. The first period is that of the Estates. It begins with their first meetings under Henry III and Edward I, and continues until the beginning of the journals of the House and the first contemporary reports of debates and proceedings, i.e., till the middle of the sixteenth century. In this period again we have to distinguish between two parts: the period in which Petition is the sole form of parliamentary activity, and the period, from the first quarter of the fifteenth century onwards, in which Bill becomes the normal form. II. In the second period Parliament begins to meet with regularity, the order of business proper is settled, and the procedure as a whole appears on its permanent fundamental lines. It covers the reigns of Queen Elizabeth and the first four sovereigns of the house of Stuart. To this period we may assign the framing of the whole historic order of business by the practice of the House of Commons. The only necessary qualification is that there can be no doubt that most Of the fundamental elements of procedure date back much further than our knowledge of the proceedings of the House; in other words, their inception and earliest development belong to our first period. III. The opening of the third period is marked by that great political landmark in the constitutional history of England--the Revolution. This ushers in the age of conservative...
