Young's case; Strode's case; case of Eliot, Holles, and Valentine Question finally settled by Bill of Rights. Supply made dependent upon redress of Finally the grant is withheld until the petitions are answered. All money bills must The commons regulate by law the sheriff's procedure in elections; right of the com- Right originally vested in the king in council; justices of assize given power to in- Right to determine validity of elections first asserted by the commons in the reign Statute of 11 Henry VI. Exemption from legal arrest and distress; Thorpe's The privilege as defined by statute in 1770. Right of conference with the lords. Its right to reign based upon a parliamentary title; the succession four times reg- the statutes against heresy; state of the law prior to The statute De Hæretico Comburendo, 1401; the final and most cruel statute Henry IV. and the commons; their growing influence based upon the money The right to make supply depend upon redress finally established; two vitally im- A standing committee of the great council; can be traced as a definitely organized body from the minority of Henry III.; beginnings of the doctrine of ministerial Growth of the doctrine that the crown should be controlled by the council, and the council by the parliament; general scope of the council's duties; its functions leg- The council during the reigns of Edward II. and Richard II. The council after the accession of Henry IV.; the commons request in 1404 that the members of the council be appointed in parliament; council thus appointed Parliament imposes regulations upon the council and fixes the pay of its members; Beginnings of the navy; Old-English fleets; the Conqueror and the Cinque Ports; Beaufort, who in 1424 had been made chancellor, in 1441 became chief minister; Suffolk; England loses her continental possessions; the struggle between Som- An heir born to Henry VI., October, 1453; with the first battle of St. Alban's, May, 1455, civil war begins; York becomes protector; Margaret assumes the leader- ship of the Lancastrian cause. Battle of Bloreheath, September, 1459; flight of York, Salisbury, and Warwick; York triumphs at Northampton, July, 1460, and states his claim to the crown A compromise which secures the succession to the house of York after Henry's death; York slain at Wakefield in December; Edward IV. seized the crown and sceptre at Westminster, March 4, 1461, by virtue of his hereditary title 7. Outline of the Constitution by Sir John Fortescue: all governments di- King of England a “rex politicus : ""Quod principi placuit legis habet vigorem" not an English maxim; limitations imposed upon the crown by the parliamentary Parliamentary and jury systems the practical guarantees of liberty 8. The House of York: its accession marks the beginning of a long period of re- Is emancipated through the decay of the estate system. Decline of the baronage: Feudal anarchy of Stephen's reign; anti-feudal policy of Henry II.; scutage; strength of the baronage as a military body Baronage weakened by the breaking up of great estates through subinfeudation; an attempt to nourish the dying feudalism by an artificial process, —giving of Champerty and maintenance; heraldry Badges of service become hereditary; heralds incorporated into a court under the earl marshal; power of the baronage as a military force broken by the discovery Stat. De Asportatis Religiosorum; Stat. of Provisors; stat. for the protection of Growing wealth and influence of the clergy; the Lollard revolt Statutes of heresy designed to protect the church's spiritual authority; the church Alarmed by the double assault, the church sought shelter at the feet of the mon- Elected knights originally chosen by the whole shire community; franchise fixed Tendency in the towns for the few to appropriate the franchises which were the Revival of the monarchy under Edward IV.; forms of the older constitutional life Edward claimed that the Lancastrian kings were kings "de facto non de jure" 577 Edward's policy of peace; a sweeping bill of attainder and a life grant of the cus- No statute in favor of liberty during Edward's reign; benevolences. Expansion of Such powers first restrained, then expanded by statute; scientific perfection of the Its practical inefficiency due to the turbulence of the times; extraordinary powers of the council invoked for the preservation of order in the reign of Henry VI.; Edward IV. converts the council into an engine of tyranny; jurisdiction of the Constructive treason and torture; bills of attainder and the procedure thereunder 582 9. Usurpation of Richard III.: declared protector on 4th May, and crowned 6th Henry Tudor challenges the crown, - his pedigree; his first attempt in October, Fall of the house of York; it establishes tyranny and yet fails to guarantee order 587 When invasion is threatened, Richard returns to the collection of benevolences; INTRODUCTION. ENGLISH ORIGIN OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF THE UNITED STATES. unit in our tem. I. As the Constitution of the United States embodies a The typical English federal union of political sovereignties whose separate exist- state the ence is older than that of the Union itself,1 the simplest prin- political ciple of analysis indicates the fact, that, in order fully to federal sysgrasp the nature of the composite whole, it is first necessary to comprehend the nature of the units out of whose aggregation it arose. Any exhaustive investigation into the structure of our federal system must necessarily begin with the historical origin of the states that compose it.2 The leading and practical purpose of this treatise will be to unfold in one unbroken story the gradual process of historical development through which the typical English state in America — the political unit in our federal system — came into existence. as the ancient city wealth. 2. A great French orator has said that "words are The state things," and to this the philologist may add, that, like all other human things, they are subject to the endless variations commonwhich are brought about by the changes of time, place, and circumstance. To the student of the "Science of Politics "3 this truth is of paramount importance, for the reason that the cardinal terms in which he has to deal often represent in one age a train of ideas which completely vanish in another. Of this fact the word "state" may be used as a striking illustration. As employed in modern times the word "state" presents to the mind a political conception which a states 1 "They existed before it. They could exist without it."- Bryce, The American Commonwealth, vol. i. p. 14. 2 "To examine the Union before we I have studied the states, would be to adopt a method filled with obstacles. The great political principles which now govern American society undoubtedly took their origin and their growth in the state." De Tocque ville, Democracy in America (Bowen's 8 The word Politics is here used in |