British Parliament

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 565.

Nobody set out to create Parliament. It developed naturally out of the daily political needs of the English King and his government. Nor did it develop continuously over time, but went through short periods of rapid growth. Yet despite its unintentional and haphazard development, the modern British Parliament is one of the oldest continuous representative assemblies in the world.

The Witan was the term used to describe the council summoned by Anglo-Saxon kings.

The Witan was the occasion when the King would call together his leading advisors and nobles to discuss matters affecting the country. It existed only when the King chose and was made up of those individuals whom he particularly summoned. The Witan's main duty was to advise the King, but its assent was not necessary for the King to take action. Nor did it help frame the laws, as the modern Parliament does, but primarily consented to the laws the King had already decided to enact. However, Anglo-Saxon Kings realized that they could not govern their territories without local support from these powerful men, and so began the delicate balancing act between the King's power and the power of those he governed.

After the Norman Conquest, Kings of England began to govern through a smaller but permanent inner council of advisers and officials, but occasionally the King would call on additional nobles (earls and barons) and churchmen (bishops and abbots) to gain their approval of his decisions, especially regarding taxation. For the first few centuries of its existence Parliament was only an occasion and not an institution. It was called at the whim of the monarch, consisted of whoever he wanted to speak with, met wherever he happened to be, could last as long as he wanted, and had no independent officials of its own.

During the 13th century the barons were frequently in revolt against the kings whom they thought were governing the realm badly, that is, against the barons' own wishes. In 1215 King John was forced to agree to Magna Carta, the "Great Charter" of legal rights which insisted that he listen to and follow the advice of the barons.

Medieval Kings had to meet all royal expenses, private and public, out of their income. If extra resources were needed for an emergency, such as going to war, the sovereign would seek help from his barons in the Great Council – a gathering of leading men who met several times a year. During the 13-th century, several English kings found their own private revenue, together with aid from the barons, insufficient to meet the expenses of government. They therefore also called on representatives of counties, cities and towns to agree to additional taxation.

In time the Great Council came to include those who were summoned by name (who were later to form the House of Lords) and those who were representatives of communities – the Commons. These two groups, together with the sovereign, became known as “Parliament” – a term meaning a meeting for parley, or discussion.

Originally the sovereign's legislation needed only the agreement of his councilors. Later, starting with the right of individuals to present petitions, the Commons was eventually allowed to appeal to the Crown on behalf of groups of people.

The division of Parliament into two houses did not coalesce until the 14-th century. It was accepted that there should be no taxation without parliamentary consent, still a fundamental principle today.

In the 15-th century, the Commons gained equal law-making powers with the Lords.

The House of Lords with its Chancellor and the House of Commons with its Speaker appeared in their modern form in the 16-th century. The English Reformation greatly increased the powers of Parliament because it was through the nominal agency of Parliament that the Church of England was established. Yet throughout the Tudor period Parliament's legislative supremacy was challenged by the Crown's legislative authority through the Privy Council, a descendant of part of the old feudal council.

In the 17-th century, tensions increased between Parliament and monarch. With the accession (1603) of the Stuart kings, inept in their dealings with Parliament after the wily Tudors, Parliament was able to exercise its claims, drawing on precedents established but not exploited over the preceding 200 years. Parliament passed the Petition of Right in 1628. It was the most dramatic assertion of the traditional rights of the English people since the Magna Carta. Its basic premise was that no taxes of any kind could be allowed without the permission of Parliament. In the course of the English civil war, Parliament voiced demands not only for collateral power but for actual sovereignty. Although under Oliver Cromwell and the Protectorate, parliamentary authority was reduced to a mere travesty, the Restoration brought Parliament back into power—secure in its claims to legislative supremacy, to full authority over taxation and expenditures, and to a voice in public policy through partial control (by impeachment) over the king's choice of ministers.

Following the restoration of the monarchy in 1660, the role of Parliament was enhanced by the passage of the Bill of Rights which established the authority of Parliament over the King, and enshrined in law the principle of freedom of speech in parliamentary debates. The Glorious Revolution of 1688 permanently affirmed parliamentary sovereignty and forced the monarch to accept great limitations on the powers of the Crown. During the reign of Queen Anne (1702-1714) even the royal veto on legislation disappeared.

The year 1707 brought the Union of England and Scotland and the first Parliament of Great Britain. Growing pressure for reform of Parliament in the 18-th and 19-th centuries led to a series of Reform Acts which extended the vote to most men and women over 21.

The legislative primacy of the House of Commons over the Lords was confirmed in the 20-th century by the passing of the Parliament Acts of 1911 and 1949.

TEXT 3. Study the text to answer the questions that follow it. Use additional information from SUPPLEMENTARY READER (texts 8, 13) if necessary.