The Powers of Parliament of England

The powers of Parliament of England

During the early year of the 1600s King James and his son Charles would struggle for power with Parliament. The struggle lasted until 1640 when civil war broke out, leading to the beheading of Charles I. The house of Parliament stated three rules to the king that they wanted.

"First, that we held not privileges of right , but of grace only, renewed every parliament by way of donature upon petition, and so to be limited. Secondly, That we are no Court of Record, not a Court that can command view of records but that our proceeding here are only to act and memorials, and that the attendance with the records is courtesy, not duty. Thirdly and lastly, That the examination of the return of writs of knights and burgesses of the House is without our compass, and due to the Chancery."

The House of Commons wrote a letter to the king of England that the people should be under rule of Parliament not the king. The people were hoping for this to be an easy move from kingship to a House of Commons. They say to the king that freedom is the right of the people, and that freedom should not be taken from the people of England. The House of Commons also stated that they would not control the court without dignity, but to high parliament courts which give laws to other courts. And lastly the House of Commons is the main judge of all writs and elections of all such members. This was to have freedom.

This was kind of complicated reading it once, but after two or three times it finally came to me. The people didn't want to be mean to the king but wanted to be freer then what the king wanted. The king never liked the idea of a House of Commons and that why a civil war broke out. The House of Commons wrote a fairly nice letter of the rules that they wanted, with much respect to the king. And with tensions rising, civil war did break out, and hopefully found a way to become free.