Parliaments of William III. and the 1 CHAP. III. the resistance of his Parliament, or stood apart and undisguised in the maintenance of his own prerogative." The Revolution of 1688-89 was fully necessary, and was abundantly justified by its results. For his share in that The King Revolution, as well as for his appointment of the first Parliamentary Ministry, and other personal and public acts at home and abroad, William III. will ever continue to hold a conspicuous place in our general and constitutional history, as well as in the esteem and gratitude of the English nation. Revolu tion. Hallam's Constitutional History. CHAPTER 1. ITS EARLY HISTORY TO AD. 1560. It will be convenient here to interrupt the thread of The my narrative, in order to trace the history of the Scottish Scottish ConstiParliament from its earliest records down to the time of tution. the Union with England. The Constitution of Scotland is more obscure in its origin and progress than that of most European states, for all ancient documents and contemporary chronicles which may have existed during the first eleven centuries of the Christian era have been irretrievably lost. No authentic Scottish charter, record, or chronicle is known to be extant so old as the reign of Malcolm Canmore, who died in 1093; and it is therefore useless to conjecture upon the constitution and powers of such political bodies as existed prior to the eleventh or twelfth century. It is extremely difficult to distinguish the ancient The King Scottish legislative court or council of the sovereign from and the Legisthat which discharged the duty of counselling the King lative in judicial proceedings. While the early lawgivers Council. enacted statutes by the advice of the "bishops, earls, barons, thanes, and whole community," or "through the common counsel of the kynryk (kingdom)," during the reigns previous to Alexander III. the King also decided causes in a similar assembly of magnates; and laws of the greatest importance, and affecting the interests of VOL. II. 7 Its Early History to CHAP. I. all classes of the community, were enacted by the King and his judges. The appointment of Turgot to the bishopric of St. Andrews by King Alexander I. in 1107, and the proceedings in connection with the election and retirement of his successor, Eadmer, in 1120-1, are the earliest events in Scottish history where there is evidence of the concurrence of a national council. This council, as the King himself stated in a letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury, consisted of certain bishops, earls," and good men of the country." In the few remaining charters of the kings preceding this monarch there is no mention of any great officers of the Crown. Those of Alexander are witnessed by his chancellor and constable, the former office being rendered necessary by the introduction of royal fiefs and charters, and the latter marking the rise of a feudal baronage. A justiciar also first occurs in this reign, and in royal grants of importance Alexander cites the testimony and consent of the bishops and magnates of his kingdom.1 The The Representative Assembly, or Parliament, of the Scottish nation approximated more to the French than to the English model. It contained three estates, prelates, tenants-in-chief great and small, and townsmen, until James I., in 1428, in imitation of the English system, instituted commissioners of shires, to supersede the personal appearance of the minor tenants-in-chief; then the three estates became the lords, clerical and lay, the commissioners of shires, and the burgesses; and these throughout their history continued to sit in one house. The estates have been simply and clearly defined by some authorities as the clergy, the barons, and the burgesses. The Chancellor was president; the officers of state had seats in virtue of their offices; and the judges of 1 The Acts of the Parliaments of Scotland, printed by command of Queen Victoria in pursuance of an Address of the House of Commons of Great Britain, Vol. I., A.D. 1124-1423. Lords' Report on the Dignity of a Peer; and Stubbs's Constitutional History, Vol. II. |