1. Parliament versus the Crown

Like the monarchy, the British Parliament is an ancient institution dating from the middle of the thirteenth century. It evolved from the Curia Regis, or Great Council of the Realm, which began in the Middle Ages as an advisory body to the monarch. Originally it comprised the great landholders, the chief nobles, and the church prelates. They met several times a year to grant aid if extra resources were needed for an emergency, such as a war. Not always the Sovereign's wishes were complied with.

An important occasion in the development of Parliament presented itself when in 1215 King John (the Lackland) was forced by his rebel barons to set his seal to the Magna Carta, the Great Charter. It was, an important symbol of political freedom as it gave the barons a more permanent share in the government as well as the right to a fair and speedy trial. It has been commonly maintained that out of the Magna Carta developed parliamentary institutions.

When Henry III, John's successor, came to the throne he tried to concentrate all his power in his own hands and demanded money from the Great Council. As barons refused to grant money, in 1264 a civil war broke out. The avaricious and incompetent king supported by a group of powerful barons was defeated by Simon de Monfort, the Earl of Leicester. During the conflict Henry sought to boost his baronial support by summoning knights of the shires and burgesses to attend his parliament. This was the first time that commoners had been represented. De Monfort was killed at the Battle of Evesham in 1265, but his innovation of summoning the commons to attend parliament was repeated in later years and soon became standard. Thus it is from him that the modern idea of a representative parliament derives.

During the reign of Henry Ill's son, Edward I, Parliament permanently assumed the form, which de Monford had given it. In 1295, Edward summoned the Model Parliament, so called because it contained all the elements, which were to become recognized as necessary to make a full assembly. This Parliament was not prepared to keep on granting money to the king and Edward promised that no taxes would be raised without the consent of Parliament. His grandson, King Edward III continually needed money to carry on the Hundred Years' War and this led to further developments of parliamentary control over taxation. It was during this period that the division into Lords and Commons took place: the knights and the burgesses together formed a single House of Commons, sitting separately from the barons.

With the subsequent decline of feudalism the position of the Commons was strengthened, representing the new merchant, non-feudal class: all money grants had to be approved by the House of Commons before being considered by the Lords. The Commons also gained the right to participate in giving their requests -their "bills" - the form of law.

In 1640 King Charles I summoned a parliament that retained legal identity for an unprecedented 20 years; it was called the Long Parliament. The Parliament

quarreled with the king and substantially reduced his powers. Royalist and parliamentary forces eventually fought the English Civil war (1642-48), from which Parliament emerged victorious. The Parliamentary army under Oliver Cromwell then took control of the country and expels hostile members of Parliament. The remainder, known as the Rump Parliament, then voted for Charles's execution, the abolition of both monarchy and the House of Lords. After Charles I was publicly executed (1649) England became a republic for the next 11 years under the leadership of Oliver Cromwell. He later dissolved the Rump Parliament; he appointed a quasi legislature known as Barebone's Parliament but actually ruled without a parliament. After Cromwell's death in 1658 the Parliament was reconvened. Two years later it dissolved itself making way for a newly elected parliament, which arranged the restoration of King Charles II.

After the restoration of the Monarchy in 1660, the role of Parliament was enhanced by the 'Glorious Revolution' (1688-1689) which resulted in the deposition of James II and the accession of William of Orange and his wife Mary to the English throne. During the Revolution Parliament succeeded in establishing its sovereignty over the crown and the passage of the Bill of Rights which made monarchy clearly conditional on the will of Parliament and enshrined in law the principle of freedom of speech in parliamentary debates. These events were a milestone in the gradual process by which practical power shifted from the monarch to Parliament. The legitimate ascendancy of Parliament was never thereafter successfully challenged.

To enable the Sovereign and Parliament to work together, a group of ministers, or the Cabinet, became the link between the executive and the legislature. Although the ministers were appointed by the Sovereign, they had to have sufficient support in the House of Commons to persuade Parliament to pass legislation and vote for taxation. A few years after the accession to the throne оf George I in 1714, the monarch ceased to attend cabinet meetings and none of his successors did thereafter. Instead, the Cabinet was presided over by the First Lord of the treasury, who came to be known as the Prime Minister. After that the individual influence of the monarch in exercising executive power declined and that of the Cabinet as a whole increased. Since the mid-19^th century the Prime Minister has normally been the leader of the party with a majority in the House оf Commons.

Growing pressure for reform of Parliament in the 18^th and 19^th centuries led to a series of Reform Acts which changed the system of parliamentary representation and standardized the qualifications for the right to vote. In the 20^thh century the right to vote was extended to all adults. The legislative primacy of the House of Commons over the Lords was confined in the 20^th century by the passing of the Parliament Acts of 1911 and 1949.

These and the consequent developments led to Parliament's present position as the supreme legislative authority of the country.