The British Parliamens

History of English Parliament

The British Parliament developed from a council of nobles and high-ranking clergy that advised the early kings of England. After the Norman Conquest in 1066, this informal advisory group became a formal assembly called the Great Council. It met three times yearly to help the king decide matters of government policy and to make laws.

During the early 1200's, King John began to call knights elected from the shires (counties) to some meetings of the Great Council. He summoned the knights to obtain their approval of taxes he had levied, because tax collection would be difficult without their cooperation. In the mid-1200's, the English statesman Simon de Montfort enlarged the council, by then called Parliament, to include elected representatives from towns, shires, and boroughs. The meeting King Edward I called in 1295 became known as the Model Parliament, because it resembled later Parliaments.

By the mid-1300's, the elected representatives began to meet separately from the nobles and bishops, and Parliament was divided into two houses. 'By the late 1300's, the Commons obtained the right to consider tax legislation before it was discussed by the Lords. However, the Commons had no power to initiate legislation. It could only ask the monarch to grant requests.

By the early 1400's, the Commons gained the right to introduce bills. Parliament has met on the same site in London since 1547. As its role in government increased, Parliament demanded greater power. During the 1620's, the struggle between Parliament and the king became bitter. In 1628, Parliament forced King Charles I to sign the Petition of Right, a document that limited royal power. However, Charles refused to obey the agreement.

He did not allow Parliament to meet from 1629 until 1640, when he was forced to call a meeting to obtain funds. But Parliament refused to provide any money unless Charles obeyed the Petition of Right. He refused, and civil war broke out. In 1649 Parliament ordered Charles beheaded.

The legislature, led by the Puritan general Oliver Cromwell, declared England a republic and ruled until 1653. Because the same Parliament had remained in session since 1640, it became known as the Long Parliament. Cromwell then ruled as a dictator until his death in 1658. In 1660, a new Parliament restored the monarchy.

The British Parliamens

The Bill of Rights of 1689 gave Parliament the right to meet frequently and have freedom of speech during debates. It also confirmed the right of the Commons to control financial legislation. By the early 1700's, Parliament had gained nearly total control over the monarchy. In 1707 the Act of Union joined England, Scotland, and Wales together to form the Kingdom of Great Britain. The act established a single parliament for the nation.

During the 1800's, the membership of Parliament changed dramatically.

In the early 1800's, nobles and other wealthy landowners controlled most of the members of Parliament, including the House of Commons. Some districts with almost no voters had representation, while districts with large populations had none. Few citizens had the right to vote. In 1832, Parliament passed a reform act that distributed seats on the basis of population. The act also reduced the property requirements for voting to give most middle-class men, but no women, the right to vote. The Reform Acts of 1867 and 1884 extended the vote to nearly all adult males. In 1928, women received full voting rights.

The Decline of the House of Lords. During the 1800's, the two houses of Parliament remained nearly equal in power. Although the Commons had control over money bills, the Lords had the power to veto legislation. In 1909, the Lords rejected a budget approved by the Commons. A struggle broke out between the two houses of Parliament, which resulted in the Parliamentary Act of 1911. Under this act the House of Lords lost its veto power.

The Lords was permitted to delay money bills for only one month and nonmoney bills for two years. The Parliamentary Act of 1949 reduced to one year the length of time that the Lords could postpone nonmoney bills.

For almost 300 years, the Pariament met in St. Stephen's Chapel in the Palace of Westminster. A fire destroyed that building in 1834. The present Houses of Parliament, completed in 1860, are known officially as the New Palace of Westminster. In 1941, during World War II, a German bomb demolished the meeting chamber of the House of Commons. The present chamber was completed in 1950.

The British Parliamens