When did the English Parliament arise in the Middle Ages. The history of the emergence of Parliament in England

Introduction 3

The emergence and formation of the English Parliament 4

Structure of Parliament in England 7

Functions of Parliament in England 11

Conclusion 14

List of sources and literature 16

Introduction

Studying the history of the state and the law of foreign countries is of great importance for a Russian law student. After all, many countries adopt the experience of other peoples in their development. And our country is no exception.

England has passed the most interesting path of historical development from the early feudal states of the Angles, Saxons, Jutes and Frisians to one of the most developed countries in the world.

One of the interesting and important milestones in the history of England is the period of activity of Parliament, which continues to this day.

This question is relevant, because modern Great Britain has retained the historical form of government - a parliamentary monarchy. And also this country is considered the birthplace of modern parliamentary democracy.

1. Study of the history of the English Parliament;
2. Consideration of the structure of Parliament;
3. Exposition of the main functions of Parliament.

1. The study of literature on the topic;
2. Collection and compilation of materials;
3. Statement of conclusions.

The emergence and formation of the English Parliament

The English Parliament has gone through an interesting and instructive history: being at present the chief organ of the political life of England and a model for the constitutional institutions of Europe, it in the past gradually developed from conditions that had little in common with the orders of modern political freedom.

At the beginning, the structure of England had rather similarities with the system of neighboring barbarian states, but gradually the general Western European institutions receive a peculiar setting on the island, among which the germs of a parliamentary system are formed. Already in the Anglo-Saxon period, some preparatory facts can be indicated. According to the description of the Germanic tribes by Tacitus, the supreme power does not belong to the king, but to the people, and this popular supremacy is carried out in the activities of two institutions - the council and the council of tribal chiefs. The Anglo-Saxons, in the era of their division into petty kingdoms, have both of these institutions: a tribal assembly - folkmot - and a council of the wisest — vitenagemot.

When petty kingdoms merged into one, tribal assemblies turned into regional, by counties; a common veche of the Angles was not formed, but under the king partly the rights of the former vecha were transferred to the Witenagemot. Witenagemot became, as it were, a two-sided institution: on the one hand, it acted as a royal council and was replenished to a large extent at the behest of the king, from his warriors and officials; on the other hand, it limited the power of the king. The exact relationship between the two authorities was not defined.

The Normans, having conquered England in 1066, preserved the ancient regional institutions, as well as the Witenagemote. The first Norman kings usually convened three solemn sessions of the council, for the administration of the most important affairs. One of the external signs of such solemn meetings was that the king put on the crown. The Norman conquest was, however, for England the beginning of a new, feudal period, and under the influence of feudalism, the form and essence of the meetings changed.

Instead of a loosely organized "tribe" and more or less subordinate advisers, the kings found themselves face to face with a powerful feudal aristocracy that recognized them only as first among equals. As a result of the division of the feudal states into many almost independent seigneuries and ecclesiastical possessions, the implementation of any decree binding on all these parts required the participation of all of them.

Everywhere in Western Europe of this time there are diets or congresses of feudal lords, which decide questions about international relations, about measures of internal administration, about legislative decrees, about taxation. These congresses are composed, by analogy of the seigneurial curiae, from the vassals of the king.

English kings also turn to such congresses to approve general decrees and receive subsidies; but the authority of the English conventions is strengthened by the fact that they are, as it were, a continuation of the ancient Witenagemot. When the feudal lords merge into an estate and enter into a systematic struggle with the kings, one of their main demands concerns the convening of congresses to resolve emergency subsidies (4 cases were considered legitimate reasons for collecting subsidies from vassals: when a lord gave his daughter in marriage, when he made his son a knight, when he had to be redeemed from captivity when he went on a crusade).

In the Magna Carta, given in 1215 by John the Landless, a paragraph was introduced, according to which, in such cases, a Commune consilium of the kingdom is convened. When Henry III approved the Magna Carta, this article was omitted, but the general view that the feudal lords should not be subjected to extraordinary subsidies without their consent was rooted in the very foundations of the feudal system, and the king had to reckon with it. It cannot be said that kings willingly submitted to feudal theories or accepted them entirely. Views developed at court that were in sharp contradiction with feudalism - views according to which the king was the source of all power in the country and was not obliged to conform to the wishes and advice of his subjects. Throughout the reign of Henry III there is a struggle between these views and the social forces representing them.

In 1264, the barons defeated the king at Lewes and their chief leader, Simon de Montfort, organized a council of 9 members, which actually took the king under guardianship and appropriated the supreme leadership of state affairs. In support of this advice, Montfort convened Parliament at the beginning of 1265, which differed in its composition from the previous feudal congresses: barons, bishops and abbots who supported Montfort's party were called, and in addition, two knights from each county and 2 deputies from the most important cities. There had been cases before that kings applied for money to deputies of chivalry or cities, but Montfort for the first time united all the listed groups into a common council of the kingdom or parliament. Montfort's opponent and conqueror, Edward I, constantly busy with wars in France, Scotland and Wallis, was forced to return to the same system in order to secure sufficient subsidies for himself. Starting in 1295, he began to convene the Parliament on the model of 1265.

Structure of Parliament in England

From the middle of the XIV century. Parliament began to be divided into two chambers: the upper - the House of Lords (House of Lords), where the prelates and barons sat, and the lower - the House of Commons (House of Commons), where the knights and representatives of the cities sat. The fact that the townspeople and the knights sat together distinguished the English parliament from estate-representative assemblies in other countries, their strong union provided the House of Commons with great influence in the political life of England. The clergy were not particularly singled out in the English Parliament.

The House of Lords included representatives of the secular and ecclesiastical aristocracy, who were members of the Great Royal Council. They were sent personalized invitations signed by the king. In theory, the monarch might not have invited this or that magnate, but in reality, cases when the heads of noble families were not invited to parliament became by the 15th century. rare. The system of case law prevailing in England gave a lord, once so invited, reason to regard himself as a permanent member of the upper house. The number of lords was small. Even if all the invitees were going to the session, and such in the XIV-XV centuries. almost never happened, it rarely reached 100 people.

The House of Lords met in the White Hall of the Palace of Westminster.

The situation in the House of Commons was different. As a separate parliamentary structure, this chamber took shape gradually, during the second half of the 14th century. The name of the lower house comes from the concept of "Commons" (communities). In the XIV century. it denoted a special social group, a kind of "middle" class, which included chivalry and the top of the townspeople. That is, "communities" began to be called that part of the free population, which had full rights, a certain prosperity and a "good" name. The rights of this "middle" class gradually included the right to be elected and be elected to the lower house of parliament. The awareness of its importance, which was actively formed during the XIV-XV centuries, sometimes determined the position of the House of Commons in relation to the lords and even the king.

By the end of the XIV century. the post of speaker arose, who was elected by deputies from among his ranks and represented the chamber, by no means leading it, in negotiations with the lords and the king. The appearance of this figure is characteristic of the lower house, which was primarily an assembly, that is, a collective organization.
The deputies of the lower house were elected locally according to the same principle that had been in effect since the time of the first parliament de Montfort: 2 knights from each county and 2 representatives from the most significant cities. The number of such cities changed over time, and the number of members of the House of Commons changed accordingly. On average, it was in the middle of the XIV century. 200 people.
Members of the lower house, unlike the lords, received monetary allowance: knights of the counties at 4 shillings, citizens - at 2 shillings for each day of the session. By the beginning of the XV century. these payments have become traditional.

The House of Commons met in the chapter house of Westminster Abbey.

Elections were held before each session, about two or three months before its opening, and began with letters - orders that were sent from the royal office to the sheriffs of the counties. After the elections, these documents were to be returned to the office of the chancellor with the names of the elected deputies inscribed in them.

In the XIV-XV centuries. in society, there is an idea of ​​the status of a deputy. This concept equally applied to members of both chambers and included a number of legal privileges, primarily parliamentary immunity. It came into practice by the beginning of the 15th century. and meant the protection of life and property of deputies, as well as freedom from arrest, but only for the duration of the session.

The sheriff was responsible for the elections, and they were held in county assemblies.

These organizations, which had a longer history than the parliament, were part of the structure of local self-government. Its objects were urban and rural communities, parishes and monasteries, united in larger corporations: communities of hundreds and, finally, communities of counties.

Assemblies of hundreds and counties, dating back to the ancient popular assemblies of the tribal society, have been regularly convened since pre-Norman times. After the conquest, they assumed administrative functions - judicial and fiscal - and were placed under the control of the central government. However, some of their independence was preserved.

Medieval England thus had a strong system of local government and self-government (throughout the territory, not just in the cities).

If personally dependent peasants - villans, could also participate in meetings of hundreds, then only free ones could participate in meetings of counties, starting with freeholders and ending with magnates, who, however, preferred to send a deputy instead of themselves. Thus, the majority in the assemblies of the counties were medium and small feudal lords and prosperous peasantry, i.e. those middle strata, which were defined by the term community.

The main role in the elections belonged to the sheriffs. They had considerable powers and, accordingly, great opportunities for abuse, the number of which grew with the intensification of pressure from the nobility. Most often, violations consisted in falsifying the results of elections: the necessary names were entered into the returned text of royal instructions, and legally elected deputies did not get into parliament.

The House of Commons has consistently, though not very successfully, dealt with this evil. She initiated the adoption of statutes against violations of electoral norms. Measures were proposed rather cruel. So, according to the statute of 1445. The sheriff had to pay a large fine for each violation: one hundred pounds to the treasury and the same amount to the victim, i.e. a person whose name was not included in the list of favorites. For comparison, the annual income from real estate, which gave admission to the knighthood, was only forty pounds. However, the repeated proposals of the House of Commons to put an end to the abuses of the sheriffs did not meet with the support of the monarchs.

According to researchers, all English cities that had the right to parliamentary representation can be divided into four groups - depending on their position in the county.

In the lowest category belonged the small towns, which did not elect their own deputies, but sent delegates to the assembly of counties. London had a complex of administrative, judicial, commercial and other privileges and sent four deputies to Parliament.

The fact that the city has the status of a parliamentary city was indicated by a royal order to the sheriff on the election of deputies for the next session. A city could receive an electoral mandate even if it was in decline. In the first decades of the parliament's existence, there were also frequent cases of cities refusing to send their representatives - because of the need to collect money for the salaries of deputies, to distract them from important matters, etc.

Participation of representatives of the city in the parliament required from the municipal treasury, though small, but real expenses.

However, most cities in the 14th century. changed their attitude towards participation in parliamentary activities. She became more and more attractive in the eyes of the townspeople. If at the end of the 13th century. about 60 cities were represented in the parliament, then in the middle of the 15th century. - more than a hundred. In 1377 about 130 thousand voters lived in 70 cities of England, i.е. much more than in the counties. The number of deputies from the cities could also significantly exceed the number of knights of the counties.

Unlike other estate-representative institutions in Western Europe, in the English Parliament, representatives of the cities did not constitute a separate chamber. In parliamentary documents, the deputies of the House of Commons were designated as "knights of the counties and citizens of the city and burghs."

At the same time, the representatives of the counties in parliament were in a much more advantageous position than the townspeople. Elections in cities are rarely reflected in the statutes of the kingdom.

Functions of Parliament in England

At first, the possibilities of parliament to influence the policy of the royal power were insignificant. Its functions were reduced to determining the amount of taxes on personal property and to filing collective petitions addressed to the king. True, in 1297, Edward I confirmed the Magna Carta in Parliament, as a result of which the Statute "on the non-permission of taxes" appeared. It stated that taxation, allowances and extortions would not take place without the general consent of the clergy and secular magnates, knights, citizens and other free people of the kingdom. However, the Statute contained reservations that allowed for the possibility for the king to levy pre-existing fees.

Gradually, the parliament of medieval England acquired three most important powers: the right to participate in the issuance of laws, the right to decide on extortions from the population in favor of the royal treasury, and the right to exercise control over senior officials and act in some cases as a special judicial body.

Of particular importance was the activity of the parliament, more precisely - its lower house, associated with taxation. Note that taxes on movable and immovable property (like others) in England were paid by everyone, and not just the “third estate”. From 1297 Parliament had the right to authorize direct taxes on movable property. From the 20s. 14th century it votes (allows) the collection of extraordinary taxes. Soon the House of Commons achieved the same right in respect of customs duties. Thus, the king received the bulk of the financial income with the consent of the lower house, which acted on behalf of those who had to pay these taxes. The strong position of the House of Commons in such an important matter for the king as finances allowed it to expand its participation in other areas of parliamentary activity.

The communities have made significant progress in the field of legislation. By the middle of the XIV century. in England there were two types of higher legal acts. The king issued decrees - ordinances. Acts of Parliament passed by both houses and the king also had the force of law. They were called statutes. The procedure for issuing a statute provided for the development of proposals by the lower house - a bill. Then the bill, approved by the lords, was sent to the king for signature. Signed by the king, such a bill became a statute. Sometimes royal ordinances were based on the proposals of the House of Commons. Already in the XV century. no law in the kingdom could be passed without the approval of the House of Commons.

Parliament sought to influence the appointment and dismissal of the highest officials of the kingdom. In the XIV century. there is a practice of "impeachment" of officials accused of serious violation of the law, abuse and other unseemly acts. Parliament did not have the legal right to remove from power officials objectionable to him, but under the influence of his speeches, the king was forced to remove from his posts persons with an undermined reputation.

Parliament acted as a body legitimizing the change of kings on the English throne. Thus, the deposition of Edward II (1327), Richard II (1399) and the subsequent coronation of Henry IV of Lancaster were sanctioned by Parliament.

The judicial functions of Parliament were very significant. They were within the competence of its upper chamber. By the end of the XIV century. she acquired the powers of the Court of Peers and the Supreme Court of the kingdom, considering the most serious political and criminal crimes of the aristocracy, as well as appeals. The House of Commons could present its legislative proposals to the Lords and the King to improve judicial practice.

As the highest court and legislative body, Parliament received numerous petitions on a variety of issues, both from individuals and from cities, counties, trade and craft corporations, etc. The importance of parliamentary work with petitions is extremely great. It was a school of political and legal education, both for parliamentarians and for those who addressed them. The central government, thus, constantly received information about the state of affairs in the state. The most important issues raised in private and collective petitions were reflected in the legislative drafts of the House of Commons, and then in the statutes.

Conclusion

The emergence of class representation was of great importance in the process of growth of the centralized state.

With the advent of parliament in England, a new form of the feudal state was born - the estate-representative, or estate, monarchy, which is the most important and natural stage in the political development of the country, the development of the feudal state.

The emergence of a parliament and a class monarchy reflected the success of the political centralization of England and, in particular, the fact of the formation of nation-wide class groups in the country - barons, chivalry and townspeople. In turn, the emergence of parliament contributed to the further strengthening of the feudal state. Being an instrument of the ruling class, Parliament nevertheless played in England in the 13th-14th centuries. a progressive role, since he limited the political claims of the most reactionary layer of the feudal lords - the barony - and directed the king's policy in the interests of the more advanced sections of society of that time - the chivalry and the top of the townspeople. The admission of urban representatives to parliament meant the official recognition of certain rights and the increased importance of the urban class.

During the first centuries of the existence of Parliament, the system of elections to the House of Commons was unified, although not debugged in all details. The efforts of the parliamentary legislators in this area were mainly aimed at combating the abuses of the election administrators in the counties and the city, as well as preventing people of too low a property and social status from participating in the elections.

Thus, thanks to the creation of parliament, in England, first of all in the medieval world, the prerequisites for the formation of a rule of law state (i.e., a state in which the rights and freedoms of citizens are ensured and their protection) and civil society (i.e., a society consisting of free, independent and equal people).

The development of the state-political system of Great Britain in the 18th-19th centuries. eventually formed the most classic example of a system of parliamentarism. This parliamentarism provided England with a stable reform of various areas of social and political life, the solution of many acute economic and political, including foreign policy, problems in the interests of social peace. By the beginning of the 20th century England represented the most free country in the political and legal sense, the most powerful state in the entire Western world, the center of a huge colonial empire, the existence of which also ensured political stability in the country.

List of sources and literature

1. General history of state and law / ed. prof. K.I. Batyr. - M.: Jurist, 2009.
2. A. A. Vasiliev. History of the ancient world / R. Y. Vipper. History of the Middle Ages / - M.: Respublika, 2008.- 511 p.: ill.
3. P.N. Galanza History of state and law of foreign countries. Moscow 2010, 552s
4. AS Goldenveizer Social trends and reforms of the 19th century in England. - Kyiv, printing house S. V. Kulzhenko, 2008
5. A. V. Dicey Fundamentals of public law in England: Per. from English. / Ed. P. G. Vinogradova. - SPb., 2009., 710s.
6. VF Deryuzhinsky From the history of political freedom in England and France. - St. Petersburg, printing house of M. M. Stasyulevich, 2009
7. O. V. Dmitrieva, Parliament and parliamentary culture in England in the 16th - early 17th centuries. Special course program / O. V. Dmitrieva. - M. : Editorial URSS, 2001. - 12 p.
8. N. A. Krasheninnikova History of the state and law of foreign countries: Textbook for universities: in 2 vols. - M .: Norma, 2007. - T. 2. - 816 p.
9. D. Petrushevsky Magna Carta. With an appendix of a translation of the text of the Magna Carta (3rd edition). - St. Petersburg,
10. V.A. Tomsinov (Compiler). Reader on the history of the state and law of foreign countries (Antiquity and the Middle Ages) .. - M., 2010.
11. M. Chernilovsky. General History of State and Law. - M.: Jurist, 2007.
12. E. Fishel State system of England /. - St. Petersburg: Edition of the bookseller-typographer M.O. Wolf, 1862. - 542. http://lib.mgppu.ru
13. V.V. Karaev, History of the Middle Ages/[Electronic resource]/ Access mode http://society.polbu.ru/kareva_midhistory/ch21_ii.html
14. Encyclopedic Dictionary F.A. Brockhaus and I.A. Efron /[Electronic resource]/ Access mode http://dic.academic.ru/dic.nsf/brokgauz_efron/77384/Parliament
15. Official website of the UK Parliament / [Electronic resource] / Access mode http://www.parliament.uk

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During the reign of Henry III (1216–1272) in England Parliament was born which made the royal power limited. Henry III was a sovereign who loved flattery and generously awarded positions and lands for it. The people closest to him were foreigners who entered the royal service, numerous knights from France and a fairly large number of spiritual ones from Italy, who were sent to England by the popes. All the behavior of the king and his foreign favorites was very disliked English nation, formed in the middle of the XIII century. from the fusion of the Normans with the Anglo-Saxons. Prelates, barons, knights, and townspeople united in opposition against the king. Henry III convened several times congresses of prelates and barons("great councils"), which for the most part sharply condemned his policies. The main role in this opposition was played by Simon Montfort, a Frenchman by birth (his father was a leader in a crusade against the Albigensians), who moved to England, where he received the title of Earl of Leicester and married the king's sister. Having quarreled with Henry III, this talented and energetic nobleman went over to the side of the English barons and even became their leader. First, the larger barons at the "great council" in Oxford(1258) forced the king to admit over himself guardianship of a special committee of 24 barons, but the petty barons and knights were dissatisfied with such an oligarchic form of government and began to complain about its establishment. Henry III refused to fulfill this promise, but Simon Montfort went to war with him, took him prisoner and became the ruler of England. Distinguished by his great statesmanship, he saw, however, that the big barons alone would not be able to organize the government of the country, and therefore, convening V 1265 on behalf of the king "great council", he invited him not only prelates and barons, but also representatives of shires (counties) and cities(two representatives from each county and the most important cities). This was first English Parliament. By inviting chivalry and townspeople to participate in the reign, Simon incurred the displeasure of large barons. They went over to the side of the king, and the eldest son of Henry III (Edward) escaped from captivity and became the head of the disaffected. Simon Montfort was defeated and killed in a battle with the royal army, but the measure he invented, that is, convening for "great councils", in addition to prelates and barons, also chivalry and townspeople, came into force, and Parliament in England has existed continuously for more than six centuries.

183. Structure of Parliament

The English Parliament was divided into two chambers: upper or chamber of peers(lords), and lower or house of commons. This division, which still exists today, finally took shape only in the middle of the 14th century, eighty years after the first parliament was convened. became members of the upper house bishops, abbots And major vassals of the king, of which each sat in it by virtue of his personal right, moreover, the title of secular lord began to pass by inheritance to the eldest son. The lower house was formed from elected representatives from both petty royal vassals and knights, i.e. subvassals, and from the free population of the counties and cities. In the counties (shares), representatives were chosen at meetings that existed even earlier for various local affairs and for the court, and here it happened the merging of petty feudal lords with the rest of the free population. The House of Commons became chamber of all estates, and in this the English parliament from the very beginning began to differ from other similar assemblies that arose about the same time in various states of the West, where each estate sat separately. (And the higher clergy and the higher nobility sat together in the upper chamber).

The English Parliament was a specific class-representative body, unlike any representative institution in Europe. It took shape during the civil wars of 1263-1267. These wars were led, on the one hand, by the extremely strengthened royal power and, on the other, by the desire of the English barons to limit it. By the XIII century. the English barons were so strong economically that they felt the need for their own strong political positions. During the civil wars, the stability and balance of political power characteristic of the English state were seriously undermined.

13th century civil wars were already the second deep political crisis in the history of England. The first crisis came during the reign of the English king John the Landless(1199-1216), who began to disastrously quickly lose English possessions in France. The barons took advantage of this situation to demand that the king grant them political rights and political independence. John Landless was forced to meet them halfway, and in 1215 g. he provided the barons "Magna Carta"- the first constitution of the English feudal monarchy.

Even before the start of the civil wars, in 1258 the barons gathered for a convention in Oxford. This congress was called the "Frantic Parliament". "Mad Parliament" drafted a new constitution - "Oxford Provisions". This constitution approved the regime of the baronial oligarchy in the country. All power in England was transferred to the "Council of Fifteen Barons", without the consent of which the king could not make any decisions. Thus, the "Raging Parliament", not being a constitutionally formalized Parliament, already significantly limited the power of the king. In addition, the "Council of Fifteen Barons" created a commission to carry out political reforms in England. All these events served as a prelude to the creation of a constitutionally formalized English Parliament.

The first English Parliament was convened in 1265 g. It was attended by representatives of various social strata - secular and spiritual feudal lords, knights from the counties and representatives from the cities. After the end of the civil wars in 1267, the Parliament was not liquidated. By this time, he was already firmly rooted in the state system of England. From the end of the XIII century. In England, the parliamentary constitutional system was finally established.

With the establishment of Parliament, the English feudal state takes the form of an estate-representative monarchy.

At Edward I(1272-1307) Parliament was used by the king as a counterbalance to the claims of large feudal lords. Edward I tried to pursue a tax policy without Parliament. This brought the king into conflict with him, and the king was forced to issue a law called the Confirmation of the Charter. The law confirmed the Magna Carta of 1215.

In the XIV century, in addition to the function of approving taxes, the Parliament seeks the right to issue laws - bills. Since 1343, the English Parliament has been formalized as a bicameral one: the House of Lords, or peers, and the House of Commons. Large secular and spiritual feudal lords sat in the House of Lords, knights and townspeople sat in the House of Commons. With every century the Parliament gained more and more strength. The House of Commons was from the beginning much larger than the House of Lords. The House of Commons acquires a strong influence in Parliament, not so much because of its numerical superiority, but because of the spirit of concord that prevailed there. In the House of Commons, an alliance of knights and townspeople formed early.

With the development of commodity-money relations, with the emergence of elements of capitalism, in the House of Commons, the alliance of chivalry and townspeople became more and more strengthened, leading to a further strengthening of their political positions in Parliament and in the country.

The phenomenon of the English Parliament causes numerous disputes in English and in Russian historiography. A number of historians argue that the Parliament from the moment of its inception has never been a national representative body and has not been a spokesman for the country's national interests. The lower classes of the urban population and the peasantry have never been represented in Parliament.

The English Parliament in its concrete actions expressed the interests of secular and spiritual feudal lords, supporting their anti-peasant policy. With the development of capitalism in England, Parliament passed tough labor legislation.

Nevertheless, Parliament has played a significant political role in the history of England. It was he who, having limited the power of the king, brought political stability and balance to the country at a new historical stage, which led to stability in all areas of state life - the economy, social relations, culture, etc. By limiting the supreme power, the Parliament contributed to the centralization and strengthening of the centralized state. The organic binary system of government acting from the state positions Parliament - the king has been and remains the main reason for the stability and prosperity of modern England.

This is the symbol of Great Britain.

Where and when did Parliament appear in England? This article will present a brief history of the creation of this authority, although it takes a rather long period of development of the state. But first, let's look at the origin of the term itself.

Definition of the word "parliament"

Before we find out where and when the parliament appeared in England, let's try to determine the meaning of the word "parliament". There are two main theories about the origin of the term. According to the first of them, the English "parliament" was obtained by combining 2 Latin words:

• "parium", meaning "equal" or "parity";
• "lamentum" - "weeping, complaint".

That is, parliament is a place where you can file a complaint with people of equal status.

According to the second theory, the term "parliament" is derived from 2 French words:

• "parler" (translated as "conversation");
• "ment", meaning "judgment".

It turns out that parliament is a place where opinions are exchanged, they have a conversation, they express their point of view.

In connection with the above differences in the origin of the term, scholars are still arguing about the time of the emergence of the 1st Parliament in England. Therefore, it can be said that there is no unequivocal answer to the question of where and when the parliament appeared in England.

In essence, parliament is one of the most common electoral authorities in many democratic countries. And it can be called differently. For example, in Russia it is the Duma, in Germany it is the Bundestag, in Israel it is the Knesset. The history of the emergence of such a body of power in different countries took place practically according to the same laws.

About prerequisites

Using the example of Britain, let's try to briefly talk about where and when the parliament appeared. In England, the first prerequisites for the birth of an elective system can be traced from the moment when the Roman legionnaires began to retreat from these places. The stages of the formation of statehood passed very slowly, and royal power was rather weak. In connection with the development of cities, a new class was reborn - the bourgeoisie, who tried to defend their interests, as well as large landowners at the state level. The chronicles of some counties of England provide some evidence that noble knights, by decision of the sheriffs of the localities, went to advise the kings on taxation and other financial matters. Naturally, the kings did not need the thoughts of the townspeople and knights on this matter, full agreement with his opinion was strict. But sometimes he had to agree with the proposals of his subjects. Under such conditions, representative assemblies began to emerge in Western Europe, exerting a certain restraining effect on the growing appetites of monarchs. One of them and the Parliament in England.

The history of England closely links the origin of such an authority with the name of an influential person of that time - Simon de Montfort.

On the versions of the emergence of Parliament in England

Those who adhere more to the French version of the origin of the name of the government, believe that the first Parliament of England are the meetings convened by Alfred the Great at the end of the 9th century. But they are contradicted by representatives who adhere to the “autochthonous” version. According to them, the origin of Parliament in England is closely connected with the struggle between the king and the barons on the one hand and the knights and citizens on the other. And this event happened much later than the first - in the 2nd half of the XIII century.

The latter theory looks more plausible today, and it also has the majority of supporters. It turns out that the first English parliament arose in the XIII century.

Parliament in England

As a full-fledged body of power, Parliament began to function in the Middle Ages, from 1265. Representatives of the upper class of the clergy and the nobility of the titled received documents, and nominal ones, which gave them the opportunity to take part in parliamentary meetings. Ordinary townspeople and knights took part in its work by common invitation.

In the structure of the Parliament of England for 900 years, almost nothing has changed. And today, as before, it is divided into two chambers. The first is the House of Lords, which includes the descendants of those barons who participated in the "Furious Council" (1258 - a meeting of English aristocrats in Oxford, where Henry III was required to limit the power of the king). This includes representatives of the spiritual nobility and titled nobility. The lower house is the House of Commons. This includes representatives of the heirs of those who in those distant times took part in meetings by "general invitations". These are the descendants of wealthy citizens and knights.

Today, among the representatives of the House of Commons there are also deputies from the local nobility, whom the local people have entrusted to represent their interests in the capital.

In the modern world, almost every state has its own parliament, which is necessary to express the interests of different sections of society. This system was one of the first to appear in medieval England.

The struggle of kings and feudal lords

In the 13th century, the island kingdom often suffered from civil wars and conflicts. One of the reasons for this disorder was the struggle between the royal power and the feudal estate. The barons and lords wanted to increase their influence on the state in order to take part in the government of the country.

Even under King John the Landless (reigned in 1199-1216), in 1215, Magna Carta appeared. This document was drawn up with the participation of the barons, who wanted to obtain new legal rights and protect their own privileges. The date of the emergence of the English parliament is closely connected with the charter, which was only the "first sign" in the long process of strengthening the feudal system in the state.

Henry III

John's son, Henry III, took the throne in 1216 as a child. A regency council ruled for him. Growing up, Henry began to pursue a tough policy aimed at strengthening royal power. The barons and other feudal lords, accustomed to the order of things enshrined in the Magna Carta, were extremely dissatisfied with the behavior of the monarch.

In addition, Henry III surrounded himself with foreigners, including the French, who were not tolerated in London. This behavior led to a deterioration in relations between him and his own nobility. The only arbiter in this conflict could be the Pope, the spiritual father of all Christians. With his cooperation, Henry promised the barons that he would abide by the terms of his father's Magna Carta, and also agreed to establish a parliament where representatives of the aristocracy would sit. So, in 1258, the Oxford agreements were concluded.

According to this document, the formation of the English Parliament was to take place. The date of this event was not specified in writing, but the king promised that a representative body would appear in the very near future. But very soon the Pope released the monarch from his promises. Henry needed money to wage wars against France and Wales. So he began raising taxes, breaking his promises made under the Magna Carta.

Baronial rebellion

In 1263, the barons, dissatisfied with the decisions of the king, declared war on him. This group was led by Simon de Montfort. After the battle of Lewes, Henry III, along with his son Edward, was taken prisoner. The victorious aristocrats convened a representative body in 1265. This was the date of the birth of the English Parliament. The meetings were held at the Palace of Westminster.

The date of the emergence of the English Parliament was marked by the fact that deputies from various classes gathered in the new representative body: not only the higher clergy and knights, but also the urban population. The deputies were also divided according to the territorial principle. When the date of the emergence of the English Parliament came, representatives of all the cities of the country went to the Palace of Westminster. At the same time, London and five other important ports each had four representatives. Other cities sent two people each. This system, adopted in the thirteenth century, proved to be the germ of the modern House of Commons.

Emergence of Parliament

Simon de Montfort came to power in the country. It was he who became the man who made possible the emergence of the English Parliament. The date of this event coincided with the time of the strengthening of his influence in the state. However, already in the spring of 1265, the legitimate heir Edward escaped from captivity. He gathered a loyal army around him, with which he tried to return the throne to his father Henry III. Because of this, the beginning of the process of the emergence of the English Parliament was in the shadow of a new internecine war.

On August 4, at the Battle of Evesham, the rebellious barons were defeated, and Simon de Montfort died. Henry III came to power again. However, the process of the emergence of the English Parliament has already ended, and the monarch decided not to abandon this authority. With this king and his son, he did not pose a threat to the rule of the dynasty.

Significance of Parliament

The emergence of the English Parliament (date - 1265) played an important role in the history of England. Now residents of various cities sent their representatives to the capital, who could directly inform the supreme authority about the problems of ordinary people. Therefore, in Great Britain, every citizen knows when the English Parliament came into being. The date of this event is celebrated annually in the country.

In 1295, Parliament began to convene according to new rules, which have remained virtually unchanged to this day. Representatives from every county now appeared in the House. The date of the foundation of the English Parliament (the year 1265) was one of those dates, thanks to which civil society was able to achieve recognition of its rights by the supreme royal authority.

Functions of Parliament

The most important function of this assembly was to determine the amount of taxes. In addition, its deputies could send petitions addressed to the king. All this became possible only after these innovations took place (the date of the emergence of the English Parliament was already indicated in the text). The history of this institute is very rich. Deputies in different eras became the spokesmen for popular dissatisfaction with the authorities.

Since the 15th century, parliament has acquired the right to pass laws, which also had to be approved by the king. The interaction of these two branches of government made it possible to obtain the balance of interests, thanks to which today the UK has one of the most stable political systems in the world. It was in parliament that a new form of lawmaking appeared - billy. They were drawn up by deputies who coordinated the interests of different sections of English society.