angements for taxation before, but Edward I was the first to create a «representative institution» which could provide the money he needed. This institution became the House of Commons. Unlike the House of Lords it contained a mixture of «gentry» (Knights and other wealthy freemen from the shires) and merchants from the towns. These were the two broad classes of people who produced and controlled England »s wealth. They were surely not given any legislative power. At first it was only a way of telling these representatives of the local communities what new taxes to expect. They listened but they did not talk. However, eventually the practice changed and parliament assumed its role as a fiscal body responsible for taxation.1295 Edward I commanded each shire and each town (borough) to send two representatives to his Parliament. These «commoners» would have stayed away if they could, to avoid giving money to Edward. But few dared risk Edward «s anger. They became unwilling representatives of their local community. This, rather than Magna Carta, was the beginning of the idea that there should be «no taxation without representation». Other parts of Europe, similar «parliaments» kept all the gentry separate from the commoners. England was special because the House of Commons contained a mixture of gentry belonging to the feudal ruling class and merchants and freemen who did not. The co-operation of these groups, through the House of Commons, became important to Britain »s later political and social development. During the 150 years following Edward «s death the agreement of the Commons became necessary for the making of all statutes, and all special taxation additional to regular taxes. [4, p.31] I must have learnt his lesson well, for he agreed, from the very beginning of his reign, that no tax should be raised by the king without the consent of Parliament This is how the Parliament got the right to vote taxes. He showed diplomacy and prudence in his dealings with the barons: on the one hand he managed to check their impudence, as well as the pretensions of the church; he curtailed the baronial privileges and forbade gifts of land to the church, immensely wealthy already. Cautiously but firmly he enhanced the rights of the royal courts of justice limiting those of the baronial courts correspondingly. Some innovations were introduced by him in the system of administration and royal jurisdiction. The exchequer became a separate court, the Court of Common Pleas and the King »s Bench were given a definite and permanent status.the other hand Edward sensed the growing discontent and unrest of the peasants. He knew only one way to curb that: consolidation of the feudal state. Taking care of the lords « interests he issued the Second Statute of Westminster confirming the lords » rights to enclose common lands, wasteland, common pasture, woods, etc. In fact the Statute legalized what the barons had begun to do for quite some time already depriving the peasants of their ancient right to a share in the common pasture land. The Statute said lands could be enclosed «if the free holders did not suffer by that». The villeins 'interests never interested any king and the if will be forgotten in the future soon to come, bringing sufferings and privations untold to both the villeins and the small free-holders. [3, p.56] William the Conqueror became King of England in 1066, he introduced more advanced form of feudal system than ...
