ABSTRACT
T HE forms and functions of the English Parliament derived from medieval origins. The baron, able, when he chose, to let war loose over the land from his castle-yard, consented to spare his country so long as he was compensated with an hereditary share in the counsels of State. The gentleman, the burgess, and the yeoman, in days when the central power could do little to strengthen the hands of the tax-collector against the passive resistance of a scattered population, consented to fill the royal treasury, so long as they were consulted as to the amount and reassured as to the necessity of the royal demands. Such was the original meaning of the House of Lords and of the House of Commons.
