ABSTRACT
The House of Commons has its origins in the thirteenth century. At various times, it has played a powerful role in the affairs of the nation. Its most consistent activity has been to check the executive power. For the House of Commons, though, the developments of the nineteenth century served to confirm it as the dominant component of the Crown-in-Parliament. In the fourteenth century the King accepted that taxes should not be levied without the assent of Parliament. The Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 provided for May elections, so the Government decided that it was appropriate to have sessions running from May to May. The principal functions of the House can be grouped under four headings: those of legitimisation, recruitment, scrutiny and influence, and expression. Scrutiny and influence are essentially conjoined functions. The House subjects both the measures and the actions of government to scrutiny.
