ABSTRACT
Churchmen explored styles of self-government, especially the regular clergy. The Princes had been elected and removed by citizens and soldiers and, echoing Augustine of Hippo, this metropolitan claimed that they were under the law and not above it. The cardinals were the electors of the popes, but were unable to find a foolproof way of electing them. As courts, regional assemblies or proto-national parliaments made their appearance, clerical and secular lawyers disinterred texts concerning the duty of a ruler to consult interested parties. An even more useful formulation was the imperial constitution Humanum, addressed to the late Roman senate in 446. More suited to the grander stage of politics, was to expand old royal or princely courts into assemblies representing society's powerful elements. The same courts or assemblies issued new law promulgated by the prince. Prelates and great magnates had always been members of prince's courts and naturally took part in the new assemblies.
