counties; and that the ſheriff may likewiſe be without brokage in court.”
The King’s anſwer is this, “To the parliament, there are ſtatutes made therefore; to the ſheriffs there is anſwer made; to the knights it is agreed, that they ſhall be choſen by common conſent of every county.”
After theſe three laws in the time of Edward III. we come to the firſt of King Richard the ſecond, p. 163. where the petition or demand for a yearly parliament is this: “That a parliament may be yearly holden in convenient place, to redreſs delays in ſuits, and to end ſuch cafes as the judges doubt of.”
The King’s anſwer is: “It ſhall be as it hath been uſed.”
In 2 Richard II. p. 173. by the King’s commandment one cauſe of opening the parliament is declared to be this: “Secondly, for that it was enacted that a parliament ſhould yearly be holden.”
Nay, if the court inſiſt upon a yearly parliament, the country may and ought.
Thus ſtood the law of England till 16 Caroli I. when that King having diſcontinued par-
