Page:William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England (3rd ed, 1768, vol I).djvu/205

well as duty, to make only ſuch laws as are good. The utmoſt extent of time that the ſame parliament was allowed to ſit, by the ſtatute 6 W. & M. c. 2. was three years; after the expiration of which, reckoning from the return of the firſt ſummons, the parliament was to have no longer continuance. But by the ſtatute 1 Geo. I. ſt. 2. c. 38. (in order, profeſſedly, to prevent the great and continued expenſes of frequent elections, and the violent heats and animoſities conſequent thereupon, and for the peace and ſecurity of the government then juſt recovering from the late rebellion) this term was prolonged to ſeven years; and what alone is an inſtance of the vaſt authority of parliament, the very ſame houſe, that was choſen for three years, enacted it’s own continuance for ſeven. So that, as our conſtitution now ſtands, the parliament muſt expire, or die a natural death, at the end of every ſeventh year; if not ſooner diſſolved by the royal prerogative.