In this ſtate things continued, till the repeal of the ſtatutes of armour in the reign of king James the firſt: after which, when king Charles the firſt had, during his northern expeditions, iſſued commiſſions of lieutenancy and exerted ſome military powers which, having been long exerciſed, were thought to belong to the crown, it became a queſtion in the long parliament, how far the power of the militia did inherently reſide in the king; being now unſupported by any ſtatute, and founded only upon immemorial uſage. This queſtion, long agitated with great heat and reſentment on both ſides, became at length the immediate cauſe of the fatal rupture between the king and his parliament: the two houſes not only denying this prerogative of the crown, the legality of which right perhaps might be ſomewhat doubtful; but alſo ſeiſing into their own hands the intire power of the militia, the illegality of which ſtep could never be any doubt at all.
Soon after the reſtoration of king Charles the ſecond, when the military tenures were aboliſhed, it was thought proper to aſcertain the power of the militia, to recognize the ſole right of the crown to govern and command them, and to put the whole into a more regular method of military ſubordination[1]: and the order, in which the militia now ſtands by law, is principally built upon the ſtatutes which were then enacted. It is true the two laſt of them are apparently repealed; but many of their proviſions are re-enacted, with the addition of ſome new regulations, by the preſent militia laws: the general ſcheme of which is to diſcipline a certain number of the inhabitants of every county, choſen by lot for three years, and officered by the lord lieutenant, the deputy lieutenants, and other principal landholders, under a commiſſion from the crown. They are not compellable to march out of their counties, unleſs in caſe of invaſion or actual rebellion, nor in any caſe compellable to march out of the kingdom. They are to be exerciſed at ſtated times: and their diſcipline in general is liberal
- ↑ 13 Car. II. c. 6. 14 Car. II. c. 3. 15 Car. II. c. 4.
