passed an act to continue the parliament then in
being till such time as it should please to dissolve itself, at last
fell a sacrifice to that inordinate power, which he himself had
consented to give them. It is therefore extremely necessary that the
crown should be empowered to regulate the duration of these
assemblies, under the limitations which the English constitution has
prescribed: so that, on the one hand, they may frequently and
regularly come together, for the dispatch of business and redress of
grievances; and may not, on the other, even with the consent of the
crown, be continued to an inconvenient or unconstitutional length.

2. A PARLIAMENT may be dissolved by the demise of the crown. This
dissolution formerly happened immediately upon the death of the
reigning sovereign, for he being considered in law as the head of the
parliament, (_caput, principium, et finis_) that failing, the whole
body was held to be extinct. But, the calling a new parliament
immediately on the inauguration of the successor being found
inconvenient, and dangers being apprehended from having no parliament
in being in case of a disputed succession, it was enacted by the
statutes 7 & 8 W. III. c. 15. and 6 Ann. c. 7. that the parliament in
being shall continue for six months after the death of any king or
queen, unless sooner prorogued or dissolved by the successor: that, if
the parliament be, at the time of the king's death, separated by
adjournment or prorogation, it shall notwithstanding assemble
immediately: and that, if no parliament is then in being, the members
of the last parliament shall assemble, and be again a parliament.

3. LASTLY, a parliament may be dissolved or expire by length of time.
For if either the legislative body were perpetual; or might last for
the life of the prince who convened them, as formerly; and were so to
be supplied, by occasionally filling the vacancies with new
representatives; in these cases, if it were once corrupted, the evil
would be past all remedy: but when different bodies succeed each
other, if the people see cause to disapprove of the present, they may
rectify it's faults in the next. A legislative assembly also, which is
sure to be separated again, (whereby it's members will themselves
become private men, and subject to the full extent of the laws which
they have enacted for others) will think themselves bound, in interest
as well as duty, to make only such laws as are good. The utmost ex