ive; but his answer was, that he would levy no taxes
without necessity for the defence of the realm, and where he reasonably
might use that authority.[*] This incident passed a few days before his
death; and these were, in a manner, his last words to his people. It
would seem that the famous charter or statute of Edward I., "de tallagio
non concedendo," though never repealed, was supposed to have already
lost by age all its authority.

These facts can only show the practice of the times: for as to the
right, the continual remonstrances of the commons may seem to prove that
it rather lay on their side: at least, these remonstrances served
to prevent the arbitrary practices of the court from becoming an
established part of the constitution. In so much a better condition were
the privileges of the people even during the arbitrary reign of Edward
III., than during some subsequent ones, particularly those of the
Tudors, where no tyranny or abuse of power ever met with any check or
opposition, or so much as a remonstrance, from parliament.

In this reign, we find, according to the sentiments of an ingenious
and learned author, the first strongly marked and probably contested
distinction between a proclamation by the king and his privy council,
and a law which had received the assent of the lords and commons.[**]

It is easy to imagine, that a prince of so much sense and spirit as
Edward, would be no slave to the court of Rome. Though the old tribute
was paid during some years of his minority,[***] he afterwards withheld
it; and when the pope, in 1367, threatened to cite him to the court of
Rome for default of payment, he laid the matter before his parliament.
That assembly unanimously declared, that King John could not, without a
national consent, subject his kingdom to a foreign power; and that they
were therefore determined to support their sovereign against this unjust
pretension.[****]

* Cotton, p. 132.

** Observations on the Statutes, p. 193.

*** Rymer, vol. iv. p. 434.

**** Cotton's Abridg. p. 110.

During this reign, the statute of provisors was enacted, rendering it
penal to procure any presentations to benefices from the court of Rome,
and securing the rights of all patrons and electors, which had been
extremely encroached on by the pope.[*] By a subsequent statute, every
person was outlawed who carried any cause by appeal to the court of
Rome.[**]

The laity at this time seem to ha