Odger's English Common Law

60 THE SOURCES OF XHE LAW OF ENGLAND.
does not appear anywhere in our roll of statutes ; for it was
a grant of liberties and privileges by King John to bis
people, and not an enactment of any legislative body. It
was confirmed by Henry III. on bis accession in 1216. In
1322 Edward II. was compelled to consent to the revocation
of certain ordinances which he had recently made without
the consent of Parliament, and it was expressly affirmed that
henceforth " the matters which are to be established for the
estate of our Lord the King and of his heirs and for the
estate of the realm and of the people shall be treated, accorded
and established in Parliaments by our Lord the King and by
the assent of the prelates, earls and barons and the commonalty
of the realm." x And from that time forward the enacting
clause of every statute stated that it was made law either on
the petition or with the consent of the commonalty. Sometimes
the Commons had to fight for their liberties; more
frequently they purchased them with money ;
but they have
unquestionably acquired the predominant voice whenever any
alteration of the law is under discussion. And now since the
Parliament Act, 19 ll, 2 it is possible in certain cases for a bill
to become law without the consent of the House of Lords
at all.
There is now no doubt as to the force and effect of a statute.
An Act of Parliament can do anything. It can alter the
Prayer Book, define the creed of the Church of England,
annul royal marriages, and even settle the succession to
the Throne. Any citizen who deems a statute unjust or
immoral may agitate in every constitutional manner for
its repeal. But so long as it remains unrepealed he must
obey it. 3
At first, when Parliaments began to assemble, there was very little
legislation ; now there is too much, and the quality of the work varies
inversely with the quantity produced. The earliest statutes were short
1 Revocatio Novarum Ordinationum (15 Edw. II.).
2 1 & 2 Geo. V. c. 13.
8 It is strange to find Lord Coke asserting in Bonhanft Case (1610), 8 Coke, at
p. 375, that " when an Act of Parliament is against common right and reason, or
repugnant, or impossible to be performed, the common law will control it and adjudge
such Act to be void." This certainly is not the law to-day.