United Kingdom Legislation

Recital of the King’s Commission, 16th March. 3 Edw. II. for making certain Ordinances. Ordinances made in 5 Edw. II. Examination of the said Ordinances in the Parliament Three Weeks after Easter 15 Edw. II. The said Ordinances shall cease and become of no Effect. Ordinances or Provisions concerning the King and the Realm, made by Subjects, shall be void: and none such shall be made except by the King, Lords, and Commons, in Parliament.

Whereas our Lord King Edward, Son of King Edward, on the Sixteenth Day of March in the Third Year of his Reign, to the Honour of God, and for the Weal of Himself and his Realm, did grant unto the Prelates, Earls, and Barons of his Realm, that they might choose certain Persons of the Prelates, Earls, and Barons, and of other lawful Men whom they should deem sufficient to be called unto them, for the ordaining and establishing the Estate of the Household of our said Lord the King, and of his Realm, according to Right and Reason, and in such Manner that their Ordinances should be made to the Honour of God, and to the Honour and Profit of Holy Church, and to the Honour of the said King, and to his Profit and to the Profit of his People, according to Right and Reason, and to the Oath which our said Lord the King made at his Coronation: And the Archbishop of Canterbury, Primate of all England, the Bishops, Earls, and Barons thereunto chosen, did make certain Ordinances which begin thus:

“Edward by the Grace of God, King of England, Lord of Ireland, and Duke of Aquitain, to All to whom these Letters shall come Greeting. Know Ye, That Whereas on the Sixteenth Day of March in the Third Year of our Reign, to the Honour of God, &c.” and which end thus “Given at London the Fifth Day of October in the Fifth Year of our Reign.”

The which Ordinances our said Lord the King, at his Parliament at York, in Three Weeks from Easter in the Fifteenth Year of his Reign, did, by the Prelates, Earls, and Barons, among whom were the more part of the said Ordainers who were then living, and by the Commonalty of his Realm, there by his Command assembled, cause to be rehearsed and examined: And forasmuch as upon that Examination it was found, in the said Parliament, that by the Matters so ordained the Royal Power of our said Lord the King was restrained in divers Things, contrary to what ought to be, to the blemishing of his Royal Sovereignty, and against the Estate of the Crown; And, also, forasmuch as, in Time past, by such Ordinances and Provisions, made Subjects against the Royal Power of the Ancestors of our Lord the King, Troubles and Wars have happened in the Realm, whereby the Land hath been in Peril, It is accorded and established, at the said Parliament, by our Lord the King, and by the said Prelates, Earls, and Barons, and the whole Commonalty of the Realm, at this Parliament assembled, That all the Things, by the said Ordainors ordained and contained in the said Ordinances, shall from henceforth for the Time to come cease and shall lose their Name, Force, Virtue, and Effect for ever; The Statutes and Establishments duly made by our Lord the King and his Ancestors, before the said Ordinances, abiding in their Force: And that for ever hereafter, all manner of Ordinances or Provisions, made by the Subjects of our Lord the King or of his Heirs, by any power or Authority whatsoever, concerning the Royal Power of our Lord the King or of his Heirs, or against the Estate of our said Lord the King or of his Heirs, or against the Estate of the Crown, shall be void and of no Avail or Force whatever; But 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; according as it hath been heretofore accustomed.