Parliament of England
The English parliament in front of the King,
c.1300.
The Parliament of England was the legis-
lature of the Kingdom of England. The Eng-
lish Parliament traces its origins to the
Anglo-Saxon Witenagemot. In 1066, William
of Normandy brought a feudal system, by
which he sought advice of a council of
tenants-in-chief and ecclesiastics before mak-
ing laws. In 1215, the tenants-in-chief se-
cured Magna Carta from King John, which es-
tablished that the king may not levy or collect
any taxes (except the feudal taxes to which
they were hitherto accustomed), save with
the consent of his royal council, which slowly
developed into a parliament.
Over the centuries, the English Parliament
progressively limited the power of the Eng-
lish monarchy which arguably culminated in
the English Civil War and the trial and execu-
tion of Charles
I
in 1649. After
the
restoration of the monarchy under Charles II,
the supremacy of parliament was a settled
principle and all future English and later Brit-
ish sovereigns were restricted to the role of
constitutional monarchs with limited execut-
ive authority. The Act of Union 1707 merged
the English Parliament with the Parliament of
Scotland to form the Parliament of Great Bri-
tain. When the Parliament of Ireland was ab-
olished in 1801, its former members were
merged into what was now called the Parlia-
ment of the United Kingdom. This makes the
current Parliament of the United Kingdom
one of the oldest legislative bodies in the
world. Due to the history and influence of the
British Empire, the British parliament has be-
come a model for many other national legis-
latures. This model is referred to as the West-
minster system because the UK Parliament is
located in the City of Westminster within
greater London.
History
Under a monarchical system of government,
the monarch usually must consult and seek a
measure of acceptance for his policies if he is
to enjoy the broad cooperation of his sub-
jects. Early Kings of England had no standing
army or police, and so dep