nced by the sheriff or a powerful lord who suggested
suitable men. The wealthy merchants typically represented the
boroughs and paid much of the taxes. Under Edward III, the commons
took a leading part in the granting of taxes and the presentation
of petitions and became a permanent and distinct body, the House
of Commons, with a spokesman or "speaker", chosen by the Crown,
and a clerk. The speaker came to be an intermediary between the
Commons and the king and between the Commons and the Lords. A
clerk of Parliament registered its acts and sat with the Lords. A
clerk of the Crown superintended the issue of writs and the
receipt of the returns and attested the signature of the king on
statutes. It became a regular practice for the Chancellor to open
Parliament with an opportunity to present petitions after his
opening speech. The king then referred them to certain peers and
justices, who decided to which court, or Parliament, they should
be sent. During the 1300s, the number of barons going to
Parliament gradually decreased.

At the 1376 Parliament, ("the Good Parliament") the Commons, which
formerly had only consented to taxes, took political action by
complaining that the King's councilors had grown rich by war
profiteering at the cost of impoverishing the nation and the
people were too poor to endure any more taxation for the war and
held a hearing on financial malfeasance and dishonesty of two
ministers. The chamberlain had extorted enormous sums, had
intercepted fines meant for the king's treasury, and had sold a
castle to the enemy. The steward had bought debts of the king's.
The House of Lords, the High Court of Parliament, found the
charges proved and dismissed them permanently from office. This
established the constitutional means for impeachment and
prosecution by the Commons and removal by the House of Lords of
ministers. By this process, there could be no royal intimidation,
as there could be in the ordinary courts. The Commons demanded
that its members be elected by county citizens rather than
appointed by the sheriff.

The roles of Parliament and the King's council are starting to
differentiate into legislative and executive, respectively. The
legislative function is lawmaking, and the executive is
regulation-making that refines and effectuates the laws of
Parliament. But the legislative, executive, and judicial
authorities have not as yet become so completely separated that
they cannot on occasion wo