sse, That so as
hit hath ever be thair libte and fredom, that thar sholde no statut no
lawe be made offlasse than they yaf therto their assent; consideringe
that the comune of youre lond, the whiche that is, and ever hath be, a
membre of youre parlemente, ben as well assenters as petitioners, that
fro this tyme foreward, by compleynte of the comune of any myschief
axknyge remedie by mouthe of their speker for the comune, other ellys by
petition writen, that ther never be no lawe made theruppon, and
engrossed as statut and lawe, nother by addicions, nother by
diminucions, by no manner of terme ne termes, the whiche that sholde
chaunge the sentence, and the entente axked by the speker mouthe, or the
petitions beforesaid yeven up yn writyng by the manere forsaid, withoute
assent of the forsaid comune. Consideringe, oure soverain lord, that it
is not in no wyse the entente of youre comunes, zif yet be so that they
axke you by spekyng, or by writyng, two thynges or three, or as manye as
theym lust: But that ever it stande in the fredom of youre hie regalie,
to graunte whiche of thoo that you lust, and to werune the remanent.

"The kyng of his grace especial graunteth that fro hensforth nothyng be
enacted to the peticions of his comune that be contrarie of hir askyng,
wharby they shuld be bounde withoute their assent. Savyng alwey to our
liege lord his real prerogatif, to graunte and denye what him lust of
their petitions and askynges aforesaid."[204]

Notwithstanding the fulness of this assent to so important a petition we
find no vestige of either among the statutes, and the whole transaction
is unnoticed by those historians who have not looked into our original
records. If the compilers of the statute-roll were able to keep out of
it the very provision that was intended to check their fraudulent
machinations, it was in vain to hope for redress without altering the
established practice in this respect; and indeed, where there was no
design to falsify the roll it was impossible to draw up statutes which
should be in truth the acts of the whole legislature, so long as the
king continued to grant petitions in part, and to engraft new matter
upon them. Such was still the case till the commons hit upon an
effectual expedient for screening themselves against these
encroachments, which has lasted without alteration to the present day.
This was the introduction of complete statutes under the name of bills,
instead of the old petit