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 law-making 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 work together.
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