The old writ had been just to
bring to court those persons needed for proceedings, but Coke in
1614 had cited the writ with a new meaning "to have the body
together with the cause of detention". Charles billeted unpaid and
unruly soldiers in private homes, which they plundered. It was
customary to quarter them in inns and public houses at royal
expense. Martial law was declared and soldiers were executed. But
the citizens did not want martial law either.
The Magna Carta got attention as a protector of basic liberties.
Both attorneys and laymen read "The Pastyme of People" written by
John Rastell in 1529, which described the history of the Magna
Carta from 1215 to 1225. Also read was the "Great Abridgment" of
the English law written by Rastell in 1527, and Coke's volume of
his Institutes which dealt with the Magna Carta, which the Crown
took to prevent being published until 1642, when Parliament
allowed it. Broad-scale pamphleteering turned England into a
school of political discussion. Oxford University favored the
established church and Cambridge University was Puritan.
The estates of the members of the House of Commons were three
times the extent of the members' of the House of Lords. Bishops'
estates had diminished considerably because of secularization. The
members of the House of Commons were elected by the people. For
these reasons, the House of Commons asserted a preeminence to the
House of Lords.
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