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This article demonstrates the complexity of the foreign policy involvement of the British parliament during the 20th century. Parliamentary government as such provides some procedural means for involvement in foreign policy debate, in Britain as well as in other countries. Researchers have, nevertheless, often argued that parliaments play a limited role in foreign policy. Approaching our topic by combining the analysis of policy documents with more discourse-oriented analysis of parliamentary debates, we argue that noticeable, but not straightforward, parliamentarisation of foreign policy took place in the course of the 20th century. The aftermath of the First World War led to reconsiderations of the degree of parliamentary supervision of foreign policy. The emergence of international organisations, and, recently, European integration, have also complicated parliamentary participation in foreign affairs. The parliamentary oversight of foreign policy is no longer limited to the national level, which has, in the British case, led to calls to reinforce the sovereignty of the national parliament. On the domestic level, parliamentary debates on foreign policy need to be contextualised with extra-parliamentary public discourse. The relation of parliament to civil society at large, especially non-governmental organisations and the media, has created multi-sited debates, further strengthening democratic control of foreign policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Historians of the Scottish parliament have paid little attention to shire elections because of an apparent lack of local source material. This article explores some of the reasons for this perception and argues that sheriff court records contain considerably more evidence than has been appreciated hitherto. It demonstrates that these records provide details of the electoral process, the regularity of elections, the numbers of electors, external interference in elections and internal divisions within the electorate, local responses to national political events, and attitudes to representation through such things as levying taxes locally to reimburse representatives' expenses. It challenges the once widely-held view that the lesser nobility, who comprised the electorate, were uninterested in parliamentary participation, suggesting instead that the statute of 1587, by which shire representation was established, was reasonably successful. Finally, it considers the potential for further research in these and other records which, it is argued, will provide a much deeper understanding of 17th-century Scotland's parliamentary history in particular and political history in general. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reconsiders one aspect of Christopher Haigh's influential article 'Anticlericalism and the English Reformation'. His article argued that anticlericalism in early 16th-century England had been exaggerated, mislabelled and (in effect) invented as a scholarly construct. Dr Haigh proceeded to dismantle the foundations of anticlericalism in literature, in litigation, and in legislation. Evidence of anticlericalism in parliament, he maintained, was discontinuous, opportunistic and unrepresentative. This article suggests, however, that Haigh's claim makes insufficient allowance for the scarcity of the sources, underestimates the degree of continuity before and after 1529, and fails to take into account the inherently public character of parliamentary petitioning. It proposes, instead, that the challenging of the Church's wealth, the criticizing of clerical abuses, and the questioning of ecclesiastical jurisdiction recurred in early Tudor parliaments, and that the significance of such thwarted attempts at legislative reform crossed sessions and became cumulative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The gentleman usher of the black rod has long been acknowledged as an officer of the house of lords. Yet he was in origin an officer of the order of the Garter with no necessary connection with parliament. This note aims to throw light on the process whereby this association came about. By 1509, the house of lords had the services of an usher of the parliament chamber, a post always held in conjunction with an office in the royal household. By 1558, this post was being exercised by one of the gentlemen ushers daily waiters, who had been granted the office of black rod as an additional perquisite in 1554. From this point it became customary for the offices of black rod, daily waiter and usher of the parliament chamber to be held by one man. This association was broken in 1620, when the then usher relinquished the office of daily waiter but retained his parliamentary functions together with the office of black rod. In 1631, a decree was promulgated annexing the office of black rod to that of one of the gentlemen ushers daily waiters but it was only from 1660 that this became fully effective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article quantifies the activities of medieval and early modern parliaments. It traces the long-term evolution of this European institution, and offers a first pass at analysing its impact on long-term economic development. Starting in Spain in the twelfth century, parliaments gradually spread over the Latin west between 1200 and 1500. In the early modern period, parliaments declined in influence in southern and central Europe and further gained in importance in the Netherlands and Britain, resulting in an institutional 'Little Divergence' between 1500 and 1800. We discuss the background of this phenomenon in detail. Moreover, by analysing the effects of parliamentary activity on city growth we find that these differences in institutional development help to explain the economic divergence between north-western and southern and central Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the different views towards parliament, poetry and civil service during the reigns of Richard II and Henry IV in England. Poetry during Richard II's reign expressed dissatisfaction with the parliament and considered it as a threat to the king's authority. Likewise, the regime of Henry IV believed that the parliament was not doing enough to amend the problems of the kingdom. Henry IV, however, decided to adopt the right of the parliament to criticize the government.

Deals with the English version of the parliamentary memorandum, Modus Tenendi Parliamentum. Reconsideration of the question of the date of the treatise; Versions of the Latin treatise; Arrangement of parliament into six gradus; Possible adaptation from an Irish original written in the second half of the fourteenth century; Delivery of rolls of parliament into the treasury.

Focuses on the French revolution of 1830 and parliamentary reform. Decision of the Polignac's ministry to issue ordinances curbing the independence of the French chamber and the press; Norman Gash's assessment of the influence of the revolution on the general election; Influence of the French revolution; Chronological correlation between the climax of the Swing riots and the fall of the Wellington government.

The article looks into the social history of Kansas during the territorial period. According to the author, the first event of importance in the political development of the Kansas Territory was the election of the territorial legislature in 1855. The whole affair was considered so fraudulent that the free state people demanded the nullification of the election. The year 1855 was also a period of trouble for the Territory. The Indians suffered from famine and pestilence, while the white people suffered from pestilence and civil strife. In 1856, hostilities between the pro-slavery people and the free-state people were renewed and several minor conflicts followed. The free-state people finally succeeded in electing the Legislature in 1857 and Kansas became a state on January 29, 1861.

The article lists several illustrations issued within the periodical.

An appendix is presented of private acts for members of the British parliament in the early 16th century.

A subject index for the 2015 issue of the journal "Parliamentary History" is presented.