CHAPTER XI

THE CONTROL OF MONEY

Supremacy of Parliament

Estimates

The Budget

Economy

Debt

SUPREMACY OF PARLIAMENT.

Parliament m^intfljpg its supremacy over the Government by
a jealous watch over money. In previous centuries the Crown
has tried many methods of getting money without Parliament's
consent; it drew revenue from its property; it borrowed; it
revived forgotten laws and imposed heavy fines on those who
had unwittingly broken them; it sold special privileges to
individuals; it tried to compel the payment of taxes which
Parliament had not approved* Charles I's attempt to use this last
method, by requiring ship money from those not legally obliged
to pay it, was one of the incidents leading to the Civil War.
Most of the other expedients have now been declared illegal,
beyond doubt, and the Crown's property, to-day, provides only
a tiny fraction of the money needed for Government. The first
object of Parliament's rules about money is, therefore, political;
but they have also the economic object of preventing waste.
Parliament seeks, first, to ensure that the Government shall
not get any money without Parliament's consent: secondly, to
control the spending of that money, partly for the sake of
economy, and partly to see that the Government, having got
money for one object does not defy Parliament by spending it
on something else: thirdly, to enable the Government to carry
on its work; the control by Parliament must not be so rigid
that the Government is helpless.

160