278 The Period of Constitution Making
English history,x That this principle—the king is tinder
the law—was enshrined in Bracton's authoritative law
book for men of later generations to ponder and quote
was undoubtedly a great force making for limited mon-
archy. It put the law forever on that side.
Henry's surrender of the administration, during the
last seven years of his reign, to the able and law-respecting
Edward was in itself a confirmation of these attempts to
bring him under law. The bad reigns of John and Henry
had done a great work; for three quarters of a century,
the idea of compelling a contumacious king to keep the
law had been driven again and again into men's minds.
Perhaps it cannot be said that there was limited mon-
archy. The men who had felt the situation most keenly
were the barons, those who had always been in contrac-
tual relations with their suzerain. Class feeling had not
changed to national feeling in 1272.
In the reign of Edward Lf many things contributed to
the passing of feudalism. Little can be done here but
name some of the more important. Before his accession,
Edward seems to have had in mind some direct limitation
of private jurisdiction, for almost immediately upon his
arrival in England he sent commissioners throughout the
country to enquire into the nature and extent of the
franchises. Their report was embodied in the "Hundred
Rolls/' which contain much valuable information about
local government. This enquiry resulted in the Statute
of Gloucester, 1278, whose main purpose was to limit
and regulate the private courts. The assumption seems
to have been made—perhaps not seriously even at first—
that every holder of important franchises must produce
some written royal warrant for them or else surrender
* In Prance, till the reign of Philip Augustus, the power of the kings had
been far behind that of the post-Conquest Hngs of England; but at the
very time that Bracton was writing, the principle was being enunciated
there that the will of the king is the highest law. Up to this point and
even afterwards, the French and English governments were in many
respects alike, but the parting of the ways had been reached and the diver-
gence was rapid.