284 The Period of Constitution Making
proceeded to draw up a document of forty-one articles
which was presented to the king and was put in force in
1311. These articles were called the New Ordinances to
distinguish them from certain preliminary ordinances of
the year before.1 They dealt with the problems and
abuses of the time, several of which lasted over from the
preceding reign. Administration of justice, conduct of
officials, appointment of the great officers of state with
the counsel and consent of the baronage and with the
ceremony of being sworn in Parliament, management of
the royal property, forbidding the king to go to war or
quit the realm without the barons' consent in Parliament,
annual Parliaments, the declaring of Edward L's customs
duties illegal and contrary to Magna Carta—these were
the matters of chief importance. The act which repealed
the New Ordinances in 1322, when Edward was under
control of the Despensers, had a significant clause defining
the competence of Parliament.2
But the great fact looking towards limited monarchy
in Edward II. *s reign was his deposition. It might seem
that such an event would have been almost its attain-
ment and final guarantee; but it is necessary, in weighing
the value of what occurred, to consider carefully the
cause. Edward was not deposed because he had made
a deliberate attack upon the constitution; he had not the
bent of mind or force of will. He was deposed because he
was lazy and incompetent, one whose qualifications, such
as they were, fitted him for anything but kingship, one
whose birth was his misfortune. The articles of accusa-
tion,3 which have a deeply tragic interest, say, among
other things, that
throughout his reign he has not been willing to listen to good
counsel nor to adopt it nor to give himself to the good gov-
ernment of his realm, but he has always given himself up to
unseemly works and occupations, neglecting to satisfy the
needs of his realm.
1 A. and S., document 51. * Ibid., p. 97, See below, pp. 399,400,413,414.
3 A. aad S., document 55.