288 The Period of Constitution Making
which Parliament had already placed upon the sovereign.
In Ms deposition, therefore, among the various motives
which actuated it, there was distinctly the purpose to
preserve the laws and customs of the realm. An attack
had been made upon them, the case of Edward II. was
in mind, Richard II. was rejected, and a king who would
rule under the law was put in his place. Richard was
made to declare himself "wholly insufficient and useless/'
and the act of Parliament which confirmed his deposition
was based upon Ms "crimes and shortcomings," his
"very many perjuries" and the "default of governance
and undoing of the good laws."1 As with Edward II.,
the deposition of Richard II. lacked satisfactory legal
procedure. His act of abdication was under duresse
and he was then deposed by a Parliament wMch he had
been forced to summon. He might at a future time
plead constraint against Ms abdication, likewise against
the legality of this Parliament and its act. "This is
perhaps the reason why very soon afterwards Richard
disappeared from the world."2
When Edward II. was deposed, he was succeeded by
Ms son; Richard II. was succeeded by Ms cousin, who, if
a woman could transmit the title, had no primogenitary
claim. In private law it had become established that the
line claiming through the elder son had the greater right
even though the claim had descended through a woman.
If this applied to title to the crown, then Henry of Lan-
caster had no good claim as long as there was a male
descendant of his uncle Lionel Duke of Clarence, albeit
that descent was solely through Lionel's daughter.
There is no doubt that Henry felt this and said as little
as possible about hereditary descent.3 He was king by
1 Documents 102-104 in A. and S. illustrate the deposition of Richard II.
a Maitland, C. H. R, p. 192.
3 The foolish claim which may have been hinted at in the words, "as I
that am descended by right line of blood coming from the good lord king
Henry III." (A. and S., p. 164), which were used by Henry when he made
his oral challenge of the crown, had no foundation in fact and probably
gained little credence at the time. See Oman, History of England (1377-
p. 153-