358 The Period of Constitution Making
3. Origin of County Representation in a Central
Assembly.1—Having seen some of the local uses to which
the king was putting knights and other freemen, the next
development to be examined is the gathering together of
local juries at some central point and the earliest appear-
ance of such collected groups in connection with the
king's council, small or large. As the king was question-
ing or consulting local men with increasing frequency
upon all sorts of subjects, cases would be bound to arise
in which there would be economy of time and effort in
gathering groups to one point and carrying on the business
en masse rather than for the king or his commissioners to
travel about and talk to each group or jury in its locality.
Such a method was bound to suggest itself early and there
was no reason why the king should not adopt it. Almost
as soon as the royal letters begin to be recorded in John's
reign, they furnish us with examples of this concentra-
tion. How much earlier it was used cannot be known—
probably not a great deal, for the instances are very few
early in the reign, but are much more numerous in the
latter part. The scale upon which concentration was
used, the kinds of groups gathered, and the nature of the
business transacted varied infinitely. All that it meant
was that a strong king was carrying on his business as
best suited him. For example, in 1204 he summoned
for the same day and place twelve men to be sent from
each of the Cinque Ports to meet the Archbishop of
Canterbury and the sheriff of Kent "to talk about the
king's affairs" and "to do the king's service as directed";
they were really chosen is merely a matter of surmise." This contains a
truth important to have in mind throughout the early history of parliament
(see below, Part III., § III., 6); and yet it seems that hi his treatment of
election Professor Pollard neglects the evidently purposeful change made by
the king in the method of selecting local unofficial agents to do his work,
As the thing worked out in practice there must have been some lessening
of shrieval influence as a result of these various county-court selections
which he used. Otherwise it would be impossible to account for the long-
continued and careful insistence upon them; there must have been obtained
as a rule some expression of the popular estimate or will—not that the
people were seeking it, but that the king wished it and must certainly have
believed that he was getting it.
1W. and N., Problem III.—Some Antecedents of the House of Commons.