410 The Period of Constitution Making
fruit. Edward III., under the pressure of the new war
with France, showed, in 1340, his intention to levy a
generally increased custom on wool and hides, similar to
the maltote of his grandfather. Parliament, to prevent
the arbitrary action, made a regular grant of the custom
to be in force for a specified time, and containing a pro-
vision that after the expiration of that time no custom,
beyond the ancient custom, that is, the one established
in 1275, should again be levied. This was almost im-
mediately followed by a statute which contained a
broader prohibitive provision. Referring especially to a
large subsidy granted at the same time that the increased
tariff had been arranged, it stated that the people should
not
be from henceforth charged nor grieved to make common
aid or to sustain charge, if it be not by the common assent
of the prelates, earls, barons, and other great men, and com-
mons of our said realm of England, and that in the Parlia-
ment.1
This was a reassertion, after nearly half a century of
intermittent conflict, of the principle of 1297, and the
added clause respecting Parliament is very significant.
That Parliament was strong enough to gain this acknowl- ^
edgment from Edward III. indicates that the victory
was practically won, the principle of parliamentary con-
trol of taxation established. Scarcely ever after was it
called in question; the energy and ingenuity of kings was
expended rather in dodging it. The date 1340 is, there-
fore, a most important one in the growth of Parliament's
power. An act of 1362, confirmed in 1371, to the effect
that no one, without the consent of Parliament, could
negotiate any charge upon wool, seems to have brought
to an end the private dealings with merchants.2 How-
1 A. and S., document 59. v
3 For a specific instance of resistance to such dealings, 1343, see A, and ^
S., document 65. The Ordinance of the Staples, 1353, shows something
of the "merchants strangers'7 and of the rate of the customs duties in that
year; ibid., document 74.