Note 727 — INDEX.

Footnote 727: L. and P., ii., 1314. In some respects the House of Commons appears to have exercised unconstitutional powers, e.g., in 1529 one Thomas Bradshaw, a cleric, was indicted for having conspired to poison members of Sir James Worsley's household, and on 27th February, 1531, Henry VIII. orders Lady Worsley not to trouble Bradshaw any more, "as the House of Commons has decided that he is not culpable" (ibid., iv., 6293; v., 117; cf. the case of John Wolf and his wife, ibid., vi., 742; vii., passim). The claim to criminal jurisdiction which the House of Commons asserted in Floyd's case (1621) seems in fact to have been admitted by Henry VIII.; compare the frequent use of acts of attainder.(back)