Note 48 — I.—Origin, Membership, and Method

The right of prorogation is tacitly assumed by the king in this speech. It was the cause of a dispute in the troublous times which followed 1638. The Parliament of 1640 protested that "Johne, Erle of Traquair, his Majestie's Commissioner, did take upon him without consent of the Estates, upon a private warrand, procured by himself, against his Majestie's publict patent, under the great seall," to prorogue Parliament. They therefore continued to sit, and took up stronger ground, viz. that prorogation without consent of Parliament was "against the lawes and libertie of the kingdom, ... without precedent, example, and practice." The language is clearly taken from the contemporary protests of the English Commons, and it cannot be regarded as more than a political weapon, borrowed for this occasion from the English constitutional armoury. It in no way corresponds with the general state of feeling in Scotland. In 1661 the Estates resolved that "the King hath sole power to call and prorogue Parliaments." Both resolutions were recognitions of fact, not of theory. At various times, from 1398 onwards, acts were passed that Parliament should meet once a year. These were probably connected with the judicial powers of the Estates. In point of fact, they were dead letters.