Rule requiring Parliament to be summoned at least every seven years

The Rule requiring Parliament to be summoned at least every seven years sets a minimum frequency for the assembly’s obligatory meetings: Parliament was required to assemble only once in every seven-year period. The book presents this provision alongside the institutional arrangements and royal powers that shaped parliamentary government, making the interval part of a broader account of the limits and structure of political representation.

The Stated Requirement

The rule is stated in direct terms: the assembly of Parliament was obligatory only once in every seven years. Its stated scope is the frequency of required assemblies; the passage does not specify how often Parliament met in practice or describe procedures for calling a particular session.

Parliamentary Setting

The rule appears in an account of Parliament’s institutional form. The Lords deliberated behind closed doors, while Commons debates were public; the narrative associates publicity with a diminution of dignity. It also notes that the number of Lords was unlimited and that the Crown could use the creation of new Lords as a means of government. These details place the seven-year requirement within a system where parliamentary meeting, deliberation, and membership were shaped by distinct institutional powers.

Significance in the Account

The seven-year interval defines the minimum regularity of Parliament’s obligatory assembly as the book describes it. Read alongside the contrast between secret Lords and public Commons, and the Crown’s capacity to create peers, it forms part of a portrait of parliamentary authority that is structured by both institutional rules and royal influence. The passage establishes the requirement without claiming that it alone determined the balance of power between Parliament and the Crown.