forced loans was one of the provisions of the petition of right (1628).
forced loans was one of the provisions of the petition of right (1628).
what was one of the provisions of the petition of right (1628)?
forced loans
the petition of right is a major english constitutional document that sets out specific liberties of the subject that the king is prohibited from infringing. passed on 7 june 1628, the petition contains restrictions on non-parliamentary taxation, forced billeting of soldiers, imprisonment without cause, and the use of martial law. following disputes between parliament and king charles i over the execution of the thirty years' war, parliament refused to grant subsidies to support the war effort, leading to charles gathering "forced loans" without parliamentary approval and arbitrarily imprisoning those who refused to pay. moreover, the war footing of the nation led to the forced billeting of soldiers within the homes of private citizens, and the declaration of martial law over large swathes of the country.
petition of right
arguments for it being legally binding is based on several points. firstly, the judiciary of the time were asked by charles what standing they would give to the petition were it passed; they concluded that it was a potentially legislative act. charles's assent to the petition was also made in parliament, not in whitehall, something normally done with statutes, and henry elsynge, the clerk of the house of commons, had the petition placed on the statute rolls as if it were an act of parliament. it was later enforced by the courts; when selden and other members of parliament were imprisoned, they cited the petition as a reason to grant "habeas corpus", something the judges accepted, and the ship money case, although a victory for charles, was a victory in spite of the petition rather than because of it; the judgment concluded that charles's actions were acceptable under the royal prerogative, but would otherwise be in violation of the petition. the final word remains elusive, since "it seems impossible to establish conclusively which of these interpretations of the petition is correct. the petition of right of 1628 was a unique parliamentary act. it was interpreted differently by different people. and there are probably no absolute criteria by which its true nature can be determined".
petition of right