By the sixteenth century it was the practice for the Court of Aldermen to summon a meeting at the Guildhall. The aldermen met and selected two candidates to sit as the City's knights in Parliament. One was normally an alderman (probably a former Lord Mayor of the City of London). The other was normally the Recorder of London, whose legal expertise was essential to the City which had a lot of legislation it wanted drafted and passed by Parliament. On one occasion in the sixteenth century the Recorder was already a burgess representing another borough in Parliament, so two aldermen were chosen.