Editing Parliament (section)

====Early forms of assembly====
England has long had a tradition of a body of men who would assist and advise the king on important matters. Under the [[Anglo-Saxon]] kings, there was an advisory council, the [[Witenagemot]]. The name derives from the [[Old English]] ƿitena ȝemōt, or witena gemōt, for "meeting of wise men". The first recorded act of a witenagemot was [[Law of Æthelberht|the law code issued by King Æthelberht]] of Kent around 600, the earliest document which survives in sustained Old English prose; however, the Witan was certainly in existence long before then.<ref>Liebermann, Felix, The National Assembly in the Anglo-Saxon Period (Halle, 1913; repr. New York, 1961).</ref> The Witan, along with the folkmoots (local assemblies), is an important ancestor of the modern English parliament.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/evolutionofparliament/originsofparliament/birthofparliament/overview/origins/|title=Anglo-Saxon origins|work=UK Parliament}}</ref>

As part of the [[Norman Conquest]], the new king, [[William I of England|William I]], did away with the Witenagemot, replacing it with a [[Curia Regis]] ("King's Council"). Membership of the Curia was largely restricted to the [[tenant-in-chief|tenants-in-chief]], the few nobles who "rented" great estates directly from the king, along with [[ecclesiastic]]s. William brought to England the [[feudal system]] of his native [[Normandy]], and sought the advice of the Curia Regis before making laws. This is the original body from which the Parliament, the higher courts of law, and the [[Privy Council]] and Cabinet descend. Of these, the legislature is formally the High Court of Parliament; judges sit in the [[Senior Courts of England and Wales|Supreme Court of Judicature]]. Only the executive government is no longer conducted in a royal court.

Most historians date the emergence of a parliament with some degree of power, to which the throne had to defer, no later than the reign of [[Edward I of England|Edward I]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Kaeuper|first=Richard W.|title=War Justice and Public Order: England and France in the Later Middle Ages|publisher=Oxford University Press|date=1988|isbn=9780198228738|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z35oAAAAMAAJ}}</ref> Like previous kings, Edward called leading nobles and church leaders to discuss government matters, especially [[finance]] and [[taxation]]. A meeting in 1295 became known as the [[Model Parliament]] because it set the pattern for later Parliaments. The significant difference between the Model Parliament and the earlier Curia Regis was the addition of the Commons: that is, the inclusion of elected representatives of rural landowners and of townsmen. In 1307, Edward agreed not to collect certain taxes without the "consent of the realm" through parliament. He also enlarged the court system.