Whether they would or no indeed the Commons were driven forward to a more direct interference with public affairs.

From the memorable statute of 1322 their right to take equal part in all matters brought before Parliament had been incontestable, and their waiver of much of this right faded away before the stress of time.

Their assent was needed to the great ecclesiastical statutes which regulated the relation of the See of Rome to the realm.

They naturally took a chief part in the enactment and re-enactment of the Statute of Labourers.

The Statute of the Staple, with a host of smaller commercial and economical measures, was of their origination.