But with the reign of Edward the Fourth not only this progress but the very action of Parliament comes almost to an end.

For the first time since the days of John not a single law which promoted freedom or remedied the abuses of power was even proposed.

The Houses indeed were only rarely called together by Edward; they were only twice summoned during the last thirteen years of Henry the Seventh.
[Sidenote: Parliament and the Civil War] But this discontinuance of Parliamentary life was not due merely to the new financial system of the Crown.

The policy of the kings was aided by the internal weakness of Parliament itself.

No institution suffered more from the civil war.