A Study Of The Scottish Parliament,1290-1707

The research of the history of the Scottish parliament is rarely drawn attentionby Chinese academic community. However, the western scholars also has beenignored the research of the history of the Scottish parliament. In1707, after the unityof the Scottish Parliament and the English Parliament, the Scottish parliament wasremoved, and then has long been forgotten and fallen into oblivion in the history.Until1999, when the Scottish parliament was proclaimed to establish, the Scottishparliament gave rise to the research interests of the western scholars once again. Weshould also strengthen the study of the history of the Scottish parliament. Only whenthe all kinds of the historical fogs are pushed aside can we further understand andknow the Scottish parliament today. This not only helps us to further deepen thestudy of the history of Britain, but also contributes to making clear the consolidationof the British kingdom.The establishment of the Scottish parliament in1290was incorporated into theBritish parliament in1707, which had experienced more than four centuries ofhistorical evolution and development. Based on its internal logic in these changes,the Scottish Parliamentary changes will be divided into four different historicalstages such as formation, development, reform and incorporation. Hereby, inaddition to the preface and epilogue, this mainbody of the article alsocorrespondingly divided into four chapters. The abstracts of each part in this paperwill be described as follows.The introduction mainly elaborates the theoretical and practical significance ofthe thesis topic. At the same time, to define and differentiate the core concepts usedin the research, find out the domestic and foreign research situation of the research ofthe Scottish parliament, and illustrate the author’s research framework, basicthoughts and basic methods. The first chapter, named the rise of the Scottish parliament, mainly describesthe historical process of the gestation, birth and formation of the medieval Scottishparliament. In the middle ages, it was the formation of the Scottish kingdom and theimplementation of the feudalization in the12th century that provided theinstitutional foundation. Due to the implementation of the feudalization of Scotland,the great council produced and developed. In the later13th century, the Scottishkingdom appeared the serious crisis. Under the double pressures of the internaldivision and external invasion, the Scottish parliament emerged at the right momentand obtained the preliminary development. During the war of Scottish independence,the development of the Scottish parliament sped up so that the functions of thejudicial, legislative and taxed were clear and definite. In1326, it was theestablishment of the Scottish mechanism of the unicameral assembly thatsymbolized the shape of the Scottish parliament.Chapter two, named the development of the Scottish parliament, emphaticallyaddresses the course of institutionalization of courseinstitutional of the Scottishparliament in the late medieval ages. From the middle14th century to the late15thcentury, the Scottish parliament step on the historical road to the development of theinstitutionalization. Under the influence of the war of independence, the Scottishpolitical community strengthened cooperation, so that the social elements of theScottish parliament were further defined. In1357, the Scottish parliament wasofficially named as three estates including clergy, nobility and burgess by the acts ofthe parliament in the end. Meanwhile, the system of the Scottish parliament tendedto be being perfected, and formed the system of convening a parliament annually inthe15th century. In the judicial and legislative aspects, the Scottish parliamentfurther improved its function, and established the Judicial Committees and the Lordsof Articles. In the process of the handling of the kingdom of affairs, it was theinteraction of the cooperation and counterbalance that was formed between theScottish parliaments and kings.Chapter three, the crisis and reform of the Scottish parliament, mainly set forth the course of the modern transformation of the Scottish parliament throughreformation. In16th century, it was important historical period in which the Scottishparliament began to transform from the middle age to modern. During the process,the Scottish parliament had experienced the big changes such as decline, revival andreform, so established the system of the parliamentary elections and representative.In the late reign of the king James IV, because of the expansion of royal power, theScottish parliament was shut down for a long time, which resulted in the decline ofthe Scottish parliament. With the beginning of the regency, the Scottish parliamentgot the revival on some extent. In the meantime, when the church property declined,the barons and freeholders grew rapidly. Under the influence of the Europeanreligious revolution, the protestant ideology spread widely in the local society inScotland. Due to the intervention of England and France, the severe religious andpolitics oppositions appeared among the Scottish Parliament. To solve the problemof religion, in1560, Scotland carried out the reform of parliament, enacted thelegislations on religion, which had a significant influence on the development of theScottish parliament. In the process of reform, the Scottish baron began to rise inpolitical field, and then the parliamentary social elements took place the great change.In1587, it was the acts of the Scottish Parliament enacted that marked the Scottishbaron finally become the fourth estate.Chapter four, the consolidation of the Scottish parliament and the Englishparliament, emphasizes the merging process of the Scottish parliament, the newchanges of the social composition and its operating mechanism. In1603, the Scottishking, James VI succeed to the throne of England which had a profound historicalinfluence on Scotland and England, and laid the foundation of the unity of theScottish parliament of the English parliament. During the reign of Oliver Cromwell,the unity of the Scotland and the England took a substantial pace. To achieve theunity of the two kingdoms, Cromwell established a special committee to beresponsible for the unified things, and held the British parliament including theScottish representatives. However, due to the opposition of the Scottish nobles and lacking the strong enough the strengths of unity, in the end, the unity established onthe basis of the conquest, came to an end. In late17th century, the Scottish kingdomsuffered a serious economic crisis, so that overseas trade fell into the situations of theserious recession. Under the realistic need, the unity of Scotland and England startedonce again. Both parties discussed deeply, and then drafted the Act of Unionaccording of the win-win principles. In1707, the Scottish parliament and theEngland parliament were merged. At the same time, the new important changes havetaken place in the social elements of the Scottish parliament. In the17th century,because of the constantly growing secular powers and the continuous decline of thechurch, it was the clergies eventually was removed from the Scottish parliament andthe secularization of the representatives came truth that laid the historical foundationfor the modern parliament. On account of the establishment of the president, speakerand the procedures of two reading, the running mechanism of the Scottish parliamentalso tended to be more mature. This marked the establishment of the system ofmodern Scottish parliament.The epilogue aimed at systematically summarizing the course of thedevelopment and evolution of the Scottish parliament, and clarifying the overallhistorical characteristics of the Scottish parliament.