Why Were the Petition of Rights Passed

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Explain why parliament passed the petition of rights (12 marks) At the start of the 1628 Parliament the Commons appeared willing to compromise with Charles, this was helped by Charles allowing Sir John cook, to communicate directly with MPs rather than doing it himself and cause even more unrest. Parliament, agreed to give Charles five subsidies if their grievances were addressed. Parliament however, became bitter with the revelation of Charles’ actions in relation to the five Knights case, where men were imprisoned without trial after opposing the forced loan. Charles claimed that the judgement in the Five Knights’ case had declared that he had the right to imprison people for ‘reasons of state’, what he considered to be for the safety of the kingdom. The Five Knights’ case judgement, however, was not a general right for Charles to imprison without showing good reason but only in that particular case. It became known however that Charles had allowed one of his leading legal officers, his attorney general health, to falsify the legal records in the five Knight’s Case judgement to state that the King had a general right to imprison people without the need to show good reason. In theory, with this judgement, Charles could arrest anyone without indicating any reasons and not need to put them on trial. Any critic of the King, let alone opponent, would therefore be in very real danger of disappearing into the Tower of London simply when Charles felt like it. In response to this, MPs were united in demanding action to prevent anything like it happening again. Extreme MPs like John Selden and Sir John Eliot now considered a Bill of Rights. This would be a document that would state the rights of the subjects that the kings could not overrule. Parliament however proceeded with a less aggressive Petition of Right, which was mainly drafted by Sir Edward Coke. The
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