To maintain that the long parliament is not dissolved, or that
either or both houses, without the king, are possessed of legislative
authority, or that the covenant is binding, was made punishable by the
penalty of premunire.
The covenant itself, together with the act for erecting the high court
of justice, that for subscribing the engagement, and that for declaring
England a commonwealth, were ordered to be burnt by the hands of the
hangman. The people assisted with great alacrity on this occasion.
The abuses of petitioning in the preceding reign had been attended with
the worst consequences; and to prevent such irregular practices for the
future, it was enacted that no more than twenty hands should be fixed to
any petition, unless with the sanction of three justices, or the major
part of the grand jury, and that no petition should be presented to
the king or either house by above ten persons. The penalty annexed to
a transgression of this law was a fine of a hundred pounds and three
months' imprisonment.
The bishops, though restored to their spiritual authority, were still
excluded from parliament, by the law which the late king had passed
immediately before the commencement of the civil disorders.
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