[5] This statute is not even alluded to in Ruffhead's edition, and has been very little noticed by writers on our law or history. It is printed in the late edition, published by authority, and is brought forward in the First Report of the Lords' Committee, on the dignity of a Peer (1819), p. 282. Nothing can be more evident than that it not only establishes by a legislative declaration the present constitution of parliament, but recognises it as already standing upon a custom of some length of time. [6] The pleadings, as they are called, or written allegations of both parties, which form the basis of a judicial enquiry, commence with the _declaration_, wherein the plaintiff states, either specially, or in some established form, according to the nature of the case, that he has a debt to demand from or an injury to be redressed by, the defendant. The latter, in return, puts in his _plea_; which, if it amount to a denial of the facts alleged in the declaration, must _conclude to the country_, that is, must refer the whole matter to a jury. But if it contain an admission of the fact, along with a legal justification of it, it is said to _conclude to the court_; the effect of which is to make it necessary for the plaintiff to reply; in which _replication_ he may deny the facts pleaded in justification, and conclude to the country; or allege some new matter in explanation, to show that they do not meet all the circumstances, concluding to the court. Either party also may demur, that is, deny that, although true and complete as a statement of facts, the declaration or plea is sufficient according to law to found or repel the plaintiff's suit. In the last case it becomes an issue in law, and is determined by the judges without the intervention of a jury; it being a principle, that by demurring, the party acknowledges the truth of all matters alleged on the pleadings. But in whatever stage of the proceedings either of the litigants concludes to the country (which he is obliged to do, whenever the question can be deduced to a disputed fact), a jury must be impanelled to decide it by their verdict. These pleadings, together with what is called the _postea_, that is, an indorsement by the clerk of the court wherein the trial has been, reciting that _afterwards_ the cause was so tried, and such a verdict returned, with the subsequent entry of the judgment itself, form the record.