=4. Judicial Reforms.=--James held many parliaments, and pretty nearly all are noteworthy for passing wise measures for the common good. In his first parliament, the "_Committee of the Articles_," which dated from the reign of David the Second, was acknowledged as an established part of the parliament. This committee was elected by the parliament at the beginning of its session, and nearly the whole power of the Estates was made over to the persons chosen to form it, who were called the _Lords of the Articles_. They consulted together and considered the Articles presented to them in parliament, which were then passed by the vote of the Estates and became law. This custom, by which the business of the whole parliament was left in the hands of a committee, was afterwards found to be the weakest point of the legislature, and paved the way for a great deal of bribery and corruption. Statute law in Scotland dates from this reign, as it was James who first caused a collection of statutes to be made, and separated those that were still in force from those that had fallen out of use. He also regulated weights and measures, and fixed a standard for the coinage, so that it should be of the same weight and fineness as the money in England. From his reign also dates the appointment of the office of _Treasurer_; the publication of the acts of parliament in the language spoken by the people; the first effort towards the representation of the lesser barons by commissaries; and an attempt to establish a supreme court of civil jurisdiction, which was to consist of the _Chancellor_ and three other persons chosen by the Estates, and to sit three times a year. In order that the Scottish people might learn to compete with the English bowmen, James established schools in the different parishes for the practice of archery. In short, he strove in every way to make his people profit by what he had learnt and observed during his long exile in England. He was a patron of learning, and was himself a scholar and one of the earliest and best English poets. The longest of his poems is called the "_King's Quhair_" or book. In it he sang his love for his fair English bride in strains that prove him to have been a true poet. It is written in stanzas of seven lines each, a very favourite measure in those days, which was afterwards called the "roial rime" in memory of this poet-king.