IV. _Representation._ It is well to hesitate before applying to ancient institutions a word so essentially modern as “representation.” In a sense the reeve and the four best men of every village “represented” their fellows in the county court from a very early age; and in a somewhat different sense the feudal lord “represented” his free tenants and villeins in the king’s court, but in neither instance was there anything approaching the very definite relation which exists at the present day between the elected member of Parliament and the constituents he “represents.” It is true that the difference may in some respects be one of degree rather than of kind, and it is further true that two years before the date of Magna Carta a tentative experiment had been tried in the direction of introducing representatives of the counties into the king’s Council, thus taking the first step in a long process destined ultimately to lead without any absolute breach of continuity to the modern Parliament. But the Barons in June, 1215, showed no desire to follow the example set by John in November, 1213. The terms in which Magna Carta directs that all minor barons should be summoned are explicit, and may be profitably contrasted with the words used in the writ dated 7th November, 1213, addressed to the sheriff of Oxford, ordering him to compel, in addition to the barons and the knights already summoned (presumably _barones minores_), the attendance of _quatuor discretos homines de comitatu tuo_ (presumably other than Crown tenants).[509] ----- Footnote 509: Cf. _supra_, p. 36. The writ appears in _Rot. Claus_, I. 165, and also in _Sel. Charters_, 287. Cf. _New Rymer_, I. 117. ----- So far from the words of Magna Carta showing any desire to confirm this precedent, they show a deliberate intention to ignore it, and to fall back on the more ancient practice. The members of the assembly which Magna Carta stipulated should be convened for the taking of “the common consent” were all of one type, drawn from the same section of the land-owning aristocracy, namely, military tenants-in-chief of the Crown. The barons, great and small, might be present, each man for himself; but the other tax-paying classes were completely ignored.[510] They were neither present nor yet represented. The barons in this, as in other matters, stood out for the old feudal order under which they had preserved a wide measure of independence from the Crown’s control; whereas King John for selfish reasons adopted the more enlightened policy of his father, and even, unconsciously it may be, anticipated some of the measures of his grandson, Edward Plantagenet. In brief, John was progressive, while his opponents were conservative. The present chapter must be added to the not inconsiderable list of those which attempted to bring about a feudal reaction.[511] ----- Footnote 510: Cf. _supra_, c. 12. Footnote 511: