The subsequent history of these committees proves that, whatever was their origin, they did become an instrument in the hands of cliques of nobles. The next instance is in March 1371-72, when the precedent of 1369 was deliberately followed,[52] and two committees were again elected--one for justice, and the other to treat and deliberate upon special business as a preliminary to its being brought before the great council.[53] It is simply stated that leave was given to the rest to go away. There are no lists of members of either committee, nor is there any record that the "special business" was ever submitted to a parliament. The statutes promulgated by the committee bear that they have been made by the consent of the three Estates, or by persons elected in the same parliament to transact business.[54] An oath to observe the statutes was taken after they were passed, and it is remarkable that only the barons are mentioned as taking it. This is suggestive of the absence of burgesses from the General Committee, in accordance with the precedent of 1369, and the very first clause[55] in the recital of the actions of the General Committee gives some indication that it was desired to exclude certain persons from it. It was ordained that no one who had been elected a member of the committee should bring to its meetings anyone not so elected, except a member of the Privy Council. The business included an act which is summarized by an assertion that the commands of the king are not to be obeyed in preference to the law of the land ("Mandata Regis non exequenda contra statuta vel formam iuris"). The weakness of Robert II, already an old man, and the general political history of the time, render it impossible to accept this as a constitutional claim, and the overwhelming probability is that Parliament was, as so often afterwards, in the hands of a small clique of nobles, who used it for their own purposes. Possibly, the barons who were really responsible for the misgovernment of the country, wished to avoid meeting, in the committee, anyone who might be bold enough to draw attention to the real facts of the case. At all events there must have been some reason for following the precedent of 1369 instead of that of 1367, and thus excluding the burgess element.