[39] The chief officers of state were the lord chancellor, the lord high treasurer, and the lord privy seal, who took precedence of all the nobility; the secretary, the clerk of register, the king's advocate, the treasurer's deputy, and the lord justice clerk. [40] They were excluded from 1640 to 1662. [41] _Acts_, i. 491. The use of the term in connection with the coronation of Alexander II in 1214 (_Acts_, i. 67) is explained by its being simply a quotation from Fordun (ix. 1). [42] Cf. _supra_, pp. 21-25. [43] Cf. _supra_, pp. 25-26. [44] Cf. _supra_, pp. 18-19. [45] Vide _supra_, p. 24. [46] Laing, _Knox_, ii. 87. [47] Speech at Whitehall, 31st March, 1607. [48] The right of prorogation is tacitly assumed by the king in this speech. It was the cause of a dispute in the troublous times which followed 1638. The Parliament of 1640 protested that "Johne, Erle of Traquair, his Majestie's Commissioner, did take upon him without consent of the Estates, upon a private warrand, procured by himself, against his Majestie's publict patent, under the great seall," to prorogue Parliament. They therefore continued to sit, and took up stronger ground, viz. that prorogation without consent of Parliament was "against the lawes and libertie of the kingdom, ... without precedent, example, and practice." The language is clearly taken from the contemporary protests of the English Commons, and it cannot be regarded as more than a political weapon, borrowed for this occasion from the English constitutional armoury. It in no way corresponds with the general state of feeling in Scotland. In 1661 the Estates resolved that "the King hath sole power to call and prorogue Parliaments." Both resolutions were recognitions of fact, not of theory. At various times, from 1398 onwards, acts were passed that Parliament should meet once a year. These were probably connected with the judicial powers of the Estates. In point of fact, they were dead letters. [49] Convocatis tribus communitatibus Regni ... certi personae electi fuerunt per easdem ad parliamentum tenendum, data aliis causa autumpni licencia ad propria redeundi. [50] De concessu et confirmatione trium communitatum congregatarum, propter importunitatem et caristiam temporis ... electi fuerunt certi personae ad ipsum parliamentum tenendum, data licencia aliis remeandi. [51] _Acts_, i. 173. [52] Imitando videlicet ordinem illum et modum qui servabantur in parliamento tento apud Perth tempore venerandae memoriae domini Regis David, anno Regni ipsius quadragesimo [1369], electi fuerunt quidam.... [53] Ad tractandum et deliberandum super certis specialibus Regis et Regni negociis, antequam perveniant ad noticiam consilii generalis, licentiatis autem aliis ut recedant. [54] De consensu et assensu trium communitatum per presidentes sive per personas electas ad determinationem negociorum in parliamento eodem.