Show no three estates estate of the realm neal por all practical purposes there are only two estates in the english parliament lords and commons thus the phrase of the three estates which had a meaning in france became meaningless ing less in england por for centuries past there has been no separate estate oi of the clergy some of their highest members have belonged to the estate of the lords and the rest to the estate of the commons hence has arisen a common but not unnatural misconception as old as the long parliament as to the meaning of the three estates men ilea constantly use thoe words wards as ag if they meant the three elements among which the legislative power is divided king lords and commons but bat an estate means a rank or order or class of men like the lords the clergy or the commons the king is not an estate because there is no class or order of kings the king being one person alone by himself the p proper r oper phrase is the king and the three estates of th the e realm but in england as I 1 have already shown the phrase is meaningless as we have in truth two estates only C A freemans freemanb Fre emans growth of the english constitution |