In 1414, the fifth year of the reign of Henry IV., the Commons
proceeded in their design of regulating the King's household, with
whom the Lords accorded; and they required that four persons should be
removed out of the King's house,--namely, the Abbot of Dore, the
King's confessor, with Durham and Crosbie, gentlemen of his chamber.
On February 9, 1414, the confessor, Durham and Crosbie, came into the
parliament before the King and the Lords, when his Majesty took
occasion to excuse those officers himself, saying, that he knew no
cause why they should be removed, but only because they were hated by
the people: yet he charged them to depart from his house, according to
the desire of his Commons, and would have proceeded in the same manner
against the Abbot of Dore, had he been present. The printed roll of
Parliamentary proceedings adds these remarkable expressions:--"And our
Lord the King moreover said that he would see that the Same measures
were taken with regard to any one about his Royal person, who might
incur the hatred or indignation of his people." A proceeding similar
to this took place in 1451, when Henry VI., at the request of the
House of Commons, removed from his court and presence several
individuals of either sex, against whom there was universal noise and
clamour.

On November 27, 1621, the House of Lords sentenced John Blount to
pillory, imprisonment, and labour for life, for counterfeiting a
Lord's protection. This was the first case of imprisonment beyond the
session, by the House of Lords. The first precedent for their
infliction of fines appears about two years afterwards, when they
sentenced one Morley to pay 1,000_l._, and condemned him to the
pillory for a libel on the Lord Keeper.