The historical roots of impeachment

[Eldorado]

"From the Watergate investigation that brought down Richard Nixon to Bill Clinton’s affair with a White House intern, presidential impeachment inquiries have marked some of the most scandalous moments in modern US history.

"But the roots of the process – the latest iteration of which started last week when the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, announced a formal impeachment inquiry into Donald Trump – date back not only to the American constitution, where it is enshrined in law, but to 14th-century England.

"The first recorded impeachment – a mechanism by which a legislative body can make charges against a public official – was in 1376 in England by the “Good Parliament”.

"William, 4th Baron Latimer, who served in the household of the then king, Edward III, was accused of bribery and corruption by the Good Parliament, so called because of its prosecution of the king’s corrupt ministers."

Full monty at the UK Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/law/2019/oct/03/impeachment-roots-medieval-14th-century-england

[BrooklynGuy]

Good read thanks Eldorado