Parliament and the King refers to a conflict in 17th-century England over sovereignty between which institutions?

• A. Parliament and the King
• B. The common law and the crown
• C. The merchants and the crown
• D. The church and the state

Answer: (A)

The main idea is the struggle over sovereignty between the legislature and the monarch in 17th‑century England. During this period, kings claimed prerogative power to govern and make policy with minimal Parliament constraint, while Parliament argued that it held the authority to tax, legislate, and oversee the government. This dispute produced several key moments and documents—the Petition of Right limiting royal taxation and detention, political crises, the Civil War, and ultimately the Bill of Rights of 1689—which established that the monarch’s powers are bound by law and that Parliament stands as the ultimate authority in political decision-making. This shift paved the path toward a constitutional monarchy and parliamentary sovereignty.

Other options touch on related themes, like the influence of common law, economic interests, or church-state relations, but they don’t capture the central constitutional clash of this era: who holds the ultimate sovereignty—the King or Parliament.