My dissertation examines the influence of secret, contested, proposed and idealized Parliaments on early modern English and Scottish understandings of legitimate government and the rule of law. My project lays the groundwork for a post-revisionist history of Parliament, by shifting focus away from the handful of official meetings called at Westminster during Elizabeth's reign, and towards the various manifestations of the Lords, Commons, and Crown dreamed up and circulated in manuscript and print, given doubtful imprimatur and subsequently debated in the courts of law and public opinion.