Evidence for Edward's involvement in legal reform is hard to find but his reign saw a major programme of legal change. Much of the drive and determination is likely to have come from the king and his experience of the baronial reform movement of the late 1250s and early 1260s. With the Statutes of Mortmain, Edward imposed his authority over the Church; the statutes prohibited land donation to the Church, asserted the rights of the Crown at the expense of traditional feudal privileges, promoted the uniform administration of justice, raised income and codified the legal system. His military campaigns left him in heavy debt and when Philip IV of France confiscated the Duchy of Gascony in 1294, Edward needed funds to wage war in France. When Edward summoned a precedent-setting assembly in order to raise more taxes for military finance, he included lesser landowners and merchants. The resulting parliament included barons, clergy, knights, and burgesses for the first time.
