the practice of giving royal assent came from william the conqueror to show that the king intended for something to be made law. norman french came to be used as the normal language of the educated classes and of the law, though latin continued to be used with it. the work of the parliament of england was conducted entirely in french until the latter part of edward iii's reign (1327–1377) and english was only rarely used before the reign of henry vi (1422–61, 1470–71). royal assent was sometimes given in english, though more often in french. the practice of recording parliamentary statutes in french or latin stopped by 1488 and statutes have been published in english ever since.