Magna Carta

   

Magna Carta, or the Great Charter, of 1215 placed certain checks on the absolute power of the monarchy.
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Magna Carta, or the Great Charter, of 1215 placed certain checks on the absolute power of the monarchy.

Magna Carta (Latin: Great Charter), written in 1215, is an English charter which limited the power of English Kings, specifically King John, from absolute rule. In effect, Magna Carta required the king to renounce certain rights and respect certain legal procedures, to accept that the will of the king could be bound by law. It is the first step in a long historical process leading to the rule of constitutional law.

As there is no definite article in Latin, the document is referred to as simply Magna Carta rather than the Magna Carta.

Background

After the Norman Conquest in 1066 and advances in the 12th century, the English king had by 1199 become the most powerful monarch Europe had ever seen. This was due to a number of factors including the sophisticated centralized government created by the procedures of the new Norman rulers combined with the native Anglo-Saxon systems of governance, as well as extensive Anglo-Norman land holdings in Normandy. However, after King John took power in the early 13th century, a series of stunning failures on his part led the barons of England to revolt and place checks on the king's unlimited power.

The failures of King John were threefold. First, there was a general lack of respect for King John because of the way he took power. There were two candidates to take the place of the previous king, Richard the LionHeart, when he died in 1199: John, and his nephew Arthur of Brittany in Normandy. John captured Arthur and imprisoned him and he was never heard from again. Although Arthur's murder was never proven, it was assumed and many saw it as a black mark against John that he would murder his own family to be king.

Secondly, after Philip Augustus, the King of France, seized most of the English holdings in France, the English barons demanded of their king that he retake the land, and while he attempted to do so 8 years later, the effort came to failure at the Battle of Bouvines in 1214. Because King John is blamed for the loss of a large part of English land he would be known as John "Lackland".

The third failure of John was when he became embroiled in a dispute with the Church over the appointment of the office of Archbishop of Canterbury. John wanted to appoint his own Archbishop and the Church wanted to appoint Stephen Langton. This struggle went on for several years during which England was placed under a sentence of interdict and finally John was forced to submit to the will of the Church in 1213.

Runnymead and afterwards

By 1215, the barons of England had enough. They banded together and took London by force on 10 June, 1215. They forced King John to agree to a document known as the 'Articles of the Barons', to which his Great Seal was attached in the meadow at Runnymede on June 15, 1215. In return, the barons renewed their oaths of fealty to King John on 19 June, 1215. A formal document to record the agreement between King John and the barons was created by the royal chancery: this was the original Magna Carta. An unknown number of copies of this document were sent out to officials, such as royal sheriffs and bishops.

King John had no intention of honouring Magna Carta as it was sealed under extortion by force, and he renounced it as soon as the barons left London, plunging England into civil war known as the First Barons' War. King John's repudiation of Magna Carta was confirmed by the Pope, Innocent III, who annulled its effects. However, John died within a year in 1216. His successor, King Henry III, was only 9 years old, and Magna Carta was reissued, with revisions, by his regents in 1216 and 1217, and later by Henry III himself in 1225. Henry III ruled for 56 years until 1272 by which time Magna Carta had become a settled part of English law. Edward I's Parliament reissued Magna Carta for the final time on 12 October, 1297, reconfirming the 1225 version of Henry III.

The 1297 version of Magna Carta remains a part of English statute law, although most of it has been repealed.

Magna Carta

Magna Carta guaranteed certain English political liberties and contained clauses providing for a church free from domination by the monarchy, reforming law and justice, and controlling the behaviour of royal officials.

A large part of Magna Carta was copied, nearly word for word, from the Charter of Liberties of Henry I, issued when Henry I ascended to the throne in 1100, which bound the king to certain laws regarding the treatment of church officials and nobles.

Magna Carta is composed of 63 different clauses or articles, the majority of which are very specific to the 13th century and of temporary importance. For example, it repealed certain royal taxes that were unpopular and reduced the amount of hunting land that was royal and thus off-limits to most people. The text displays its origin as a product of negotiation, haste and many hands.

One of the most important clauses that would have the longest lasting effect was Article 39:

No free man shall be arrested, or imprisoned, or deprived of his property, or outlawed, or exiled, or in any way destroyed, nor shall we go against him or send against him, unless by legal judgement of his peers, or by the law of the land.

This meant the King must judge individuals according to the law, and not according to his own will. This was a check on the power of the king and the first step in the long road to a constitutional monarchy.

Significance

Magna Carta was not considered a particularly important document during the medieval period, during which the power of the English crown grew. Indeed, in his historical play King John, William Shakespeare did not mention Magna Carta. However, the charter became increasingly important in the 17th century as the conflict between the Crown and Parliament grew. As English society continued to grow and develop, Magna Carta was repeatedly revised and other documents created such as the Provisions of Oxford, guaranteeing greater rights to greater numbers of people, thus setting the stage for the British Constitutional monarchy.

Many later attempts to draft constitutional forms of government, including the United States Constitution, trace their lineage back to this source document. Numerous copies were made each time it was issued, so all of the participants would each have one. Several of those still exist and some are on permanent display.

Magna Carta is still part of English law. However, the only part that has not been repealed or superseded are the introductory sentences, so it has no practical use and is retained only because it has been such an important historical document. Despite this, it is still used in arguments about reform of the jury system.

Copies

The original version of Magna Carta sealed by King John has not survived. Four contemporaneous copies (knonwn as "exemplifications") remain, all of which are located in the UK: two held by the British Library, one at Lincoln Cathedral, and one at Salisbury Cathedral.

In 1984, Ross Perot purchased a original copy of the version of Magna Carta issued by Edward I's Parliament in 1297. This is thought to be the only copy to be held permanently outside the United Kingdom. It is now on loan to the National Archives in Washington, D.C., where it is on display with the American Declaration of Independence and United States Constitution.

External links

See also

af:Magna Carta ast:Carta Magna de:Magna Carta fr:Magna Carta nl:Magna Charta ja:マグナ・カルタ pl:Magna Charta Libertatum pt:Magna Carta fi:Magna Carta



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