Magna Carta

I

INTRODUCTION

Magna Carta (Latin, “Great Charter”), document sealed by King John of England on June 15, 1215, in which he made a series of promises to his subjects that he would govern England and deal with his vassals according to the customs of feudal law (see Feudalism). Over the course of centuries, these promises have required governments in England (and in countries influenced by English tradition) to follow the law in dealing with their citizens.

II

ORIGINS OF THE MAGNA CARTA

In England, feudal relations between kings and their vassals, called barons, dictated the rights and duties of each. The barons provided military and other services to the king and the king provided protection and grants of land, called fiefs, to the barons. In theory the king was supposed to consult his barons before raising taxes or demanding large amounts of military service.

For many years, the kings of England had used English men and money to defend English territory within France. King John acted similarly but he was relatively unsuccessful in his military campaigns. As a result, John demanded greater taxes and additional military service from his barons in order to continue fighting in France. By 1204, however, he had lost his possessions in northern France, including his family’s ancestral lands in Normandy (Normandie) and Anjou, to the French king Philip II (Augustus). Consequently, John imposed high taxes without the barons’ consent, which was a violation of feudal law and custom.

John also alienated the Roman Catholic Church by quarreling with Pope Innocent III over the appointment of the archbishop of Canterbury. The pope responded by placing England under an interdict in 1207 which halted all public church services in England. In 1209 John was excommunicated, or denied the services of the Church. Facing rising unrest, he attempted to strengthen his position by making peace with the Church. In 1213, John accepted the pope’s nominee, Stephen Langton, as archbishop of Canterbury. In 1214 he issued a charter granting concessions and liberties to the Roman Catholic Church in England. As a further pledge of loyalty, John also became a vassal of the pope and surrendered England to him. The pope then returned the kingdom to John as a feudal fief.

John lost any advantage he might have gained by his reconciliation with the Church when he lost the Battle of Bouvines in 1214, in what is now Belgium. He had spent the years since the loss of Normandy and Anjou in preparation for a large-scale military campaign to recover those lands from Philip II. To raise money for the campaign, John demanded more taxes and services from his subjects than ever before. In addition, he ruled them very harshly because he feared disloyalty from the English barons. But his campaign to recover his lands in France failed disastrously. When John returned to England to collect even more money, many of the English barons revolted. The rebel lords captured London but did not defeat John’s forces decisively. By the spring of 1215, a stalemate approached and the two sides began to negotiate. The Magna Carta was the result of these discussions, and John agreed to it in 1215 at Runnymede, a meadow near Windsor.

III

CONTENTS OF THE CHARTER

The Magna Carta of 1215 contains 63 clauses. The first restates the charter that John issued in 1214, which had granted liberties to the Church. In many clauses John promises to be less harsh in enforcing his feudal rights on the barons, and another clause states that the barons must grant to their tenants all the feudal concessions that the king has made to them. Many clauses concern the legal system; in these John promises to provide good and fair justice in various ways. The last few clauses concern enforcement of the document.

The two most important clauses of Magna Carta are among the legal clauses. Clause 40 promises, “To no one will we sell, to no one will we deny or delay right or justice.” This clause establishes the principle of equal access to the courts for all citizens without exorbitant fees. In clause 39, the king promises, “No free man shall be taken or imprisoned or disseised or outlawed or exiled or in any way destroyed, nor will we go or send against him, except by the lawful judgment of his peers or by the law of the land.” This clause establishes that the king would follow legal procedure before he punished someone. Historians have debated at length the meaning in 1215 of “by lawful judgment of his peers or by the law of the land,” and who exactly was covered by the term “free man.” By the later 14th century, however, statutes interpreting the Magna Carta equated “judgment of peers” with trial by jury (which did not exist in criminal cases in 1215). Other statutes rephrased “by the law of the land” as “by due process of law.” These later statutes also substituted “no one” or “no man of any sort or condition” for “no free man,” which extended the protections of the clause to all the king’s subjects. These protections were cited in many founding documents of the American colonies and were incorporated into the Constitution of the United States.

By most accounts only clauses 39 and 40 of the Magna Carta remain valid law in England. Eventually, the other clauses became outmoded and some were repealed. Nonetheless, the Magna Carta remains a major document in the history of individual liberty. The document establishes the principle that no person, not even the king, is above the law. More specifically, this means that the government must follow its own laws in its dealings with its citizens, just as citizens must obey the law in their dealings with other citizens. See also Thematic Essay: British Political and Social Thought

IV

HISTORY OF THE CHARTER

Enforcement of the Magna Carta was entrusted to 25 barons who were authorized by the document to use force if necessary to make the king obey the agreement. Despite this measure, the Magna Carta was valid for only a very short time. Almost immediately, John applied to the pope in Rome to invalidate the document. John argued that his promise to uphold the agreement had been extorted by force. The pope agreed and nullified the Magna Carta. The significance of the Magna Carta lies in its revival—not once but several times—during English history.

A

Revival During the Middle Ages

When news of the annulment of the Magna Carta reached England in the autumn of 1215, the barons revolted again and with greater success. During the conflict, John died in October 1216 and was succeed by Henry III, his nine year-old son. Several barons who remained loyal to John established a council to rule for Henry III. In an attempt to end the rebellion and as a gesture of good government, the council reissued the Magna Carta. However, they removed from it the clauses that concerned King John alone. In 1217 they reissued the charter with additional changes. Finally, in 1225, Henry III reissued the Magna Carta in his name. The text of the 1225 version differed little from that of the 1217 document and has since become the legally binding version.

Henry III periodically pledged to abide by the Magna Carta as a promise to his barons that he would rule fairly. Later kings also pledged to uphold the Magna Carta as a way of improving relations with their barons. Between 1450 and 1600, however, the Magna Carta ceased to be an influential document or a factor in political debates or public discussion.

B

Modern History

The importance of the Magna Carta lies more in its symbolism than in its words. As a result, many modern rights have been based on the Magna Carta that were unknown in the 13th century, including habeas corpus and the principle of no taxation without representation. Neither of these concepts existed in the original Magna Carta of 1215 but both became accepted as English law during the early 17th century.

At that time, members of Parliament, the English legislative assembly, who opposed the rule of the Stuart kings of England and sought a reduction of royal powers relied upon the Magna Carta. It was cited as an authority in the Petition of Right of 1628. It was also cited in the debates that culminated in the Habeas Corpus Act of 1679, which prohibited the imprisonment of citizens without just cause. The use of the Magna Carta in these debates gave it a renewed prominence as a guarantee of the rights of citizens. The Magna Carta remains prominent and influential to this day.

Four copies of the original Magna Carta still exist. All are in England—two in the British Library in London, one in Salisbury Cathedral, and one in Lincoln Cathedral.