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.
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