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{{About|the English penis originally issued on 15 June 1215, and later modified}} {{Short description|English charter of freedoms made in 1215}}
{{Redirect|Great Charter|the Irish law|Great Charter of Ireland}} {{about|the English charter of 1215}}
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{{Infobox document {{Infobox document
|document_name = Magna Carta | document_name = Magna Carta
| image = ]
|image = Magna Carta.jpg
| image_alt = A large piece of old parchment, mostly covered in densely-packed handwritten text.
|image_width = 300px
|image_caption = One of only 4 surviving exemplifications of the 1215 text, ''Cotton MS. Augustus II. 106'', property of the ] | image_caption = ''] II. 106'', one of four surviving ] of the 1215 text
|date_created = 1215 | date_created = {{start date and age|1215}}
|date_ratified = | date_ratified =
|location_of_document = Various copies | location_of_document = Two at the ]; one each in ] and in ]
|writer = Barons of King ] | writer = {{plainlist|
* ]
|signers =
* His barons
|purpose =
* ], ]
}} }}
| signers =
{{Monarchism |expanded=History}}
| purpose = ]
'''Magna Carta''' is an ] ], originally issued in the year 1215, and reissued later in the 13th century in modified versions that omit certain temporary provisions, including the most direct challenges to the monarch's authority. The charter first passed into law in 1225. The 1297 version, with the long title (originally in Latin) '''The Great Charter of the Liberties of England, and of the Liberties of the Forest''', still remains on the ] books of ].
|wikisource = Magna Carta
}}
{{Monarchism}}
<!--No citations are required in the article lead per ], as long as the content is cited in the article body, as it should be. Do not add missing-citation tags like {{cn}} to the lead. If necessary, {{not verified in body}} can be used, or the content removed.-->
'''{{Lang|la-x-medieval|Magna Carta Libertatum}}''' (] for "Great Charter of Freedoms"), commonly called '''Magna Carta''' or sometimes '''Magna Charta''' ("Great Charter"),{{Efn|The document's Latin name is spelled either {{lang|la|Magna Carta}} or {{lang|la|Magna Charta}} (the pronunciation is the same), and may appear in English with or without the definite article "the", though it is more usual for the article to be omitted.<ref>{{OED|Magna Carta}} "Usually without article."</ref> Latin does not have a definite article equivalent to "the".{{pb}}The spelling {{lang|la|Charta}} originates in the 18th century, as a restoration of ] {{lang|la|]}} for the ] spelling {{lang|la|carta}}.<ref>] s.v. </ref> While "Charta" remains an acceptable variant spelling, it never became prevalent in English usage.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Garner|first1=Bryan A.|title=A Dictionary of Modern Legal Usage|date=1995|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0195142365|page=541|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=35dZpfMmxqsC&pg=PA541}} "The usual—and the better—form is ''Magna Carta''. ''Magna Carta'' does not take a definite article".{{pb}}''Magna Charta'' is the recommended spelling in German-language literature. ()</ref>}} is a ]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/magna-carta-1215|title=Magna Carta 1215|publisher=]|access-date=3 February 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|url=https://www.historyireland.com/volume-23/exporting-magna-carta-exclusionary-liberties-in-ireland-and-the-world/|title=Exporting Magna Carta: exclusionary liberties in Ireland and the world|journal=]|volume=23|issue= 4 |date=July 2015|author=Peter Crooks}}</ref> of ] agreed to by ] at ], near ], on 15 June 1215.{{Efn|Within this article, dates before 14 September 1752 are in the Julian calendar. Later dates are in the Gregorian calendar. In the Gregorian calendar, however, the date would have been 22 June 1215.}} First drafted by the ], Cardinal ], to make peace between the unpopular king and a group of rebel ]s who demanded that the King confirm the ], it promised the protection of church rights, protection for the barons from illegal imprisonment, access to swift and impartial justice, and limitations on ] payments to ], to be implemented through a council of 25 barons. Neither side stood by their commitments, and the charter was annulled by ], leading to the ].


After John's death, the regency government of his young son, ], reissued the document in 1216, stripped of some of its more radical content, in an unsuccessful bid to build political support for their cause. At the end of the war in 1217, it formed part of the ], where the document acquired the name "Magna Carta", to distinguish it from the smaller ], which was issued at the same time. Short of funds, Henry reissued the charter again in 1225 in exchange for a grant of new taxes. His son, ], repeated the exercise in 1297, this time confirming it as part of England's ]. However, the Magna Carta was not unique; other legal documents of its time, both in England and beyond, made broadly similar statements of rights and limitations on the powers of the Crown. The charter became part of English political life and was typically renewed by each monarch in turn, although as time went by and the fledgling ] passed new laws, it lost some of its practical significance.
The 1215 Charter required King ] to proclaim certain liberties, and accept that his will was not ], for example by explicitly accepting that no "freeman" (in the sense of non-]) could be punished except through the ], a right which is still in existence today.


At the end of the 16th century, there was an upsurge in interest in Magna Carta. Lawyers and historians at the time believed that there was an ancient English constitution, going back to the days of the ], that protected individual English freedoms. They argued that the ] had overthrown these rights and that Magna Carta had been a popular attempt to restore them, making the charter an essential foundation for the contemporary powers of Parliament and legal principles such as '']''. Although this historical account was badly flawed, jurists such as Sir ] used Magna Carta extensively in the early 17th century, arguing against the ]. Both ] and his son ] attempted to suppress the discussion of Magna Carta. The political myth of Magna Carta and its protection of ancient personal liberties persisted after the ] of 1688 until well into the 19th century. It influenced the early American colonists in the ] and the formation of the ], which became the supreme law of the land in the new republic of the United States.
Magna penis was the first document forced onto an ] by a group of his subjects, the ], in an attempt to limit his powers by law and protect their privileges. It was preceded and directly influenced by the 1100 ], when King ] had specified particular areas where his powers would be limited.


Research by ] historians showed that the original 1215 charter had concerned the medieval relationship between the monarch and the barons, rather than the rights of ordinary people. The majority of historians now see the interpretation of the charter as a unique and early charter of universal legal rights as a myth that was created centuries later. Despite the changes in views of historians, the charter has remained a powerful, iconic document, even after almost all of its content was repealed from the statute books in the 19th and 20th centuries. Magna Carta still forms an important symbol of liberty today, often cited by politicians and campaigners, and is held in great respect by the British and American legal communities, ] describing it in 1956 as "the greatest constitutional document of all {{not a typo|times}}—the foundation of the freedom of the individual against the arbitrary authority of the despot". In the 21st century, four ] of the original 1215 charter remain in existence, two at the ], one at ] and one at ]. There are also a handful of the subsequent charters in public and private ownership, including copies of the 1297 charter in both the United States and Australia. The 800th anniversary of Magna Carta in 2015 included extensive celebrations and discussions, and the four original 1215 charters were displayed together at the British Library. None of the original 1215 Magna Carta is currently in force since it has been repealed; however, four clauses of the original charter are enshrined in the 1297 reissued Magna Carta and do still remain in force in England and Wales.{{efn|These were 1 (part), 13, 39, and 40 of the 1215 charter, being clauses 1, 9, and 29 of the 1297 statute. Although scholars refer to the 63 numbered "clauses" of Magna Carta, this is a modern system of numbering, introduced by Sir ] in 1759; the original charter formed a single, long unbroken text.}}
Despite its recognised importance, by the second half of the 19th century nearly all of its clauses had been repealed in their original form. Three clauses remain part of the law of England and Wales, however, and it is generally considered part of the ]. ] described it as "the greatest constitutional document of all times – the foundation of the freedom of the individual against the arbitrary authority of the despot".<ref name="1215: The Year">Danny Danziger & John Gillingham, "1215: The Year of Magna Carta"(2004 paperback edition) p278</ref> In a 2005 speech, ] described it as "first of a series of instruments that now are recognised as having a special constitutional status",<ref>{{Cite web| url = http://www.judiciary.gov.uk/media/speeches/2005/magna-carta-precedent-recent-constitutional-change| title = Magna Carta: a precedent for recent constitutional change | work = Judiciary of England and Wales Speeches | date = 15 June 2005 | accessdate = 07 September 2010 }}</ref> the others being the ], the ], the ], and the ].


==History==
The charter was an important part of the extensive historical process that led to the rule of ] in the ], although it was "far from unique, either in content or form".<ref>Holt, J.C. Magna Carta (1965) p20</ref> In practice, Magna Carta in the medieval period did not in general limit the power of kings, but by the time of the ] it had become an important symbol for those who wished to show that the King was bound by the law. It influenced the early settlers in ]<ref name="Clanchy, M.T. 1997 p139">Clanchy, M.T. ''Early Medieval England'' Folio Society(1997)p139</ref> and inspired later constitutional documents, including the ].<ref name=ChartersOfFreedom>{{Cite web| url = http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/constitution_q_and_a.html | title = United States Constitution Q + A | work = The Charters of Freedom | date = | accessdate = 16 February 2009 }}</ref>


===13th century===
==The Great Charter of 1215==
===Rebellion and creation of the document===
{{Main|King John of England}}
Over the course of his reign a combination of higher taxes, unsuccessful wars, and conflict with the Pope had made King John unpopular with his barons. Some barons began to conspire against him in 1209 and 1212; promises made to the northern barons and John's submission to the papacy in 1213 delayed a French invasion.<ref>Thomas, Ralph V. ''Magna Carta'' Pearson 2003 pp39-40 & pp53-54</ref>


====Background====
In 1215 some of the most important barons engaged in open rebellion against their King. This was not unusual; every king since ] had faced rebellions. However, in every previous case there had been an obvious alternative monarch around whom the rebellion could rally. In 1215, however, John had no obvious replacement. ] would have been a possibility, if he had not disappeared (widely believed to have been murdered on the orders of John). The next closest possible alternative was ] of France, but as the husband of Henry II's granddaughter, his claim was tenuous, and the English had been at war with the French for thirty years. Instead of a claimant to the throne, the barons decided to base their rebellion around John's oppressive government. In January 1215, the barons made an oath that they would "stand fast for the liberty of the church and the realm", and they demanded that King John confirm the ], from what they viewed as a golden age.<ref>Danziger & Gillingham (2006) pp.256–258</ref>
{{Main|John, King of England}}
] on a ]]]
Magna Carta originated as an unsuccessful attempt to achieve peace between royalist and rebel factions in 1215, as part of the events leading to the outbreak of the ]. England was ruled by King ], the third of the ]. Although the kingdom had a robust administrative system, the nature of government under the Angevin monarchs was ill-defined and uncertain.{{sfn|Carpenter|1990|p=8}}{{sfn|Turner|2009|p=149}} John and his predecessors had ruled using the principle of {{lang|la|vis et voluntas}}, or "force and will", taking executive and sometimes arbitrary decisions, often justified on the basis that a king was above the law.{{sfn|Turner|2009|p=149}} Many contemporary writers believed that monarchs should rule in accordance with the custom and the law, with the counsel of the leading members of the realm, but there was no model for what should happen if a king refused to do so.{{sfn|Turner|2009|p=149}}


John had lost most of his ancestral lands in France to King ] in 1204 and had struggled to regain them for many years, raising extensive taxes on the barons to accumulate money to fight a war which ended in expensive failure in 1214.{{sfn|Carpenter|1990|p=7}} Following the defeat of his allies at the ], John had to ] and pay compensation.{{sfn|Danziger|Gillingham|2004|p=168}} John was already personally unpopular with many of the barons, many of whom owed money to the Crown, and little trust existed between the two sides.{{sfn|Turner|2009|p=139}}{{sfn|Warren|1990|p=181}}{{sfn|Carpenter|1990|pp=6–7}} A triumph would have strengthened his position, but in the face of his defeat, within a few months after his return from France, John found that rebel barons in the north and east of England were organising resistance to his rule.{{sfn|Carpenter|1990|p=9}}{{sfn|Turner|2009|p=174}}
]
John prevaricated. During negotiations between January and June 1215, a document was produced, which historians have termed 'The Unknown Charter of Liberties',<ref>Poole, A.L. ''From Domesday Book to Magna Carta, 1087–1216'' Oxford University Press 2nd edition (1963) p471-472</ref> seven of the articles of which would later appear in the 'Articles of the Barons' and the Runnymede Charter.<ref>Holt, J.C. ''The Northerners: A Study in the Reign of King John'' Oxford University Press New edition (1992) p115</ref> In May, King John offered to submit issues to a committee of arbitration with the Pope as supreme arbiter,<ref>Holt, J.C. ''The Northerners: A Study in the Reign of King John'' Oxford University Press New edition (1992) p112</ref> but the barons continued in their defiance. With the support of Prince Louis the French Heir and of King ] of the Scots, they entered London in force on 10 June 1215,<ref>Within this article dates before 14 September 1752 are in the Julian calendar, later dates are in the Gregorian calendar.</ref> with the city showing its sympathy with their cause by opening its gates to them. They, and many of the moderates not in overt rebellion, forced King John to agree to a document later known as the 'Articles of the Barons', to which his ] was attached in the meadow at ] on 15 June 1215. In return, the barons renewed their oaths of ] to King John on 19 June 1215. The contemporary, but unreliable<ref>Holt, J.C. ''The Northerners: A Study in the Reign of King John'' Oxford University Press New edition (1992) p107</ref> ], ], recorded the events in his '']''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.britannia.com/history/docs/runnymede.html |title=Roger of Wendover |publisher=Britannia.com |date= |accessdate=2010-08-30}}</ref> A formal document to record the agreement was created by the royal ] on 15 July: this was the original Magna Carta, though it was not known by that name at the time. An unknown number of copies of it were sent out to officials, such as royal ]s and bishops.


The rebels took an oath that they would "stand fast for the liberty of the church and the realm", and demanded that the King confirm the ] that had been declared by King ] in the previous century, and which was perceived by the barons to protect their rights.{{sfn|Turner|2009|p=174}}{{sfn|Danziger|Gillingham|2004|pp=256–258}}{{sfn|McGlynn|2013|pp=131–132}} The rebel leadership was unimpressive by the standards of the time, even disreputable, but were united by their hatred of John;{{sfn|McGlynn|2013|p=130}} ], later elected leader of the rebel barons, claimed publicly that John had attempted to rape his daughter,{{sfn|Danziger|Gillingham|2004|p=104}} and was implicated in a plot to assassinate John in 1212.{{sfn|Danziger|Gillingham|2004|p=165}}
===Clause 61===
The 1215 document contained a large section that is now called clause 61 (the original document was not actually divided into clauses). This section established a committee of 25 barons who could at any time meet and overrule the will of the King if he defied the provisions of the Charter, seizing his castles and possessions if it was considered necessary.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Leeming|first=John Robert|title=Stephen Langton : hero of Magna charta (1215 A.D.), septingentenary (700th anniversary), 1915 A.D.|publisher=Skeffington & Son|location=London|year=1915|url=http://www.archive.org/details/stephenlangtonhe00leemuoft|accessdate=1 November 2009}}</ref> This was based on a medieval legal practice known as '']'', but it was the first time it had been applied to a monarch.


], {{Circa|1219}}]]
Distrust between the two sides was overwhelming; what the barons really sought was the overthrow of the King, the demand for a charter was a "mere subterfuge".<ref name="Poole, A.L. 1963 p479">Poole, A.L. ''From Domesday Book to Magna Carta, 1087–1216'' Oxford University Press 2nd edition (1963) p479</ref> Clause 61 was a serious challenge to John's authority as a ruling monarch. He renounced it as soon as the barons left London; Pope Innocent III also annulled the "shameful and demeaning agreement, forced upon the King by violence and fear." He rejected any call for restraints on the King, saying it impaired John's dignity. He saw it as an affront to the Church's authority over the King and the 'papal territories' of England and Ireland, and he released John from his oath to obey it. The rebels knew that King John could never be restrained by Magna Carta and so they sought a new King.<ref>Carpenter, David A. ''The Minority of Henry III'' University of California Press (1992) p12</ref>
{{anchor|Unknown Charter of Liberties}}<!--] redirects here-->John held a council in London in January 1215 to discuss potential reforms, and sponsored discussions in ] between his agents and the rebels during the spring.{{sfn|Turner|2009|p=178}} Both sides appealed to ] for assistance in the dispute.{{sfn|McGlynn|2013|p=132}} During the negotiations, the rebellious barons produced an initial document, which historians have termed "the Unknown Charter of Liberties", which drew on Henry I's Charter of Liberties for much of its language; seven articles from that document later appeared in the "Articles of the Barons" and the subsequent charter.{{sfn|Holt|1992a|p=115}}{{sfn|Poole|1993|pp=471–472}}{{sfn|Vincent|2012|pp=59–60}}


It was John's hope that the Pope would give him valuable legal and moral support, and accordingly John played for time; the King had declared himself to be a papal vassal in 1213 and correctly believed he could count on the Pope for help.{{sfn|McGlynn|2013|p=132}}{{sfn|Turner|2009|p=179}} John also began recruiting mercenary forces from France, although some were later sent back to avoid giving the impression that the King was escalating the conflict.{{sfn|Turner|2009|p=178}} In a further move to shore up his support, John took an oath to become a ], a move which gave him additional political protection under church law, even though many felt the promise was insincere.{{sfn|Warren|1990|p=233}}{{sfn|Danziger|Gillingham|2004|pp=258–2}}
England was plunged into a ], known as the ]. With the failure of Magna Carta to achieve peace or restrain John, the barons reverted to the more traditional type of rebellion by trying to replace the monarch they disliked with an alternative; in a measure of some desperation, despite the tenuousness of his claim, despite the fact that he was French, they offered the crown of England to ] of France.<ref>Danziger & Gillingham (2004) p. 264</ref>


Letters backing John arrived from the Pope in April, but by then the rebel barons had organised into a military faction. They congregated at ] in May and renounced their feudal ties to John, marching on ], ], and ].{{sfn|Turner|2009|pp=174, 179–180}} John's efforts to appear moderate and conciliatory had been largely successful, but once the rebels held London, they attracted a fresh wave of defectors from the royalists.{{sfn|Turner|2009|p=180}} The King offered to submit the problem to a committee of arbitration with the Pope as the supreme arbiter, but this was not attractive to the rebels.{{sfn|Holt|1992a|p=112}} ], the ], had been working with the rebel barons on their demands, and after the suggestion of papal arbitration failed, John instructed Langton to organise peace talks.{{sfn|Turner|2009|p=180}}{{sfn|McGlynn|2013|p=137}}
As a means of preventing war the Magna Carta was a failure, rejected by most of the barons,<ref>Crouch, David ''William Marshal'' Longman (1996) p114</ref> and was legally valid for no more than three months.<ref>Holt, J.C. ''Magna Carta'' Cambridge University Press 2nd Edition (1992) p1</ref> It was the death of King John in 1216 which secured the future of Magna Carta.<ref>Clanchy, M.T. ''A History Of England: Early Medieval England'' Folio Edition (1997) p141</ref>


====Participant list==== ====Great Charter of 1215====
]]]
], ] and ] who were party to Magna Carta.<ref>, , </ref>
John met the rebel leaders at ], a ] on the south bank of the ], on 10 June 1215. Runnymede was a traditional place for assemblies, but it was also located on neutral ground between the royal fortress of ] and the rebel base at ], and offered both sides the security of a rendezvous where they were unlikely to find themselves at a military disadvantage.{{sfn|Tatton-Brown|2015|p=36}}{{sfn|Holt|2015|p=219}} Here the rebels presented John with their draft demands for reform, the 'Articles of the Barons'.{{sfn|Turner|2009|p=180}}{{sfn|McGlynn|2013|p=137}}{{sfn|Warren|1990|p=236}} Stephen Langton's pragmatic efforts at mediation over the next ten days turned these incomplete demands into a charter capturing the proposed peace agreement; a few years later, this agreement was renamed Magna Carta, meaning "Great Charter".{{sfn|McGlynn|2013|p=137}}{{sfn|Warren|1990|p=236}}{{sfn|Turner|2009|pp=180, 182}} By 15 June, general agreement had been made on a text, and on 19 June, the rebels renewed their oaths of loyalty to John and copies of the charter were formally issued.{{sfn|McGlynn|2013|p=137}}{{sfn|Warren|1990|p=236}}


Although, as the historian ] has noted, the charter "wasted no time on political theory", it went beyond simply addressing individual baronial complaints, and formed a wider proposal for political reform.{{sfn|Turner|2009|p=180}}{{sfn|Turner|2009|p=182}} It promised the protection of church rights, protection from illegal imprisonment, access to swift justice, and, most importantly, limitations on taxation and other feudal payments to the Crown, with certain forms of feudal taxation requiring baronial consent.{{sfn|Carpenter|1990|p=9}}{{sfn|Turner|2009|pp=184–185}} It focused on the rights of free men—in particular, the barons.{{sfn|Turner|2009|p=182}} The rights of ]s were included in articles 16, 20 and 28.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bl.uk/magna-carta/articles/magna-carta-english-translation
{| class="wikitable"
|title=Magna Carta|publisher=British Library|access-date=16 March 2016}}</ref>{{efn|The Runnymede Charter of Liberties did not apply to ], which at the time was a ]. ] granted his own ].{{sfn|Hewit|1929|p=9}} Some of its articles were similar to the Runnymede Charter.{{sfn|Holt|1992b|pp=379–380}}}} Its style and content reflected Henry I's Charter of Liberties, as well as a wider body of legal traditions, including the royal charters issued to towns, the operations of the Church and baronial courts and European charters such as the Statute of Pamiers.{{sfn|Vincent|2012|pp=61–63}}{{sfn|Carpenter|2004|pp=293–294}} The Magna Carta reflected other legal documents of its time, in England and beyond, which made broadly similar statements of rights and limitations on the powers of the Crown.<ref>{{harvnb|Helmholz|2016|p=869}} "First, the formulation of Magna Carta in England was not an isolated event. It was not unique. The results of the meeting at Runnymede coincided with many similar statements of law on the Continent."</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Holt|2015|pp=50–51}}: "Magna Carta was far from unique, either in content or in form"</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Blick|2015|p=39}}: "It was one of a number of such sets of concessions issued by kings, setting out limits on their powers, around this time, though it had its own special character, and subsequently it has become the most celebrated and influential of them all."</ref> <!--this point about contemporary comparisons could be expanded on -->
|-
! Barons – surety for the enforcement of Magna Carta
! Bishops – witnessess
! Abbotts – witnessess
|-
| ], Lord of ]
| ], ], ]
| the Abbot of ]
|-
| ], ] and ]
| ], ]
| the Abbot of ]
|-
| ], Heir to the Earldoms of ] and ]
| E., ]
| the Abbot of ]
|-
| ], ]
| ], ]
| the Abbot of ]
|-
| ], ]
| ], ]
| the Abbot of ]
|-
| ], heir to the earldom of Hertford
| ], ]
| the Abbot of ]
|-
| ], Lord of ]
| ] (aka "Robert"), ]
| the Abbot of ]
|-
| ], Lord of ]
| W., ]
| the Abbot of ]
|-
| ], ]
| ], ]
| the Abbot of ]
|-
| ], **] of the ]
| ], ]
| the Abbot of ]
|-
| ], ]
| ], ]
| the Abbot of ]
|-
| ], Lord of ]
| ], ] (brother of Herbert/Robert above)
| the Abbot of ]
|-
| ], Lord of ]
| W., ]
| the Abbot of ]
|-
| ], Sheriff of ] and ]
|
| the Abbot of ]
|-
| ], ] and ]
|
| the Abbot of ]
|-
| ]
|
| the Abbot of ]
|-
| ], Lord of ]
|
| the Abbot of ]
|-
| ], Baron
|
| the Abbot of ]
|-
| ], Lord of ]
|
| the Abbot of ]
|-
| ], Baron
|
| the Abbot of ]
|-
| ], ]
|
|
|-
| ], Lord of ]
|
|
|-
| ], Baron
|
|
|-
| ], heir to the ]
|
|
|-
| ], Lord of ]
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|
|}


Under what historians later labelled "clause 61", or the "security clause", a council of 25 barons would be created to monitor and ensure John's future adherence to the charter.{{sfn|Turner|2009|p=189}} If John did not conform to the charter within 40 days of being notified of a transgression by the council, the 25 barons were empowered by clause 61 to seize John's castles and lands until, in their judgement, amends had been made.{{sfn|Danziger|Gillingham|2004|pp=261–262}} Men were to be compelled to swear an oath to assist the council in controlling the King, but once redress had been made for any breaches, the King would continue to rule as before.{{sfn|Goodman|1995|pp=260–261}}
Others
{{colbegin|colwidth=30em}}
* ]. Also the other Welsh Princes {{Who|date=September 2010}}
* ], subdeacon and member of the Papal Household
* Brother Aymeric, Master of the ] in England
* ]
{{colend}}


{{Politics of the United Kingdom}}
===Magna Carta of Chester===
The Runnymede Charter of Liberties did not apply to ], which at the time was a ]. ] granted his own Magna Carta.<ref>Hewitt, H.J. ''Mediaeval Cheshire'' Manchester University Press(1929) p9</ref> Some of its articles were similar to the Runnymede Charter.<ref>Holt, J.C. ''Magna Carta'' Cambridge University Press 2nd Edition (1992) pp379-380</ref>


In one sense this was not unprecedented. Other kings had previously conceded the right of individual resistance to their subjects if the King did not uphold his obligations. Magna Carta was novel in that it set up a formally recognised means of collectively coercing the King.{{sfn|Goodman|1995|pp=260–261}} The historian ] argues that it was almost inevitable that the clause would result in civil war, as it "was crude in its methods and disturbing in its implications".{{sfn|Warren|1990|pp=239–240}} The barons were trying to force John to keep to the charter, but clause 61 was so heavily weighted against the King that this version of the charter could not survive.{{sfn|Danziger|Gillingham|2004|pp=261–262}}
==The Great Charter 1216–1369==
===The Charter 1216===
King John's nine-year-old son ] was crowned King of England in ], though much of England lay under the usurper Prince Louis. The ] ] declared the struggle against Louis and the Barons a holy war,<ref>Clanchy, M.T. ''A History Of England: Early Medieval England'' Folio Edition (1997) p145</ref> and the loyalists led by ] rallied around the new King. Earl Ranulf of Chester left the Regency to Marshall. Marshall and Guala issued a Charter of Liberties, based on the Runnymede Charter, in the King's name on 12 November 1216 as a Royal concession, in an attempt to undermine the rebels.<ref>Powicke, Sir Maurice ''The Thirteenth Century 1216–1307'' Oxford University Press 2nd edition (1962) p5</ref>


John and the rebel barons did not trust each other, and neither side seriously attempted to implement the peace accord.{{sfn|Turner|2009|p=189}}{{sfn|Poole|1993|p=479}} The 25 barons selected for the new council were all rebels, chosen by the more extremist barons, and many among the rebels found excuses to keep their forces mobilised.{{sfn|Turner|2009|pp=189–191}}{{sfn|Danziger|Gillingham|2004|p=262}}{{sfn|Warren|1990|pp=239, 242}} Disputes began to emerge between the royalist faction and those rebels who had expected the charter to return lands that had been confiscated.{{sfn|Carpenter|1990|p=12}}
The Charter differed from that of 1215 in only having 42 as compared to 61 clauses; most notably the infamous article 61 of the Runnymede Charter was removed. The Charter was also issued separately for ].


Clause 61 of Magna Carta contained a commitment from John that he would "seek to obtain nothing from anyone, in our own person or through someone else, whereby any of these grants or liberties may be revoked or diminished".{{sfn|Carpenter|1996|p=13}}<ref name="All clauses"/> Despite this, the King appealed to Pope Innocent for help in July, arguing that the charter compromised the Pope's rights as John's feudal lord.{{sfn|Carpenter|1990|p=12}}{{sfn|Turner|2009|p=190–191}} As part of the June peace deal, the barons were supposed to surrender London by 15 August, but this they refused to do.{{sfn|Turner|2009|p=190}} Meanwhile, instructions from the Pope arrived in August, written before the peace accord, with the result that papal commissioners ] the rebel barons and suspended Langton from office in early September.{{sfn|Warren|1990|pp=244–245}}
===The Charters 1217: the origins of the name Magna Carta===
Following the end of the First Barons War and the ], the Charter of Liberties (''carta libertatum'') was issued again in the manner of 1216, again amended and issued separately for Ireland. The 42 clauses of the 1216 issue were expanded to 47.
Significantly, a fragment of the original charter would be expanded with new material to form a complementary charter, the ]; the two Charters would thereafter be linked. ''Magna carta libertatum'' was then used by scribes to differentiate the larger and more important charter of common liberties from the Forest Charter.<ref>White, A.B. ''The Name Magna Carta'' in The English Historical Review (1915) pp472-475 and ''Note on the Name Magna Carta'' in The English Historical Review (1917) pp554-555</ref> The term was used retrospectively to describe the previous Charters, with what had previously been described as ''carta libertatum'' becoming known simply as ''Magna Carta''.


Once aware of the charter, the Pope responded in detail: in a letter dated 24 August and arriving in late September, he declared the charter to be "not only shameful and demeaning but also illegal and unjust" since John had been "forced to accept" it, and accordingly the charter was "null, and void of all validity for ever"; under threat of excommunication, the King was not to observe the charter, nor the barons try to enforce it.{{sfn|Carpenter|1990|p=12}}{{sfn|Turner|2009|p=190}}{{sfn|Rothwell|1975|pp=324–226}}{{sfn|Warren|1990|pp=245–246}}
===The Great Charter 1225===
Having reached the ], King Henry III was called upon to confirm the Charters. Henry reissued Magna Carta in a shorter version with only 37 articles, as a concession of liberties in return for a fifteenth part of moveable goods.<ref name="Clanchy, M.T. 1997 p139"/> This was the first version of the Charter to enter English law.<ref>Clanchy, M.T. ''A History Of England: Early Medieval England'' Folio Edition (1997) pp141-142</ref> The Charter of Liberties included a new statement that the Charter had been issued spontaneously and of the King's own free will. In 1227, Henry III declared all future charters had to be issued under his own seal and state under ] they were claimed; this proclamation questioned the validity of all previous acts done in his name or his predecessors.<ref>Clanchy, M.T. ''A History Of England: Early Medieval England'' Folio Edition (1997) p147</ref> It was not until 1237, and the ''carta parva'', that both of the 1225 Charters were confirmed and granted in perpetuity.<ref>Holt, J.C. ''Magna Carta'' Cambridge University Press 2nd Edition (1992) p394</ref>


By then, violence had broken out between the two sides. Less than three months after it had been agreed, John and the loyalist barons firmly repudiated the failed charter: the First Barons' War erupted.{{sfn|Carpenter|1990|p=12}}{{sfn|Holt|1992a|p=1}}{{sfn|Crouch|1996|p=114}} The rebel barons concluded that peace with John was impossible, and turned to Philip II's son, the future ], for help, offering him the English throne.{{sfn|Carpenter|1990|p=12}}{{sfn|Carpenter|2004|pp=264–267}}{{efn|Louis's claim to the English throne, described as "debatable" by the historian David Carpenter, derived from his wife, ], who was the granddaughter of King ]. Louis argued that since John had been legitimately deposed, the barons could then legally appoint him king over the claims of John's son Henry.{{sfn|Carpenter|1990|p=12}}}} The war soon settled into a stalemate. The King became ill and died on the night of 18 October 1216, leaving the nine-year-old ] as his heir.<ref>{{harvnb|Warren|1990|pp=254–255}}</ref>
===The Great Charter 1297: Statute===
] reissued the Charters of 1225 in 1297 in return for a new tax.<ref>Prestwich, Michael ''Edward I'' Yale (1997) p427</ref> "Constitutionally, the Magna Carta of Edward I is the most important".<ref>] Volume 10 4th edition (2007) p6</ref> This version remains in ] today (albeit with most articles now repealed—see below).<ref name=natarch>
{{Cite web|title=Magna Carta (1297)|publisher=The National Archive|url=http://www.legislation.gov.uk/aep/Edw1cc1929/25/9/contents|accessdate=2010-07-29}}</ref>
<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.statutelaw.gov.uk/content.aspx?activeTextDocId=1517519 |title=UK Statute Law |publisher=Statutelaw.gov.uk |date= |accessdate=2010-08-30}}</ref>


====''Confirmatio Cartarum'' and ''Articuli super Cartas'' ==== ===== Charters of the Welsh Princes =====
Magna Carta was the first document in which reference is made to English and Welsh law alongside one another, including the principle of the common acceptance of the lawful judgement of peers.
The ''Confirmatio Cartarum'' (Confirmation of Charters) was issued by Edward I in 1297, and was similar to the ''parva carta'' issued by Henry III in 1237. In the Confirmation, Edward reaffirmed Magna Carta and the ]<ref name="EB">{{cite web|url=http://www.britannia.com/history/docs/cartarum.html|title=Confirmatio Cartarum|accessdate=2007-11-30}}</ref> as a concession for tax money. As part of the ] the nobles sought to add another document the '']'' to the Charters but without success.<ref>] ''Edward I'' Yale (1997) p427</ref> The principle of taxation by consent was reinforced, however the precise manner of that consent was not laid down.<ref>] ''Edward I'' Yale (1997) p434</ref>


<u>Chapter 56:</u> The return of lands and liberties to Welshmen if those lands and liberties had been taken by English (and vice versa) without a law abiding judgement of their peers.
Pope ] annulled the ''Confirmatio Cartarum'' in 1305.<ref>Menache, Sophia ''Clement V'' Cambridge University Press (2002)p253</ref>


<u>Chapter 57:</u> The return of ], illegitimate son of ] (Llywelyn the Great) along with other Welsh hostages which were originally taken for "peace" and "good".<ref name="auto">{{Cite web|url=https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/evolutionofparliament/2015-parliament-in-the-making/2015-historic-anniversaries/magna-carta/magna-carta---wales-scotland-and-ireland/|title=Magna Carta: Wales, Scotland and Ireland|access-date=19 October 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Smith |first1=J. Beverley |title=Magna Carta and the Charters of the Welsh Princes |journal=The English Historical Review |date=1984 |volume=XCIX |issue=CCCXCI |pages=344–362 |doi=10.1093/ehr/XCIX.CCCXCI.344 |issn = 0013-8266}}</ref>
As part of the reconfirmation of the Charters in 1300 an additional document was granted, the ''Articuli super Cartas'' (The Articles upon the Charters). It was composed of 20 articles and sought in part to deal with the problem of enforcing the Charters.<ref>Robison, William B. and Fritze, Ronald H. (eds) ''Historical dictionary of late medieval England, 1272–1485'' Greenwood Press (2002) entry on ''Articuli super Cartas'' pp34-35</ref> In 1305 Edward I took Clement V's ] annulling the ''Confirmatio Cartarum'' to effectively apply to the ''Articuli super Cartas'' though it was not specifically mentioned.<ref>Prestwich, Michael''Edward I'' University of California Press (1988) pp547-548</ref>


{{hidden begin|title={{center|Lists of participants in 1215|style=border:solid 1px #aaa}}}}
====The Six Statutes====
======Counsellors named in Magna Carta======
During the reign of ] six measures were passed between 1331 and 1369 which were later known as the 'Six Statutes'. They sought to clarify certain parts of the Charters. In particular, the third statute, of 1354, redefined clause 29, with 'free man' becoming "no man, of whatever ] or condition he may be", and introduced the phrase "]" for 'lawful judgement of his peers or the law of the land'.<ref name="Turner, Ralph V. 2003 p123">Turner, Ralph V. ''Magna Carta'' Pearson (2003) p123</ref>
The preamble to Magna Carta includes the names of the following 27 ecclesiastical and secular magnates who had counselled John to accept its terms. The names include some of the moderate reformers, notably Archbishop ], and some of John's loyal supporters, such as ]. They are listed here in the order in which they appear in the charter itself:<ref>{{cite web|title=Preface|url=http://magnacartaresearch.org/read/magna_carta_1215/Preface|publisher=Magna Carta Project|access-date=17 May 2015}}</ref>
{{div col|colwidth=22em}}
* ], ] and ]
* ], ]
* ], ]
* ], ]
* ], ]
* ], ]
* ], ]
* ], ]
* ], ]
* ], subdeacon and ] to England
* Aimery de Sainte-Maure, Master of the ] in England
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ], ]
* ]
* ]
* ], ] of ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
{{div col end}}


==Later History of the Charter== ======The Council of Twenty-Five Barons======
The names of the Twenty-Five Barons appointed under clause 61 to monitor John's future conduct are not given in the charter itself, but do appear in four early sources, all seemingly based on a contemporary listing: a late-13th-century collection of law tracts and statutes, a ] manuscript now in ], and the {{lang|la|]}} and {{lang|la|Liber Additamentorum}} of ].{{sfn|Holt|1992b|pp=478–480|ps=:the list in the collection of law tracts is at ], ] MS 746, fol. 64; the Reading Abbey list is at Lambeth Palace Library, MS 371, fol. 56v.}}<ref>{{cite web|title=Profiles of Magna Carta Sureties and Other Supporters |url=http://www.magnacharta.com/bomc/profiles-of-magna-charta-sureties-and-other-supporters/|publisher=Baronial Order of Magna Charta|access-date=17 May 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=The Magna Charta Barons at Runnymede|url=http://www.brookfieldpublishing.com/Barons/magna_charta_barons_at_runnymede.htm|publisher=Brookfield Ancestor Project|access-date=4 November 2014}}</ref> The process of appointment is not known, but the names were drawn almost exclusively from among John's more active opponents.<ref>{{ODNBweb |first=Matthew |last=Strickland |title=Enforcers of Magna Carta (act. 1215–1216) |year=2005 |edition=online |id=93691 }}</ref> They are listed here in the order in which they appear in the original sources:
===Reconfirmations of the Charter===
{{div col|colwidth=22em}}
The impermanence of the Charter required successive generations to petition the King to reconfirm his Charter, and hopefully abide by it. Between the 13th and 15th centuries the Magna Carta would have a history of being reconfirmed, 32 times according to ], but possibly as many as 45 times.<ref>Thompson, Faith ''Magna Carta – Its Role in the Making of the English Constitution 1300–1629''(1948)pp9-10</ref> The Charter was last confirmed in 1423 by ].
* ], ]
* ], ]
* ], ] and ]
* ], ]
* ], ]
* ], ] and ]
* ], ]
* ]
* ], baron of ]
* ], heir to the ]
* ], Lord of ]
* ], heir to the Earldoms of ] and ]
* ], Lord of ] Castle
* ], ] of the ]
* ], Lord of ]
* ], Baron of ]
* ], Constable of ] and Lord of ]
* ]
* ] de Clavering, Lord of ]
* ]
* ]
* ], Lord of ]{{efn|Roger de Montbegon is named in only one of the four early sources (BL, Harley MS 746, fol. 64); whereas the others name ]. However, Holt believes the Harley listing to be "the best", and the de Mowbray entries to be an error.}}
* ], ]
* ]
* ], Lord of ]
{{div col end}}


======Excommunicated rebels======
===Repeal of articles of the Charter===
In September 1215, the papal commissioners in England—], ], ], and Simon, Abbot of ]—excommunicated the rebels, acting on instructions earlier received from Rome. A letter sent by the commissioners from ] on 5 September to Archbishop Langton explicitly names nine senior rebel barons (all members of the Council of Twenty-Five), and six clerics numbered among the rebel ranks:{{sfn|Powicke|1929}}
The repeal of clause 26 in 1829, by the ] (9 ] c. 31 s. 1)<!-- ie section 1 of the 31st statute issued in the 9th year of George IV -->,<ref name=UKStatute/> was the first time a clause of Magna Carta was repealed. With the document's perceived inviolability broken, in the next 140 years nearly the whole charter was repealed, leaving just Clauses 1, 9, and 29 still in force after 1969. Most of it was repealed in England and Wales by the ], and in Ireland by the ].<ref name=UKStatute />


'''Barons'''
{| class="wikitable"
{{div col|colwidth=22em}}
|-
* ]
! Magna Carta 1225 Clause
* ], ]
! Runnymede Charter Clause
* ], ]
! Date Repealed
* ], ] and ]
|-
* ]
| 1
* ]
| I
* ], Constable of ]
| extant
* ]
|-
* ]
| 2
{{div col end}}
| II
'''Clerics'''
| ] and ]
{{div col|colwidth=22em}}
|-
* ], ]
| 3
* William, ]
| III
* Alexander the clerk (possibly Alexander of ])
| Statute Law Revision Act 1863 and Statute Law (Ireland) Revision Act 1872
* Osbert de ]
|-
* John de Fereby
| 4
* Robert, chaplain to Robert Fitzwalter
| IV
{{div col end}}
| Statute Law Revision Act 1863 and Statute Law (Ireland) Revision Act 1872
{{hidden end}}
|-

| 5
====Great Charter of 1216====
| V
Although the Charter of 1215 was a failure as a peace treaty, it was resurrected under the new government of the young Henry III as a way of drawing support away from the rebel faction. On his deathbed, King John appointed a council of thirteen executors to help Henry reclaim the kingdom, and requested that his son be placed into the guardianship of ], one of the most famous knights in England.{{sfn|Carpenter|1990|pp=14–15}} William knighted the boy, and Cardinal ], the ] to England, then oversaw his coronation at ] on 28 October.{{sfn|Carpenter|1990|p=13}}{{sfn|McGlynn|2013|p=189}}{{sfn|Ridgeway|2010}}
| Statute Law Revision Act 1863 and Statute Law (Ireland) Revision Act 1872

|-
The young King inherited a difficult situation, with over half of England occupied by the rebels.{{sfn|Weiler|2012|p=1}}{{sfn|Carpenter|1990|p=1}} He had substantial support though from Guala, who intended to win the civil war for Henry and punish the rebels.{{sfn|Mayr-Harting|2011|pp=259–260}} Guala set about strengthening the ties between England and the Papacy, starting with the coronation itself, during which Henry gave ] to the Papacy, recognising the Pope as his feudal lord.{{sfn|Carpenter|1990|p=13}}{{sfn|Mayr-Harting|2011|p=260}} ] declared that Henry was the Pope's ] and ], and that the legate had complete authority to protect Henry and his kingdom.{{sfn|Carpenter|1990|p=13}} As an additional measure, Henry took the cross, declaring himself a crusader and thereby entitled to special protection from Rome.{{sfn|Carpenter|1990|p=13}}
| 6

| VI
The war was not going well for the loyalists, but Prince Louis and the rebel barons were also finding it difficult to make further progress.{{sfn|Carpenter|2004|p=301}}{{sfn|Carpenter|1990|pp=19–21}} John's death had defused some of the rebel concerns, and the royal castles were still holding out in the occupied parts of the country.{{sfn|Carpenter|1990|pp=19–21}}{{sfn|Aurell|2003|p=30}} Henry's government encouraged the rebel barons to come back to his cause in exchange for the return of their lands, and reissued a version of the 1215 Charter, albeit having first removed some of the clauses, including those unfavourable to the Papacy and clause 61, which had set up the council of barons.{{sfn|Carpenter|1990|pp=21–22, 24–25}}{{sfn|Powicke|1963|p=5}} The move was not successful, and opposition to Henry's new government hardened.{{sfn|Carpenter|1990|p=25}}
| Statute Law Revision Act 1863 and Statute Law (Ireland) Revision Act 1872

|-
====Great Charter of 1217====
| 7
{{see also|First Barons' War|Charter of the Forest|English land law}}
| VII, VIII
] re-issued in 1225, held by the ]]]
| ], ] and ]
In February 1217, Louis set sail for France to gather reinforcements.{{sfn|Carpenter|1990|p=27}} In his absence, arguments broke out between Louis' French and English followers, and Cardinal Guala declared that Henry's war against the rebels was the equivalent of a religious crusade.{{sfn|Carpenter|1990|pp=28–29}} This declaration resulted in a series of defections from the rebel movement, and the tide of the conflict swung in Henry's favour.{{sfn|Carpenter|1990|pp=127–28}} Louis returned at the end of April, but his northern forces were defeated by William Marshal at the ] in May.{{sfn|Carpenter|1990|pp=36–40}}{{sfn|McGlynn|2013|p=216}}
|-

| 8
Meanwhile, support for Louis' campaign was diminishing in France, and he concluded that the war in England was lost.{{sfn|Hallam|Everard|2001|p=173}} He negotiated terms with Cardinal Guala, under which Louis would renounce his claim to the English throne. In return, his followers would be given back their lands, any sentences of excommunication would be lifted, and Henry's government would promise to enforce the charter of the previous year.{{sfn|Carpenter|1990|pp=41–42}} The proposed agreement soon began to unravel amid claims from some loyalists that it was too generous towards the rebels, particularly the clergy who had joined the rebellion.{{sfn|Carpenter|1990|p=42}}
| IX

| Statute Law (Repeals) Act 1969
In the absence of a settlement, Louis stayed in London with his remaining forces, hoping for the arrival of reinforcements from France.{{sfn|Carpenter|1990|p=42}} When the expected fleet arrived in August, it was intercepted and defeated by loyalists at the ].{{sfn|Carpenter|1990|p=44}} Louis entered into fresh peace negotiations. The factions came to agreement on the final ], also known as the Treaty of Kingston, on 12 and 13 September 1217.{{sfn|Carpenter|1990|p=44}}
|-

| 9
The treaty was similar to the first peace offer, but excluded the rebel clergy, whose lands and appointments remained forfeit. It included a promise that Louis' followers would be allowed to enjoy their traditional liberties and customs, referring back to the Charter of 1216.{{sfn|Carpenter|1990|pp=41, 44–45}} Louis left England as agreed. He joined the ] in the south of France, bringing the war to an end.{{sfn|Hallam|Everard|2001|p=173}}
| XIII

| extant
A ] was called in October and November to take stock of the post-war situation. This council is thought to have formulated and issued the Charter of 1217.{{sfn|Carpenter|1990|p=60}} The charter resembled that of 1216, although some additional clauses were added to protect the rights of the barons over their feudal subjects, and the restrictions on the Crown's ability to levy taxation were watered down.{{sfn|Carpenter|1990|pp=60–61}} There remained a range of disagreements about the management of the royal forests, which involved a special legal system that had resulted in a source of considerable royal revenue. Complaints existed over both the implementation of these courts, and the geographic boundaries of the royal forests.{{sfn|Carpenter|1990|pp=61–62}}
|-

| 10
A complementary charter, the ], was created, pardoning existing forest offences, imposing new controls over the forest courts, and establishing a review of the forest boundaries.{{sfn|Carpenter|1990|pp=61–62}} To distinguish the two charters, the term {{lang|la|'magna carta libertatum'}} ("the great charter of liberties") was used by the scribes to refer to the larger document, which in time became known simply as Magna Carta.{{sfn|White|1915|pp=472–475}}{{sfn|White|1917|pp=545–555}}
| XVI

| ]
====Great Charter of 1225====
|-
], held in the ]]]
| 11
Magna Carta became increasingly embedded into English political life during Henry III's ].{{sfn|Carpenter|1990|p=402}} As the King grew older, his government slowly began to recover from the civil war, regaining control of the counties and beginning to raise revenue once again, taking care not to overstep the terms of the charters.{{sfn|Carpenter|1990|pp=333–335, 382–383}} Henry remained a minor and his government's legal ability to make permanently binding decisions on his behalf was limited. In 1223, the tensions over the status of the charters became clear in the ], when Henry's government attempted to reassert its rights over its properties and revenues in the counties, facing resistance from many communities that argued—if sometimes incorrectly—that the charters protected the new arrangements.{{sfn|Carpenter|1990|pp=295–296}}{{sfn|Jobson|2012|p=6}}
| XVII

| ]
This resistance resulted in an argument between Archbishop Langton and ] over whether the King had any duty to fulfil the terms of the charters, given that he had been forced to agree to them.{{sfn|Carpenter|1990|pp=296–297}} On this occasion, Henry gave oral assurances that he considered himself bound by the charters, enabling a royal inquiry into the situation in the counties to progress.{{sfn|Carpenter|1990|p=297}}
|-

| 12
In 1225, the question of Henry's commitment to the charters re-emerged, when Louis VIII of France invaded Henry's remaining provinces in France, ] and ].{{sfn|Hallam|Everard|2001|p=176}}{{sfn|Weiler|2012|p=20}} Henry's army in Poitou was under-resourced, and the province quickly fell.{{sfn|Carpenter|1990|pp=371–373}} It became clear that Gascony would also fall unless reinforcements were sent from England.{{sfn|Carpenter|1990|pp=374–375}} In early 1225, a great council approved a tax of £40,000 to dispatch an army, which quickly retook Gascony.{{sfn|Carpenter|1990|pp=376, 378}}{{sfn|Hallam|Everard|2001|pp=176–177}} In exchange for agreeing to support Henry, the barons demanded that the King reissue Magna Carta and the Charter of the Forest.{{sfn|Carpenter|1990|p=379}}{{sfn|Carpenter|2004|p=307}} The content was almost identical to the 1217 versions, but in the new versions, the King declared that the charters were issued of his own "spontaneous and free will" and confirmed them with the royal seal, giving the new Great Charter and the Charter of the Forest of 1225 much more authority than the previous versions.{{sfn|Carpenter|2004|p=307}}{{sfn|Carpenter|1990|p=383}}
| XVIII
| Civil Procedure Acts Repeal Act 1879
|-
| 13
|
| Statute Law Revision Act 1863 and Statute Law (Ireland) Revision Act 1872
|-
| 14
| XX, XXI, XXII
| ] and ]
|-
| 15
| XXIII
| Statute Law (Repeals) Act 1969
|-
| 16
| XXXXVII
| Statute Law (Repeals) Act 1969
|-
| 17
| XXIV
| ]
|-
| 18
| XXVI
| ]
|-
| 19
| XXVIII
| Statute Law Revision Act 1863 and Statute Law (Ireland) Revision Act 1872
|-
| 20
| XIX
| Statute Law Revision Act 1863 and Statute Law (Ireland) Revision Act 1872
|-
| 21
| XXX, XXXI
| Statute Law Revision Act 1863 and Statute Law (Ireland) Revision Act 1872
|-
| 22
| XXXII
| Statute Law Revision Act 1948
|-
| 23
| XXXIII
| Statute Law (Repeals) Act 1969
|-
| 24
| XXXIV
| Statute Law Revision Act 1863 and Statute Law (Ireland) Revision Act 1872
|-
| 25
| XXXV
| Statute Law Revision Act 1948
|-
| 26
| XXXVI
| ] and ]
|-
| 27
| XXXVII
| Statute Law Revision Act 1863 and Statute Law (Ireland) Revision Act 1872
|-
| 28
| XXXVIII
| Statute Law Revision Act 1863 and Statute Law (Ireland) Revision Act 1872
|-
| 29
| XXXIX,XXXX
| extant
|-
| 30
| XXXXI
| Statute Law (Repeals) Act 1969
|-
| 31
| XXXXIII
| Statute Law Revision Act 1863 and Statute Law (Ireland) Revision Act 1872
|-
| 32
|
| ]
|-
| 33
| XXXXVI
| Statute Law Revision Act 1863 and Statute Law (Ireland) Revision Act 1872
|-
| 34
| LIV
| Statute Law Revision Act 1863 and Statute Law (Ireland) Revision Act 1872
|-
| 35
|
| ]
|-
| 36
|
| Statute Law Revision Act 1863 and Statute Law (Ireland) Revision Act 1872
|-
| 37
| LX
| Statute Law Revision Act 1863 and Statute Law (Ireland) Revision Act 1872
|}


The barons anticipated that the King would act in accordance with these charters, subject to the law and moderated by the advice of the nobility.<ref>{{harvnb|Carpenter|1990|pp=2–3, 383, 386}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Carpenter|2004|p=307}}</ref> Uncertainty continued, and in 1227, when he was declared of age and able to rule independently, Henry announced that future charters had to be issued under his own seal.{{sfn|Clanchy|1997|p=147}}{{sfn|Davis|2013|p=71}} This brought into question the validity of the previous charters issued during his minority, and Henry actively threatened to overturn the Charter of the Forest unless the taxes promised in return for it were actually paid.{{sfn|Clanchy|1997|p=147}}{{sfn|Davis|2013|p=71}} In 1253, Henry confirmed the charters once again in exchange for taxation.{{sfn|Davis|2013|p=174}}
==Content of the Charters==
]
Magna Carta was originally written in Latin. A large part of the Charter at Runnymede was copied, nearly word for word, from the ] of ], issued when Henry became king in 1100, in which he said he would respect certain rights of the Church and the barons, for example not forcing heirs to purchase their inheritances.


Henry placed a symbolic emphasis on rebuilding royal authority, but his rule was relatively circumscribed by Magna Carta.{{sfn|Ridgeway|2010}}{{sfn|Carpenter|1996|pp=76, 99}} He generally acted within the terms of the charters, which prevented the Crown from taking extrajudicial action against the barons, including the fines and expropriations that had been common under his father, John.{{sfn|Ridgeway|2010}}{{sfn|Carpenter|1996|pp=76, 99}} The charters did not address the sensitive issues of the appointment of royal advisers and the distribution of patronage, and they lacked any means of enforcement if the King chose to ignore them.{{sfn|Carpenter|1990|p=3}} The inconsistency with which he applied the charters over the course of his rule alienated many barons, even those within his own faction.{{sfn|Ridgeway|2010}}
As the Charter went through various issues many of the clauses included in the Runnymede charter were removed. Some clauses would form a supplementary Charter in 1217, the ].


Despite the various charters, the provision of royal justice was inconsistent and driven by the needs of immediate politics: sometimes action would be taken to address a legitimate baronial complaint, while on other occasions the problem would simply be ignored.{{sfn|Carpenter|1996|pp=26, 29, 37, 43}} The royal courts, which toured the country to provide justice at the local level, typically for lesser barons and the gentry claiming grievances against major lords, had little power, allowing the major barons to dominate the local justice system.{{sfn|Carpenter|1996|p=105}} Henry's rule became lax and careless, resulting in a reduction in royal authority in the provinces and, ultimately, the collapse of his authority at court.{{sfn|Ridgeway|2010}}{{sfn|Carpenter|1996|p=105}}
It is worth emphasising that the 1215 charter was not numbered and was not divided into paragraphs or separate clauses. The numbering system used today was created by Sir ] in 1759,<ref name="Turner, Ralph V. 2003 pp67-68">Turner, Ralph V. ''Magna Carta'' Pearson (2003) pp67-68</ref> and therefore should not be used to draw any conclusions regarding the intentions of the original creators of the charter.


In 1258, a group of barons seized power from Henry in a '']'', citing the need to strictly enforce Magna Carta and the Charter of the Forest, creating a new baronial-led government to advance reform through the ].{{sfn|Davis|2013|pp=195–197}} The barons were not militarily powerful enough to win a decisive victory, and instead appealed to ] in 1263–1264 to arbitrate on their proposed reforms. The reformist barons argued their case based on Magna Carta, suggesting that it was inviolable under English law and that the King had broken its terms.{{sfn|Jobson|2012|p=104}}
===Clauses still in force today===
<!--PLEASE READ BEFORE CHANGING CLAUSE NUMBERS: The liberties of London is clause 13 in the 1215 charter, clause 9 in the 1297 charter. We're talking about the 1297 charter here, i.e. clause 9. Similarly right to due process is 39 in the 1215 Charter, 29 in the 1297 Charter. -->
The clauses of the 1297 Magna Carta which are still on statute are
*Clause 1, the freedom of the English Church.
*Clause 9 (clause 13 in the 1215 charter), the "ancient liberties" of the City of London.
*Clause 29 (clause 39 in the 1215 charter), a right to ].


Louis came down firmly in favour of Henry, but the French arbitration failed to achieve peace as the rebellious barons refused to accept the verdict. England slipped back into the ], which was won by Henry's son, ]. Edward also invoked Magna Carta in advancing his cause, arguing that the reformers had taken matters too far and were themselves acting against Magna Carta.{{sfn|Davis|2013|p=224}} In a conciliatory gesture after the barons had been defeated, in 1267 Henry issued the ], which included a fresh commitment to observe the terms of Magna Carta.{{sfn|Jobson|2012|p=163}}
{{quotation|
*1. FIRST, We have granted to God, and by this our present Charter have confirmed, for Us and our Heirs for ever, that the Church of England shall be free, and shall have all her whole Rights and Liberties inviolable. We have granted also, and given to all the Freemen of our Realm, for Us and our Heirs for ever, these Liberties under-written, to have and to hold to them and their Heirs, of Us and our Heirs for ever.


=====Witnesses in 1225=====
*9. THE ] shall have all the old Liberties and Customs which it hath been used to have. Moreover We will and grant, that all other Cities, Boroughs, Towns, and the Barons of the ], as with all other Ports, shall have all their Liberties and free Customs.
{{hidden begin|title={{center|Witnesses to the 1225 charter|style=border:solid 1px #aaa}}}}
The following 65 individuals were witnesses to the 1225 issue of Magna Carta, named in the order in which they appear in the charter itself:{{sfn|Holt|1992b|pp=510–11}}
{{div col|colwidth=18em}}
* ], ] and ]
* ], ]
* ], ]
* ], ]
* ], ]
* ], ]
* ], ]
* ], ]
* ], ]
* ], ]
* ], ]
* ], ]
* William of Trumpington, ]
* ], Abbot of ]
* Richard, ]
* the Abbot of ]
* ], Abbot of ]
* Richard of Barking, ]
* Alexander of Holderness, ]
* Simon, Abbot of ]
* Robert of Hendred, ]
* John Walsh, Abbot of ]
* the Abbot of ]
* the Abbot of ]
* the Abbot of ]
* the Abbot of ]
* the Abbot of ]
* the Abbot of ]
* the Abbot of ]
* the Abbot of ]
* the Abbot of ]
* the Abbot of ]
* ], ] of England and Ireland
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ], ]
* ]
* ], Constable of ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
{{div col end}}
{{hidden end}}


====Great Charter of 1297: statute====
*29. NO Freeman shall be taken or imprisoned, or be disseised of his Freehold, or Liberties, or free Customs, or be outlawed, or exiled, or any other wise destroyed; nor will We not pass upon him, nor condemn him, but by lawful judgment of his Peers, or by the ]. We will sell to no man, we will not deny or defer to any man either Justice or Right.<ref name=UKStatute>{{Cite web| url = http://www.statutelaw.gov.uk/content.aspx?activeTextDocId=1517519 | title = (Magna Carta) (1297) (c. 9) | work = UK Statute Law Database | date = | accessdate = 2 September 2007 }}</ref>
{{Infobox UK legislation
| short_title = Magna Carta (1297)
| type = Act
| parliament = Parliament of England
| long_title =
| year = 1297
| citation = ]
| introduced_commons =
| introduced_lords =
| territorial_extent =
| royal_assent = 1297
| commencement =
| expiry_date =
| repeal_date =
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| amendments ={{ubli|]|]|]|]|]|]|]|]|]|]|]|]|]|]|]|]|]|]|]}}
| repealing_legislation =
| related_legislation =], ], ]
| status = Amended
| legislation_history =
| theyworkforyou =
| millbankhansard =
| original_text =
| revised_text =
| use_new_UK-LEG = yes
| UK-LEG_title = Magna Carta (1297)
| collapsed =
}} }}


] in ]]]
===Clauses in Runnymede Charter but not in later Charters===
*Clauses 10 and 11 related to money lending and ]. Jews were particularly involved in money lending because Christian teachings on ] did not apply to them. Clause 10 said that children would not pay interest on a debt they had inherited while they were under age. Clause 11 said that the widow and children should be provided for before paying an inherited debt. The charter concludes this section with the words "Debts owing to other than Jews shall be dealt with likewise", so it is debatable the extent to which Jews were being singled out by these clauses.
*Clauses 12 and 14 state that taxes (in the language of the time, "] or aid") can only be levied and assessed by the common counsel of the realm. See ] for more detail.
*Clause 15 stated that the King would not grant anyone the right to take an aid (i.e. money) from his free men
*Clauses 25 and 26 dealt with debt and taxes
*Clause 27 with ].
*Clause 42 stated that it was lawful for subjects to leave the kingdom without prejudicing their allegiance (except for outlaws and during war)
*Clause 45 said that the King should only appoint as "justices, constables, sheriffs, or bailiffs" those who knew the law and would keep it well. In the United States, the ] interpreted clause 45 in 1974 as establishing a requirement at common law that a defendant faced with the potential of incarceration is entitled to a trial overseen by a legally trained judge.<ref>''Gordon v. Justice Court'', (1974).</ref>
*Clause 48 stated that all evil customs connected with forests were to be abolished
*Clause 49 provided for the return of hostages held by the King. (John held hostages from the families of important nobles he wished to ensure remained loyal, as other English monarchs had before him.)
*Clause 50 stated that no member of the ] could be a royal officer.
*Clause 51 called for all foreign knights and mercenaries to leave the realm.
*Clause 52 dealt with restoration of those "disseised" (i.e. those dispossessed of property. See (for example) ] )
*Clause 53 was similar to 52 but relating to forests
*Clause 55 regarded remittance of unjust fines
*Clauses 57 concerned restoration of disseised Welshmen
*Clauses 58 and 59 provided for the return of Welsh and Scottish hostages
*Clauses 61 provided for the application and observation of the Charter by twenty-five of the rebellious barons. See ] for more on clause 61.
*Clause 62 pardoned those who had rebelled against the king
*Clause 63 said that the charter was binding on King John and his heirs. However this version of the charter was renounced by John, with the support of the Pope. The smaller 1225/1297 charters (which actually became law) contain similar text, stating that the monarch and their heirs would not seek to infringe or damage the liberties in the charter, and that the charter is to be observed "in perpetuity".


King ] reissued the Charters of 1225 in 1297 in return for a new tax.{{sfn|Prestwich|1997|p=427}} It is this version which remains in ] today, although with most articles now repealed.<ref name=natarch>{{cite web|title=Magna Carta (1297)|publisher=The National Archive|url=http://www.legislation.gov.uk/aep/Edw1cc1929/25/9/contents|access-date=29 July 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.legislation.gov.uk/aep/Edw1cc1929/25/9/contents|title=Magna Carta (1297)|publisher=Statutelaw.gov.uk|access-date=13 June 2015}}</ref>{{anchor|Confirmatio}}
===Challenges to the King's power===
Clauses 12 and 14 of the 1215 charter state that the king will accept the "common counsel of our realm" when levying and assessing an aid or a ]. Clause 14 goes into detail about how exactly the archbishops, bishops, abbots, earls and greater barons should be consulted. These clauses effectively meant that the monarch had to ask before raising new taxes. The later charters merely said that "Scutage furthermore is to be taken as it used to be", although in practice the convention arose after Magna Carta that ] would be consulted by the monarch before raising new taxes.


{{Infobox UK legislation
Clause 61 of the 1215 charter states: "The barons shall choose any twenty-five barons of the realm they wish, who with all their might are to observe, maintain and cause to be observed the peace and liberties which we have granted and confirmed to them by this our present charter". The clause goes on to say that if the king does not keep to the charter, the twenty five barons shall seize "castles, lands and possessions... until, in their judgement, amends have been made". "Anyone in the land" would be permitted by the king to swear an oath to the twenty five to obey them in these matters, and the king was in fact supposed to order people to do so even if they didn't want to swear an oath to the twenty five barons.
| short_title = Confirmation of the Charters (1297)
| type = Act
| parliament = Parliament of England
| long_title =
| year = 1297
| citation = ]
| introduced_commons =
| introduced_lords =
| territorial_extent =
| royal_assent = 1297
| commencement =
| expiry_date =
| repeal_date =
| amends =
| replaces =
| amendments ={{ubli|]|]|]|]}}
| repealing_legislation =
| related_legislation = {{ubli|]|]|]}}
| status = Amended
| legislation_history =
| theyworkforyou =
| millbankhansard =
| original_text =
| revised_text =
| use_new_UK-LEG = yes
| UK-LEG_title = Confirmation of the Charters (1297)
| collapsed =
}}


The {{lang|la|Confirmatio Cartarum}} (''Confirmation of Charters'') was issued in ] by Edward I in 1297.{{sfn|Edwards|1943}} Edward, needing money, had taxed the nobility, and they had armed themselves against him, forcing Edward to issue his confirmation of Magna Carta and the Forest Charter to avoid civil war.<ref name="EB">{{cite web|url=http://www.britannia.com/history/docs/cartarum.html|title=Confirmatio Cartarum|access-date=30 November 2007|publisher=britannia.com}}</ref> The nobles had sought to add another document, the {{lang|la|De Tallagio}}, to Magna Carta. Edward I's government was not prepared to concede this, they agreed to the issuing of the {{lang|la|Confirmatio}}, confirming the previous charters and confirming the principle that taxation should be by consent,{{sfn|Prestwich|1997|p=427}} although the precise manner of that consent was not laid down.{{sfn|Prestwich|1997|p=434}}
The barons were trying to stop John going back on his word after agreeing to the charter, but if those who rebelled against him were able to choose a group who would have the power to seize his castles if they thought it necessary, "then the king had in effect been dethroned". No king would have agreed to this except as a manoeuvre to gain time, and the inclusion of this clause destroyed any chance of the original Magna Carta keeping the peace in the long term.<ref>Danziger, Gillingham 2004 p.262</ref>


A passage mandates that copies shall be distributed in "cathedral churches throughout our realm, there to remain, and shall be read before the people two times by the year",{{sfn|Cobbett|Howell|Howell|Jardine|1810|p=980}} hence the permanent installation of a copy in ].<ref>{{cite web|title=Magna Carta|url=http://www.salisburycathedral.org.uk/magna-carta|publisher=Salisbury Cathedral|access-date=25 January 2015}}</ref> In the Confirmation's second article, it is confirmed that:
Clause 61 was removed from all later versions of the charter. Forty years later, after another confrontation between king and barons, the ] forced on the king a council of twenty four members, 12 selected by the crown, 12 by the barons, which would then elect a king's council of fifteen members; this however was also annulled when ] finally won that power struggle.


{{blockquote|...if any judgement be given from henceforth contrary to the points of the charters aforesaid by the justices, or by any other our ministers that hold plea before them against the points of the charters, it shall be undone, and holden for nought.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Statutes at Large Passed in the Parliaments held in Ireland from The Third Year of Edward the Second A.D. 1310 to the First Year of George the Third, A.D. 1761 Inclusive|date=1763|publisher=Boulter Grierson|page=132|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tKZFAAAAcAAJ&q=if+any+judgement+be+given+from+henceforth+contrary+to+the+points+of+the+charters+aforesaid+by+the+justices%2C+or+by+any+other+our+ministers+that+hold+plea+before+them+against+the+points+of+the+charters%2C+it+shall+be+undone%2C+and+holden+for+nought&pg=PA132}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Confirmatio Cartarum October 10, 1297|url=http://www.1215.org/lawnotes/lawnotes/cartarum.htm|publisher=1215.org|access-date=19 January 2015}}</ref>}}
===Clauses in Runnymede Charter and in 1216/1217 Charter but not in 1225/1297 Charter===
<!--EDITORS' NOTE: Please make sure you understand which Charter is being referred to at which time in this section. The clauses in the 1225 Charter are not identical to the clauses in the 1215 Charter. This numbering refers to the 1215 Charter-->
*Clauses 2 to 3 refer to ], specifically the regulation of the charging of excessive relief, in effect a form of "succession duty" or "death duty" payable by an heir.
*Clauses 4 to 5 refer to the duties of ], specifically forbidding the practice of the over-exploitation of a ward's property by his warder (or guardian).
*Clause 6 refers to a warder's power over the marriage of his ward. He was forbidden from forcing a marriage to a partner of lower social standing (possibly therefore to one such who may have been willing to pay a higher price for it).
*Clause 7 refers to the rights of a ] to receive promptly her ] and inheritance.
*Clause 8 stated that a widow could not be compelled to marry.
*Clause 9 stated that a debtor should not have his lands seized as long as he had other means to pay the debt.
*Clause 16 was regarding a ].
*Clauses 17 to 19 allowed for a fixed law court, which became the chancellery, and defined the scope and frequency of county assizes.
*Clause 44 (1216 only) relating to forest law
*Clause 56 (1216 only) relating to disseised Welshmen


{{anchor|Articuli super Cartas}}
===Clauses in Runnymede Charter and 1225/1297 Charter but since repealed===
With the reconfirmation of the charters in 1300, an additional document was granted, the {{lang|la|Articuli super Cartas}} (''The Articles upon the Charters'').{{sfn|Holt|2008|p=62}} It was composed of 17 articles and sought in part to deal with the problem of enforcing the charters. Magna Carta and the Forest Charter were to be issued to the ] of each county, and should be read four times a year at the meetings of the county courts. Each county should have a committee of three men who could hear complaints about violations of the Charters.{{sfn|Fritze|Robison|2002|pp=34–35}}
All of the remaining parts of the 1215 charter appear substantially unchanged in the 1225/1297 charter which became law and is still on the statute book. All except the three clauses which are still in force today were eventually repealed however, most in the 19th century. Many provisions have no bearing in the world today, since they deal with feudal liberties. Some clauses remained relevant but were replaced by later legislation which gave similar rights. Using the 1215 clause numbers:
*Clause 20 stated that fines ("amercements", in the language of the day), should be proportionate to the offence, but even for a serious offence the fine should not be so heavy as to deprive a man of his livelihood. No fines should be imposed except by the oath of honest local men.
*Clause 21 stated that earls and barons should only be fined by their peers, i.e. other earls and barons. Until 1948 this meant that members of the ] had the right to a criminal trial in the House of Lords at first instance.
*Clause 22 stated that fines should not be influenced by ecclesiastical property in clergy trials.
*Clause 23 provided that no town or person should be forced to build a bridge across a river.
*Clause 24 stated that crown officials (such as sheriffs) must not try a crime in place of a judge.
*Clauses 28 to 32 stated that no royal officer might take any commodity such as grain, wood or transport without payment or consent or force a knight to pay for something the knight could do himself, and that the king must return any lands confiscated from a felon within a year and a day to the felon's feudal lord ("the lords of the fees concerned").
*Clause 33 required the removal of all ].
*Clause 34 forbade repossession without a "] precipe".
*Clause 35 set out a list of standard measures
*Clause 36 stated that writs for loss of life or limb were to be free
*Clause 37 concerns inheritance when a "fee-farm" (fee as in ]) was involved.
*Clause 38 stated that no-one could be put on trial based solely on the unsupported word of an official.
*Clause 40 disallowed the selling of justice, or its denial or delay.
*Clauses 41 and 42 guaranteed the safety and right of entry and exit of foreign merchants.
*Clause 43 gave special provision for tax on reverted estates
*Clause 46 provided for the guardianship of monasteries.
*Clauses 47 and 48 abolished most of ] (these clauses were split out of the main charter and formed part of a separate charter, the ]).<ref>{{Cite Catholic Encyclopedia|wstitle=Magna Carta}}</ref>
*Clause 54 said that no man may be imprisoned on the testimony of a woman except on the death of her husband.


] continued the papal policy of supporting monarchs (who ruled by divine grace) against any claims in Magna Carta which challenged the King's rights, and annulled the {{lang|la|Confirmatio Cartarum}} in 1305. Edward I interpreted Clement V's ] annulling the {{lang|la|Confirmatio Cartarum}} as effectively applying to the {{lang|la|Articuli super Cartas}}, although the latter was not specifically mentioned.{{sfn|Prestwich|1997|pp=547–548}} In 1306 Edward I took the opportunity given by the Pope's backing to reassert forest law over large areas which had been "disafforested". Both Edward and the Pope were accused by some contemporary chroniclers of "perjury", and it was suggested by Robert McNair Scott that ] refused to make peace with Edward I's son, ], in 1312 with the justification: "How shall the king of England keep faith with me, since he does not observe the sworn promises made to his liege men&nbsp;...".{{sfn|Menache|2003|pp=253–255}}{{sfn|Scott|2014}}
===Clauses in the 1225/1297 Charter but not in the Runnymede Charter===
There are a few clauses which are in the 1225/1297 charter but not in the 1215 charter. These have also since been repealed. Using the 1297 clause numbers:


====Magna Carta's influence on English medieval law====
*Clause 13 concerned the ].
The Great Charter was referred to in legal cases throughout the medieval period. For example, in 1226, the knights of ] argued that their local sheriff was changing customary practice regarding the local courts, "contrary to their liberty which they ought to have by the charter of the lord king".{{sfn|Holt|2008|pp=44–45}} In practice, cases were not brought against the King for breach of Magna Carta and the Forest Charter, but it was possible to bring a case against the King's officers, such as his sheriffs, using the argument that the King's officers were acting contrary to liberties granted by the King in the charters.{{sfn|Holt|2008|pp=45–46}}
*Clause 32 said that a free man should not give away or sell so much of his land that he would not be able to meet his feudal obligations to his lord.
*Clause 35 concerned the ], the ] and ].
*Clause 36 said that it was not permitted to give land to a religious house and then receive it back; in such a case the land would revert to the feudal lord.


In addition, medieval cases referred to the clauses in Magna Carta which dealt with specific issues such as wardship and dower, debt collection, and keeping rivers free for navigation.{{sfn|Holt|2008|p=56}} Even in the 13th century, some clauses of Magna Carta rarely appeared in legal cases, either because the issues concerned were no longer relevant, or because Magna Carta had been superseded by more relevant legislation. By 1350 half the clauses of Magna Carta were no longer actively used.{{sfn|Holt|2008|pp=56–57}}
==Medieval and Tudor period==
The judgement of 1387 confirmed the supremacy of the ] within the constitution.<ref>Turner, Ralph V. ''Magna Carta'' Pearson (2003) p127</ref> By the mid 15th century Magna Carta ceased to occupy a central role in English political life.<ref name="Turner, Ralph V. 2003 p123"/> In part this was also due to the rise of an early version of Parliament and to further statutes, some which were based on the principle of Magna Carta. The Charter, however remained a text for scholars of law. The Charter in the statute books was correctly thought to have arisen from the reign of Henry III and was seen as no more special than any other statute and could be amended and removed. It was not seen (as it was later) as an entrenched set of liberties guaranteed for the people against the Government. Rather, it was an ordinary statute, which gave a certain level of liberties, most of which could not be relied on, least of all against the king. Therefore the Charter had little effect on the governance of the early Tudor period.


===14th–15th centuries===
The Tudor period would see a growing interest in history. Tudor historians would rediscover the ] who was more favourable to King John than other contemporary texts. ] and ] would both write plays on King John. Tudor historians were not inclined to regard rebellion as anything but a crime. Those who supported ]’s break with Rome “viewed King John in a positive light as a hero struggling against the papacy, they showed little sympathy for the Great Charter or the rebel barons”.<ref>Turner, Ralph V. ''Magna Carta'' Pearson (2003) p138</ref>
]
During the reign of King ] six measures, later known as the ''Six Statutes'', were passed between 1331 and 1369. They sought to clarify certain parts of the Charters. In particular the third statute, in 1354, redefined clause 29, with "free man" becoming "no man, of whatever ] or condition he may be", and introduced the phrase "]" for "lawful judgement of his peers or the law of the land".{{sfn|Turner|2003b|p=123}}


Between the 13th and 15th centuries Magna Carta was reconfirmed 32 times according to Sir ], and possibly as many as 45 times.{{sfn|Thompson|1948|pp=9–10}}{{sfn|Turner|2003a}} Often the first item of parliamentary business was a public reading and reaffirmation of the Charter, and, as in the previous century, parliaments often exacted confirmation of it from the monarch.{{sfn|Turner|2003a}} The Charter was confirmed in 1423 by King ].<ref>{{cite web|title=800th anniversary of Magna Carta|url=https://www.churchofengland.org/media/1910459/gs%201945b%20-%20background%20note%20from%20mpa.pdf|publisher=Church of England General Synod|access-date=4 November 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Magna Carta|url=http://www.britroyals.com/magnacarta.htm|publisher=Royal Family History|access-date=4 November 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last1=Johnson|first1=Ben|title=The Origins of the Magna Carta|url=http://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofEngland/The-Origins-of-the-Magna-Carta/|publisher=Historic UK|access-date=4 November 2014}}</ref>
The first printed edition of the Magna Carta was probably the ''Magna Carta cum aliis Antiquis Statutis'' of 1508 by ].<ref>Thompson, Faith Magna ''Carta – Its Role in the Making of the English Constitution 1300–1629'' University of Minnesota Press(1948) p146</ref> ] would publish the first unabridged English language edition of the Magna Carta in 1534, and effectively established the numbering of the Charter into 37 chapters; an abridged English language edition had previously been published by ] in 1527.<ref>Thompson, Faith ''Magna Carta – Its Role in the Making of the English Constitution 1300–1629'' University of Minnesota Press(1948) p147-149</ref> By the end of the 16th century editions of the 1215 Charter would also be printed.


By the mid-15th century, Magna Carta ceased to occupy a central role in English political life, as monarchs reasserted authority and powers which had been challenged in the 100 years after Edward I's reign.{{sfn|Turner|2003b|p=132}} The Great Charter remained a text for lawyers, particularly as a protector of property rights, and became more widely read than ever as printed versions circulated and levels of literacy increased.{{sfn|Turner|2003b|p=133}}
The Charter had no real effect until the ] (1558–1603). Magna Carta again began to occupy legal minds, and it again began to shape how that government was run, but in a manner entirely different to that of earlier ages. ] published “what he thought were law codes of the Anglo-Saxon kings and William the conqueror”.<ref>Turner, Ralph V. ''Magna Carta'' Pearson (2003) p140</ref> Lambarde would begin the process of misinterpreting English history, soon taken up by others, incorrectly dating documents and giving parliament a false antiquity. ] would claim that Clause 39 of the 1215 Charter was the basis of the jury system and due process in a trial. ], ], ] and the ]<ref>Thompson, Faith ''Magna Carta – Its Role in the Making of the English Constitution 1300–1629'' University of Minnesota Press(1948) pp216-230</ref> began to misperceive Magna Carta as a ‘statement of liberty’, a 'fundamental law' above all law and government. In 1581 ] would be one of the first to suffer under this emerging new ideology, when he correctly questioned the antiquity of the House of Commons<ref>Pocock, J.G.A. ''The Ancient Constitution and the Feudal Law'' Cambridge University Press reisssue (1987) p154</ref><ref>Wright, Herbert G. ''The Life and Works of Arthur Hall of Grantham, Member of Parliament, Courtier and First Translator of Homer Into English'' (1919) p72</ref> and was without precedent expelled from Parliament.


===16th century===
==Edward Coke's opinions==
]
] ] interpreted Magna Carta to apply not only to the protection of nobles but to all subjects of the crown equally.]]
During the 16th century, the interpretation of Magna Carta and the First Barons' War shifted.{{sfn|Hindley|1990|pp=185–187}} ] took power at the end of the turbulent ], followed by ], and extensive propaganda under both rulers promoted the legitimacy of the regime, the illegitimacy of any sort of rebellion against royal power, and the priority of supporting the Crown in its arguments with the Papacy.{{sfn|Hindley|1990|pp=185–186}}


Tudor historians rediscovered the ], who was more favourable to King John than other 13th-century texts, and, as historian Ralph Turner describes, they "viewed King John in a positive light as a hero struggling against the papacy", showing "little sympathy for the Great Charter or the rebel barons".{{sfn|Turner|2003b|p=138}} Pro-Catholic demonstrations during the ] cited Magna Carta, accusing the King of not giving it sufficient respect.{{sfn|Hindley|1990|p=188}}
One of the first respected jurists to write seriously about the great charter was ]. He was influential in the way Magna Carta was perceived throughout the Tudor and ] periods though his views were challenged during his lifetime by ] and later in the century by ]. Coke used the 1225 issue of the Charter.


The first mechanically printed edition of Magna Carta was probably the {{lang|la|Magna Carta cum aliis Antiquis Statutis}} of 1508 by ], although the early printed versions of the 16th century incorrectly attributed the origins of Magna Carta to Henry III and 1225, rather than to John and 1215, and accordingly worked from the later text.{{sfn|Thompson|1948|p=146}}{{sfn|Warren|1990|p=324}}{{sfn|Hindley|1990|p=187}} An abridged English-language edition was published by ] in 1527.
Coke "reinterpreted or misinterpreted" Magna Carta "misconstruing its clauses anachronistically and uncritically".<ref>Turner, Ralph V. ''Magna Carta'' Longman (2003) 148</ref> He would interpret liberties to be much the same as individual liberty.<ref>Holt, J.C. ''Magna Carta'' Cambridge University Press 2nd edition (1992) p12</ref> The historian ] excused Coke on the grounds that the Charter and its history had itself become 'distorted'.<ref>Holt, J.C. ''Magna Carta'' Cambridge University Press 2nd edition (1992) pp20-21</ref>
], Pynson's successor as the royal printer during 1530–1547, printed an edition of the text along with other "ancient statutes" in 1531 and 1540.<ref>
''Magna Carta, cum aliis antiquis statutis'' ... London: Thomas Berthelet, 1531 .
Magna carta cvm aliis antiqvis statvtis, qvorvm catalogvm, in fine operis reperies. London: Thomas Berthelet, 1540.
{{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170112000833/http://digitalspecialcollections.law.umn.edu/magnacarta/1540_s12_s22.php |date=12 January 2017 }}.
revised edition by Thomas Marshe (1556), ''Magna Carta et cetera antiqua statuta nunc nouiter per diuersa exemplaria examinata et summa diligentia castigata et correcta cui adiecta est noua tabula valde necessaria.''</ref>


In 1534, ] published the first unabridged English-language edition of Magna Carta, dividing the Charter into 37 numbered clauses.{{sfn|Thompson|1948|pp=147–149}}
Coke would be instrumental in framing the ], which would be a substantial supplement to Magna Carta's liberties. During the debates on the matter Coke famously sought to deny the King's sovereign rights with the claim that "Magna Carta is such a fellow, that he will have no 'sovereign'"; he believed the statutes (not the King) were absolute.<ref>Turner, Ralph V. ''Magna Carta'' Longman (2003) 157</ref>
]
The mid-sixteenth century funerary monument ] of ], placed in ], included a full statue<ref>{{Cite book |last=Brayley |first=Edward Wedlake |url=https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/18/The_Beauties_of_England_and_Wales%2C_or%2C_Delineations%2C_topographical%2C_historical%2C_and_descriptive%2C_of_each_county_%28IA_beautiesofenglan1301brit%29.pdf |title=The Beauties of England and Wales, or original delineations, topographical, historical and descriptive of each county}}</ref> of the Tudor statesman and judge holding a copy of Magna Carta.<ref>{{Cite book |author=T. Rodenhurst |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vEcGAAAAQAAJ&q=magna&pg=PA46 |title=A Description of Hawkstone, the Seat of Sir R. Hill, Bart M.P.: With Brief Notices of the Antiquities of Bury Walls and of Red Castle, an Account of the Column, in Shrewsbury and of Lord Hill's Military Actions |date=1840 |publisher=Printed at the Chronicle Office, and sold by J. Watton |language=en}}</ref> Hill was a ] and a ]; both of these statuses were shared with ] who was a negotiator and enforcer of Magna Carta.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://magnacarta800th.com/schools/biographies/the-25-barons-of-magna-carta/william-hardel/ |title=William Hardel |website=Magna Carta Trust 800th Anniversary |first1=Nigel |last1=Saul |date=23 April 2014 |access-date=24 April 2016}}</ref> The original monument was lost in the ], but it was restated on a 110 foot tall column on his family's estates in Shropshire.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Obelisk, Hawkstone Park, Weston Under Redcastle, Shropshire {{!}} Educational Images |url=https://historicengland.org.uk/services-skills/education/educational-images/obelisk-hawkstone-park-weston-under-redcastle-9719 |access-date=2023-04-11 |website=Historic England |language=en |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230411213058/https://historicengland.org.uk/services-skills/education/educational-images/obelisk-hawkstone-park-weston-under-redcastle-9719 |archive-date=2023-04-11 }}</ref>


At the end of the 16th century, there was an upsurge in antiquarian interest in Magna Carta in England.{{sfn|Hindley|1990|p=188}} Legal historians concluded that there was a set of ancient English customs and laws which had been temporarily overthrown by the ], and been recovered in 1215 and recorded in Magna Carta, which in turn gave authority to important 16th-century legal principles.{{sfn|Hindley|1990|p=188}}{{sfn|Turner|2003b|p=140}}{{sfn|Danziger|Gillingham|2004|p=280}} Modern historians regard this narrative as fundamentally incorrect, and many refer to it as a "]".{{sfn|Danziger|Gillingham|2004|p=280}}{{efn|Among the historians to have discussed the "myth" of Magna Carta and the ancient English constitution are ], Geoffrey Hindley, ], ], Danny Danziger, and ].{{sfn|Danziger|Gillingham|2004|p=280}}{{sfn|Hindley|1990|p=183}}{{sfn|Breay|2010|p=46}}{{sfn|Pocock|1987|p=124}}{{sfn|Holt|1992b|p=9}}}}
==17th and 18th Centuries==
Whilst Sir Edward Coke would take the lead in reinterpreting Magna Carta he would soon be joined by others with a similar ideological stance, resulting in the concept of an 'ancient constitution' which entailed belief in fundamental laws supposedly existing since time immemorial and a belief in the antiquity of Parliament.<ref>Pocock, J.G.A. ''The Ancient Constitution and the Feudal Law'' Cambridge University Press (1987)</ref> These beliefs would be used to challenge the constitution as it existed under the Stuart Kings.


The antiquarian ] published what he believed were the Anglo-Saxon and Norman law codes, tracing the origins of the 16th-century English Parliament back to this period, but he misinterpreted the dates of many documents concerned.{{sfn|Turner|2003b|p=140}} ] argued that clause 39 of Magna Carta was the basis of the 16th-century jury system and judicial processes.{{sfn|Eele|2013|p=20}} Antiquarians ], ] and ] argued that Magna Carta was a statement of liberty and a fundamental, supreme law empowering English government.{{sfn|Thompson|1948|pp=216–230}} Those who questioned these conclusions, including the Member of Parliament ], faced sanctions.{{sfn|Pocock|1987|p=154}}{{sfn|Wright|1919|p=72}}
] would link ''habeas corpus'' to Magna Carta <ref>Turner, Ralph V. ''Magna Carta'' Pearson (2003) p156</ref> during ]. Sir ], who can be largely credited with first formulating a concept of ] (which would ironically be later used to attack the idea of an ancient constitution, notably by Robert Brady), sought to place the origins of Common Law in ].<ref>Greenberg, Janelle ''The Radical Face of the Ancient Constitution: St Edward's 'Laws' in Early Modern Political Thought'' Cambridge University Press (2001) p148</ref> ] would seek out documents to support the views of their compatriots, such as ], whose collection of manuscripts would later form the basis for the ], and who discovered two original copies of King John’s Charter.


===17th–18th centuries===
The Petition of Right of 1628 sought to add to Magna Carta in the manner of the ''Articuli super Cartas'' or the Six Statutes. ] however, did not grant it as law and he was under no legal restriction.<ref>Russell, Conrad ''Unrevolutionary England, 1603–1642'' Hambledon Press (1990) p41</ref> The problem as before in history was that the King was not bound by the law as adherents of Magna Carta believed. As before in history armed force would be used, first in 1642–49 and again in 1689.


====Political tensions====
With the advent of the ] it was questionable whether Magna Carta still applied. ] called for “great actions, above the form of law and custom”. Whilst ] had much disdain for Magna Carta, at one point describing it as "Magna Farta" to a defendant who sought to rely on it<ref>, a speech by ], ], given on 15 June 2005 at ]</ref> he agreed to rule with the advice and consent of his council.<ref>Woolrych, Austyn in David L. Smith (Editor) ''Cromwell and the Interregnum: The Essential Readings'' Wiley-Blackwell (2003) p66</ref>
] ] made extensive political use of Magna Carta.]]
In the early 17th century, Magna Carta became increasingly important as a political document in arguments over the authority of the English monarchy.{{sfn|Hindley|1990|pp=188–189}} ] and ] both propounded greater authority for the Crown, justified by the doctrine of the ], and Magna Carta was cited extensively by their opponents to challenge the monarchy.{{sfn|Breay|2010|p=46}}
Different radical groups held differing opinions of Magna Carta. The ] rejected history and law as presented by their contemporaries, holding instead to an ‘anti-Normanism’ viewpoint.<ref>Pocock, J.G.A. ''The Ancient Constitution and the Feudal Law'' Cambridge University Press (1987) p127</ref>] regarded Magna Carta as being less than the freedoms which supposedly existed under the Anglo-Saxons before being crushed by the ]. ] would describe Magna Carta as a “a beggarly thing containing many marks of intolerable bondage”.<ref>Kewes, Paulina ''The uses of history in early modern England'' University of California Press (2006) 226</ref> Both however saw Magna Carta as a valuable declaration of liberties which could be used against governments they disagreed with. Lilburne said "the ground of my freedom, I build upon the Grand Charter of England", while Overton said that when arrested, he hung on to his copy of Coke on Magna Carta, shouting "murder, murder, murder" as they wrested "the Great Charter of England's Liberties and Freedoms from me".<ref>Danziger & Gillingham (2004) pp.281–282</ref> ] leader of the more extreme ] stated “The best lawes that England hath, were got by our Forefathers importunate petitioning unto the kings that still were their Task-masters; and yet these best laws are yoaks and manicles, tying one sort of people to be slaves to another; Clergy and Gentry have got their freedom, but the common people still are, and have been left servants to work for them.”


Magna Carta, it was argued, recognised and protected the liberty of individual Englishmen, made the King subject to the ] of the land, formed the origin of the trial by jury system, and acknowledged the ancient origins of Parliament: because of Magna Carta and this ], an English monarch was unable to alter these long-standing English customs.{{sfn|Breay|2010|p=46}}{{sfn|Hindley|1990|pp=188–189}}{{sfn|Pocock|1987|p=300}}{{sfn|Greenberg|2006|p=148}} Although the arguments based on Magna Carta were historically inaccurate, they nonetheless carried symbolic power, as the charter had immense significance during this period; antiquarians such as Sir ] described it as "the most majestic and a sacrosanct anchor to English Liberties".{{sfn|Danziger|Gillingham|2004|p=280}}{{sfn|Breay|2010|p=46}}{{sfn|Hindley|1990|pp=188–189}}
The first attempt at a proper ] was undertaken by Robert Brady <ref>Pocock, J.G.A. ''The Ancient Constitution and the Feudal Law'' Cambridge University Press (1987) "The Brady Controversy" chapter pp182-228</ref> who refuted the supposed antiquity of parliament and the belief in the immutable continuity of the law, and realised the liberties of the Charter were limited and were effective only because it was the grant of the King; by putting Magna Carta in historical context he questioned its contemporary political relevance.<ref>Turner, Ralph V. ''Magna Carta'' Pearson (2003) p165</ref> However, Brady’s history would not survive the ] which “marked a setback for the course of English historiography”.<ref>Pocock, J.G.A. ''The Ancient Constitution and the Feudal Law'' Cambridge University Press (1987) p228</ref>


Sir Edward Coke was a leader in using Magna Carta as a political tool during this period. Still working from the 1225 version of the text – the first printed copy of the 1215 charter only emerged in 1610 – Coke spoke and wrote about Magna Carta repeatedly.{{sfn|Danziger|Gillingham|2004|p=280}} His work was challenged at the time by ], and modern historians such as Ralph Turner and ] have critiqued Coke as "misconstruing" the original charter "anachronistically and uncritically", and taking a "very selective" approach to his analysis.{{sfn|Breay|2010|p=46}}{{sfn|Turner|2003b|p=148}} More sympathetically, ] noted that the history of the charters had already become "distorted" by the time Coke was carrying out his work.{{sfn|Holt|1992b|pp=20–21}}
The Glorious Revolution reinforced the century’s ideological interpretations of history, which would later become known as the ]. Reinforced with ] concepts the ] believed England’s constitution to be a ], based on documents such as the Magna Carta, the Petition of Right and The ].<ref>Turner, Ralph V. ''Magna Carta'' Pearson (2003) p170</ref> Ideas about the nature of law in general were beginning to change. In 1716 the ] was passed, which had a number of consequences. Firstly, it showed that Parliament no longer considered its previous statutes unassailable, as this act provided that the parliamentary term was to be seven years, whereas fewer than twenty-five years had passed since the ] (1694), which provided that a parliamentary term was to be three years. It also greatly extended the powers of Parliament. Under this new constitution Monarchal ] was replaced by ]. It was quickly realised that Magna Carta stood in the same relation to the King-in-Parliament as it had to the King without Parliament. This supremacy would be challenged by the likes of ]. Sharp regarded Magna Carta to be a fundamental part of the constitution, and that it would be treason to repeal any part of it. Sharp also held that the Charter prohibited ].<ref>Linebaugh, Peter ''The Magna Carta Manifesto: Liberties and Commons for All'' University of California Press (2008) p113-114 and p96</ref>


] ] criticised Magna Carta as an inadequate definition of English liberties.]]
Sir ] published a critical edition of the 1215 Charter in 1759, and gave it the numbering system still used today.<ref name="Turner, Ralph V. 2003 pp67-68"/>


In 1621, a bill was presented to Parliament to renew Magna Carta; although this bill failed, lawyer ] argued during ] in 1627 that the right of ''habeas corpus'' was backed by Magna Carta.{{sfn|Turner|2003b|p=156}}{{sfn|Hindley|1990|p=189}} Coke supported the ] in 1628, which cited Magna Carta in its preamble, attempting to extend the provisions, and to make them binding on the judiciary.{{sfn|Hindley|1990|pp=189–190}}{{sfn|Turner|2003b|p=157}} The monarchy responded by arguing that the historical legal situation was much less clear-cut than was being claimed, restricted the activities of antiquarians, arrested Coke for treason, and suppressed his proposed book on Magna Carta.{{sfn|Hindley|1990|p=189}}{{sfn|Danziger|Gillingham|2004|pp=280–281}} Charles initially did not agree to the Petition of Right, and refused to confirm Magna Carta in any way that would reduce his independence as King.{{sfn|Russell|1990|p=41}}{{sfn|Hindley|1990|p=190}}
In 1763 an MP, ] was arrested for writing an inflammatory pamphlet, ''No. 45, 23 April 1763''; he cited Magna Carta incessantly. ] denounced the treatment of Wilkes as a contravention of Magna Carta.


England descended into ] in the 1640s, resulting in Charles I's execution in 1649. Under the ] that followed, some questioned whether Magna Carta, an agreement with a monarch, was still relevant.{{sfn|Danziger|Gillingham|2004|p=271}} An anti-] pamphlet published in 1660, ''The English devil'', said that the nation had been "compelled to submit to this Tyrant Nol or be cut off by him; nothing but a word and a blow, his Will was his Law; tell him of Magna Carta, he would lay his hand on his sword and cry Magna Farta".{{sfn|Woolwrych|2003|p=95}} In a 2005 speech the ], ], repeated the claim that Cromwell had referred to Magna Carta as "Magna Farta".<ref name=woolfspeech/>
Prophet of a new revolutionary age, ] in his '']'' would disregard the Magna Carta and the Bill of Rights on the grounds they were not a written constitution devised by elected representatives.


The radical groups that flourished during this period held differing opinions of Magna Carta. The ] rejected history and law as presented by their contemporaries, holding instead to an "anti-Normanism" viewpoint.{{sfn|Pocock|1987|p=127}} ], for example, argued that Magna Carta contained only some of the freedoms that had supposedly existed under the Anglo-Saxons before being crushed by the ].{{sfn|Kewes|2006|p=279}} The Leveller ] described the charter as "a beggarly thing containing many marks of intolerable bondage".{{sfn|Kewes|2006|p=226}}
===America===
When Englishmen left their homeland for the new world, they brought with them charters establishing the colonies. The ] charter for example stated the colonists would "have and enjoy all liberties and immunities of free and natural subjects." The ] of 1606 (which was largely drafted by Sir Edward Coke) stated the colonists would have all "liberties, franchises and immunities" as if they had been born in England. The ] contained similarities to clause 29 of the Magna Carta, and the ] in drawing it up viewed Magna Carta as the chief embodiment of English common law.<ref>Hazeltine, H.D. ''The influence of Magna Carta on American Constitutional Development'' in Malden, Henry Elliot (editor) ''Magna Carta commemoration essays'' (1917) p 194</ref> The other colonies would follow their example. In 1638 ] sought to recognise Magna Carta as part of the law of the province but it was not granted by the King.<ref>Hazeltine, H.D. ''The influence of Magna Carta on American Constitutional Development'' in Malden, Henry Elliot (editor) ''Magna Carta commemoration essays'' (1917) p 195</ref>


Both saw Magna Carta as a useful declaration of liberties that could be used against governments they disagreed with.{{sfn|Danziger|Gillingham|2004|pp=281–282}} ], the leader of the more extreme ], stated "the best lawes that England hath, were got by our Forefathers importunate petitioning unto the kings that still were their Task-masters; and yet these best laws are yoaks and manicles, tying one sort of people to be slaves to another; Clergy and Gentry have got their freedom, but the common people still are, and have been left servants to work for them."{{sfn|Hill|2006|pp=111–122}}{{sfn|Linebaugh|2009|p=85}}
In 1687 ] published ''The Excellent Privilege of Liberty and Property: being the birth-right of the Free-Born Subjects of England'' which contained the first copy of Magna Carta printed on American soil. Penn's comments reflected Coke's, indicating a belief that Magna Carta was a fundamental law.<ref>Turner, Ralph V. ''Magna Carta'' Pearson (2003) p210</ref> The colonists drew on English lawbooks leading them to an anachronistic interpretation of the Magna Carta, believing it guaranteed trial by jury and ''habeas corpus''.<ref>Turner, Ralph V. ''Magna Carta'' Pearson (2003) p 211</ref>


====Glorious Revolution====
The development of Parliamentary sovereignty in the British Isles did not constitutionally affect the ], which retained an adherence to ], but it would come to directly affect the relationship between Britain and the colonies.<ref>Hazeltine, H.D. ''The influence of Magna Carta on American Constitutional Development'' in Malden, Henry Elliot (editor) ''Magna Carta commemoration essays'' (1917) pp 183–184</ref> When American colonists raised arms against Britain, they were fighting not so much for new freedom, but to preserve liberties and rights, as believed to be enshrined in the Magna Carta and the Bill of Rights. ] would supplement this with ideas of ].
The first attempt at a proper ] was undertaken by ],{{sfn|Pocock|1987|pp=182–228}} who refuted the supposed antiquity of Parliament and belief in the immutable continuity of the law. Brady realised that the liberties of the Charter were limited and argued that the liberties were the grant of the King. By putting Magna Carta in historical context, he cast doubt on its contemporary political relevance;{{sfn|Turner|2003b|p=165}} his historical understanding did not survive the ], which, according to the historian ], "marked a setback for the course of English historiography."{{sfn|Pocock|1987|p=228}}


According to the ], the Glorious Revolution was an example of the reclaiming of ancient liberties. Reinforced with ] concepts, the ] believed England's constitution to be a ], based on documents such as Magna Carta, the Petition of Right, and the ].{{sfn|Turner|2003b|pp=169–170}} The ''English Liberties'' (1680, in later versions often ''British Liberties'') by the Whig propagandist ] (d. 1688) was a cheap polemical book that was influential and much-reprinted, in the American colonies as well as Britain, and made Magna Carta central to the history and the contemporary legitimacy of its subject.{{sfn|Breay|Harrison|2015|pp=110–111, 134}}
In 1787 when the revolutionaries gathered to draft a constitution they built upon the legal system they knew and admired, English common law, and on ] philosophy.


Ideas about the nature of law in general were beginning to change. In 1716, the ] was passed, which had a number of consequences. First, it showed that Parliament no longer considered its previous statutes unassailable, as it provided for a maximum parliamentary term of seven years, whereas the ] (1694) (enacted less than a quarter of a century previously) had provided for a maximum term of three years.{{sfn|Linebaugh|2009|pp=113–14}}
The ] is the "]", recalling the manner in which Magna Carta had come to be regarded as fundamental law. This heritage is quite apparent. In comparing Magna Carta with the Bill of Rights: the ] guarantees: "No person shall be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law." In addition, the United States Constitution included a similar writ in the ], article 1, section 9: "The privilege of the writ ] shall not be suspended, unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion, the public safety may require it." Each of these proclaim no man may be imprisoned or detained without proof that they did wrong. The ] states that, "The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people." The framers of the ] wished to ensure that rights they already held, such as those provided by the Magna Carta, were not lost unless explicitly curtailed in the new ].<ref>Frederic Jesup Stimson, ''The Law of the Federal and State Constitutions of the United States; Book One, Origin and Growth of the American Constitutions'', 2004, Introductory, Lawbook Exchange Ltd, ISBN 1-58477-369-3</ref><ref>Charles Lund Black, ''A New Birth of Freedom'', 1999, p. 10, Yale University Press, ISBN 0-300-07734-3</ref>


It also greatly extended the powers of Parliament. Under this new constitution, monarchical ] was replaced by ]. It was quickly realised that Magna Carta stood in the same relation to the King-in-Parliament as it had to the King without Parliament. This supremacy would be challenged by the likes of ]. Sharp regarded Magna Carta as a fundamental part of the constitution, and maintained that it would be treason to repeal any part of it. He also held that the Charter prohibited ].{{sfn|Linebaugh|2009|pp=113–114}}
The ] has explicitly referenced ]'s analysis of Magna Carta as an antecedent of the ] right to a speedy trial.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=US&vol=386&invol=213 |title='&#39;Klopfer v. North Carolina'&#39;, 386 U.S. 213 (1967) |publisher=Caselaw.lp.findlaw.com |date= |accessdate=2010-05-02}}</ref>


Sir ] published a critical edition of the 1215 Charter in 1759, and gave it the numbering system still used today.{{sfn|Turner|2003b|pp=67–68}} In 1763, Member of Parliament ] was arrested for writing an inflammatory pamphlet, ''No. 45, 23 April 1763''; he cited Magna Carta continually.{{sfn|Fryde|2001|p=207}} ] denounced the treatment of Wilkes as a contravention of Magna Carta.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Goodrich|first1=Chauncey A.|title=The Speeches of Lord Chatham|url=http://www.classicpersuasion.org/cbo/chatham/chat09.htm|publisher=Classic Persuasion}}</ref> ], in his '']'', would disregard Magna Carta and the Bill of Rights on the grounds that they were not a written constitution devised by elected representatives.<ref>{{cite web|title=Lord Irvine of Lairg 'The Spirit of Magna Carta Continues to Resonate in Modern Law'|url=http://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Senate/Research_and_Education/pops/pop39/lairg|publisher=Parliament of Australia|access-date=7 November 2014|date=December 2002|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141106070809/http://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Senate/Research_and_Education/pops/pop39/lairg|archive-date=6 November 2014|df=dmy-all}}</ref>
==Nineteenth Century and beyond==
Whilst radicals such as Sir ] believed that Magna Carta could not be repealed, the 19th century would see the beginning of the repeal of many of the clauses of Magna Carta. The clauses were either obsolete and/or had been replaced by later legislation.


====Use in the Thirteen Colonies and the United States====
]’s ''Constitutional History of England'' would be the high-water mark of the Whig interpretation of history. Stubbs believed that Magna Carta had been a major step in the shaping of the English people and he believed that the Barons at Runnymede were not just the Barons but the people.<ref>Turner, Ralph V. ''Magna Carta'' Pearson (2003) pp1990-200</ref>
], Washington, D.C.]]
When English colonists left for the New World, they brought royal charters that established the colonies. The ] charter, for example, stated that the colonists would "have and enjoy all liberties and immunities of free and natural subjects."<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Brink|first1=Robert J.|title=History on display: one lawyer's musings on Magna Carta|journal=Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly|date=18 August 2014|url=http://masslawyersweekly.com/reprints/history-on-display-one-lawyers-musings-on-the-magna-carta/|access-date=20 November 2014}}</ref> The ] of 1606, which was largely drafted by Sir Edward Coke, stated that the colonists would have the same "liberties, franchises and immunities" as people born in England.{{sfn|Howard|2008|p=28}} The ] contained similarities to clause 29 of Magna Carta; when drafting it, the ] viewed Magna Carta as the chief embodiment of English common law.{{sfn|Hazeltine|1917|p=194}} The other colonies would follow their example. In 1638, ] sought to recognise Magna Carta as part of the law of the province, but the request was denied by Charles I.{{sfn|Hazeltine|1917|p=195}}


In 1687, ] published ''The Excellent Privilege of Liberty and Property: being the birth-right of the Free-Born Subjects of England'', which contained the first copy of Magna Carta printed on American soil. Penn's comments reflected Coke's, indicating a belief that Magna Carta was a ].{{sfn|Turner|2003b|p=210}} The colonists drew on English law books, leading them to an anachronistic interpretation of Magna Carta, believing that it guaranteed trial by jury and ''habeas corpus''.{{sfn|Turner|2003b|p=211}}
This view of history however, was passing. At the popular level ] in ]'s ''Illustrated history of England'' would note that it was fiction that King John’s Charter was the same Magna Carta as was on the statute books and stated that “The Barons, in fact, were amongst the greatest traitors that England ever produced”.<ref>Volume 6 1862 pV</ref> A more academic history was provided by ] in ''History of English Law before the Time of Edward I'' which began to move Magna Carta away from the myth that had grown up around it and return it to its historical roots. In many literary representations of the medieval past, however, the Magna Carta remained the foundation for many diverse constructions of English national identity. Some authors instrumentalized the medieval roots of the document to preserve the social status quo while others utilized the precious national inheritance to change perceived economic injustice.<ref>Clare A. Simmons, "Absent Presence: The Romantic-Era Magna Charta and the English Constitution," in ''Medievalism in the Modern World. Essays in Honour of ]'', ed. Richard Utz and Tom Shippey (Turnhout: Brepols, 1998), pp. 69-83.</ref>


The development of parliamentary supremacy in the British Isles did not constitutionally affect the ], which retained an adherence to ], but it directly affected the relationship between Britain and the colonies.{{sfn|Hazeltine|1917|pp=183–184}} When American colonists fought against Britain, they were fighting not so much for new freedom, but to preserve liberties and rights that they believed to be enshrined in Magna Carta.<ref name="NARA-legacy">{{cite web|title=Magna Carta and Its American Legacy|url=https://www.archives.gov/exhibits/featured_documents/magna_carta/legacy.html|publisher=]|access-date=30 January 2015}}</ref>
In 1904 ] published in the ] an article entitled “The Myth of Magna Carta” which undermined the traditionally accepted view of the Magna Carta.<ref>Galef, David ''Second thoughts: a focus on rereading'' Wayne State University Press (1998) p78-79</ref> Historians like ] would agree with Jenks in considering Coke to have ‘invented’ Magna Carta, noting that the Charter at Runnymede had not meant popular liberty at all.<ref>Pollard, Albert F. ''The History of England; a study in political evolution'' (1912)pp31-32</ref>


In the late 18th century, the ] became the ], recalling the manner in which Magna Carta had come to be regarded as fundamental law.<ref name="NARA-legacy"/> The Constitution's ] guarantees that "no person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law", a phrase that was derived from Magna Carta.<ref name="NARA-Magna Carta">{{cite web|title=The Magna Carta|url=https://www.archives.gov/exhibits/featured_documents/magna_carta/|publisher=National Archives and Records Administration|access-date=20 November 2014}}</ref> In addition, the Constitution included a similar writ in the ], Article 1, Section 9: "The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion, the public safety may require it."<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Logal |first1=W.A. |title=Federal Habeas in the Information Age |journal=Minnesota Law Review |date=2000 |volume=85 |page=147}}</ref>
] in their parody ''1066 and All That '' would play on the supposed importance of Magna Carta and its supposed universal liberty:. “Magna Charter was therefore the chief cause of Democracy in England, and thus a ''Good Thing'' for everyone (except the Common People)”.


Each of these proclaim that no person may be imprisoned or detained without evidence that he or she committed a crime. The ] states that "The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people." The writers of the U.S. Constitution wished to ensure that the rights they already held, such as those that they believed were provided by Magna Carta, would be preserved unless explicitly curtailed.{{sfn|Stimson|2004|p=124}}{{sfn|Black|1999|p=10}}
==Influences on later constitutions==
{{Expand section|date=June 2008}}
Many later attempts to draft constitutional forms of government, including the ], trace their lineage back to this source document.


The ] has explicitly referenced Edward Coke's analysis of Magna Carta as an antecedent of the ]'s right to a speedy trial.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=US&vol=386&invol=213 |title='Klopfer v. North Carolina', 386 U.S. 213 (1967) |work=FindLaw |access-date=2 May 2010}}</ref>
The British dominions, ] and ],<ref>Clark, David ''The Icon of Liberty: The Status and Role of Magna Carta in Australian and New Zealand Law'' ] 34 (2000)</ref> ] <ref>Kennedy, William Paul Mcclure ''The Constitution of Canada; An Introduction to Its Development and Law'' (1922) p228</ref>(except ]), and formerly ] and ], all looked back to Magna Carta in their law, and the Charter impacted generally on the states that evolved from the ].<ref>Drew, Katherine Fischer ''Magna Carta'' Greenwood (2004) pxvi & pxxiii</ref>


===19th–21st centuries===
Magna Carta has influenced ] as well: ] opined that that ] "might well become a Magna Carta for all mankind"<ref>Flood, Patrick James''The effectiveness of UN human rights institutions'' Greenwood Press (1998)
p31</ref>


====Interpretation====
Magna Carta is thought {{By whom|date=September 2010}} to be the crucial turning point in the struggle to establish freedom and a key element in the transformation of constitutional thinking throughout the world.
] and applied by officials rather than John himself.<ref>{{citation |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-magazine-monitor-30879124 |title=Did King John actually 'sign' Magna Carta? |publisher=BBC |date=19 January 2015 |access-date=14 April 2020}}</ref>]]
Initially, the Whig interpretation of Magna Carta and its role in constitutional history remained dominant during the 19th century. The historian ]'s ''Constitutional History of England'', published in the 1870s, formed the high-water mark of this view.{{sfn|Turner|2003b|pp=199–200}} Stubbs argued that Magna Carta had been a major step in the shaping of the English nation, and he believed that the barons at Runnymede in 1215 were not just representing the nobility, but the people of England as a whole, standing up to a tyrannical ruler in the form of King John.{{sfn|Turner|2003b|pp=199–200}}{{sfn|Fryde|2001|p=1}}


This view of Magna Carta began to recede. The late-Victorian jurist and historian ] provided an alternative academic history in 1899, which began to return Magna Carta to its historical roots.{{sfn|Simmons|1998|pp=69–83}} In 1904, ] published an article entitled "The Myth of Magna Carta", which undermined the previously accepted view of Magna Carta.{{sfn|Galef|1998|pp=78–79}} Historians such as ] agreed with Jenks in concluding that Edward Coke had largely "invented" the myth of Magna Carta in the 17th century; these historians argued that the 1215 charter had not referred to liberty for the people at large, but rather to the protection of baronial rights.{{sfn|Pollard|1912|pp=31–32}}
==Exemplifications==
].]]
Numerous copies, known as "exemplifications", were made each time it was issued, so all of the participants would each have one — in the case of the 1215 copy, one for the royal archives, one for the ], and one for each of the 40 ] of the time. If there ever was one single ']' of Magna Carta sealed by King John in 1215, it has not survived. Four exemplifications of the original 1215 text remain, all of which are located in England, some on permanent display:
* The 'burnt copy', was found in the archives of ] in 1630 by ] and sent to the antiquarian ] and is assumed to be the copy sent to the ] on or after 24 June 1215. It was subsequently damaged in a fire at ] where the Cotton Library was housed, and is now virtually illegible. It is the only one of the four to have its seal surviving, which remains however as a lump of shapeless wax. It is currently held by the ](Cotton Charter XIII.31a).<ref>Davis, G.R.C., Magna Carta, published by the British Library Board, 1977, p.36</ref><!-- Photo, please. -->
* Another 1215 exemplication is held by the British Library (Cotton MS. Augustus II.106).
* One owned by ], normally on display at ]. It has an unbroken attested history at Lincoln since 1216. We hear of it in 1800 when the Chapter Clerk of the Cathedral reported that he held it in the Common Chamber, and then nothing until 1846 when the Chapter Clerk of that time moved it from within the Cathedral to a property just outside. In 1848, Magna Carta was shown to a visiting group who reported it as "hanging on the wall in an oak frame in beautiful preservation". It went to the ] in 1939. In 1941, after war broke out with Japan, Magna Carta was sent to ], along with the U.S. Declaration of Independence and Constitution, until 1944, when it was deemed safe to return them.<ref>, GlobalSecurity.org</ref> Having returned to Lincoln, it has been back to the United States on various occasions since then.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.magnacharta.org/DeanofLincolnsRemarks2004.htm |archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20070928064443/http://www.magnacharta.org/DeanofLincolnsRemarks2004.htm |archivedate=2007-09-28 |publisher=National Society Magna Charta Dames and Barons |title=Magna Charta: Our Heritage and Yours |last=Knight |first=Alec |date=17 April 2004 |accessdate=2 September 2007 }}</ref> It was taken out of display for a time to undergo conservation in preparation for its visit to the United States, where it was exhibited at the ''Contemporary Art Center of Virginia'' from 30 March to 18 June 2007 in recognition of the ] quadricentennial.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.cacv.org/exhibitions/MagnaCarta.asp |title=Magna Carta & Four Foundations of Freedom |publisher=Contemporary Art Center of Virginia |year=2007 |accessdate=2 September 2007 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.cacv.org/MagnaCarta.asp |title=By Our Heirs Forever |publisher=Contemporary Art Center of Virginia |year=2007 |accessdate=2 September 2007 }}</ref> From 4 July to 25 July 2007, the document was displayed at the ] in Philadelphia,<ref>{{cite press release |url=http://www.constitutioncenter.org/PressRoom/PressReleases/2007_05_30_17687.shtml |archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20070927032707/http://www.constitutioncenter.org/PressRoom/PressReleases/2007_05_30_17687.shtml |archivedate=2007-09-27 |publisher=] |title=Magna Carta on Display Beginning 4 July |date=30 May 2007 |accessdate=2 September 2007 }}</ref> returning to Lincoln Castle afterwards. The document returned to New York to be displayed at the ] Museum from 15 September to 15 December 2009 and has since returned to Lincoln.<ref>, '']'', 13 September 2009</ref><ref>, ''] Museum''</ref>
* One owned by and displayed at ]. It is the best preserved of the four.<ref>, '']'', 4 August 2009</ref>


This view also became popular in wider circles, and in 1930 ] published their parody on English history, '']'', in which they mocked the supposed importance of Magna Carta and its promises of universal liberty: "Magna Charter was therefore the chief cause of Democracy in England, and thus a ''Good Thing'' for everyone (except the Common People)".{{sfn|Barnes|2008|p=23}}{{sfn|Danziger|Gillingham|2004|p=283}}
Other early versions of Magna Carta survive. ] possesses 1216, 1217, and 1225 copies.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.icons.org.uk/theicons/collection/magna-carta/features/where-can-i-see-a-copy |title=Magna Carta: Where can I see a copy? |work=Icons: A Portrait of England |publisher=Culture Online |accessdate=2 September 2007 }}</ref>


In many literary representations of the medieval past, however, Magna Carta remained a foundation of English national identity. Some authors used the medieval roots of the document as an argument to preserve the social status quo, while others pointed to Magna Carta to challenge perceived economic injustices.{{sfn|Simmons|1998|pp=69–83}} The Baronial Order of Magna Charta was formed in 1898 to promote the ancient principles and values felt to be displayed in Magna Carta.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.magnacharta.com/|title=Home|publisher=The Baronial Order of Magna Charta|access-date=19 November 2014}}</ref> The legal profession in England and the United States continued to hold Magna Carta in high esteem; they were instrumental in forming the Magna Carta Society in 1922 to protect the meadows at Runnymede from development in the 1920s, and in 1957, the ] erected the ] at Runnymede.<ref name="NARA-Magna Carta"/>{{sfn|Wright|1990|p=167}}{{sfn|Holt|1992b|pp=2–3}} The prominent lawyer ] described Magna Carta in 1956 as "the greatest constitutional document of all times<!-- ; see note above -->—the foundation of the freedom of the individual against the arbitrary authority of the despot".{{sfn|Danziger|Gillingham|2004|p=278}}
A near-perfect 1217 copy is held by ] and is occasionally displayed alongside the ] in the cathedral's ]. Remarkably, the Hereford Magna Carta is the only one known to survive along with an early version of a Magna Carta 'users manual', a small document that was sent along with Magna Carta telling the Sheriff of the county to observe the conditions outlined in the document.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/herefordandworcester/content/articles/2009/06/15/magna_carta_3108_event_feature.shtml |title=Magna Carta at Hereford Cathedral }}</ref>


====Repeal of articles and constitutional influence====
Four copies are held by the ] in ]. Three of these are 1217 issues and one a 1225 issue. On 10 December 2007, these were put on public display for the first time.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.ox.ac.uk/media/news_stories/2007/071210a.html |title=Magna Carta on display at the Bodleian |date=10 December 2007 |accessdate=12 December 2007}}</ref>
Radicals such as Sir ] believed that Magna Carta could not be repealed,{{sfn|Burdett|1810|p=41}} but in the 19th century clauses which were obsolete or had been superseded began to be repealed. The repeal of clause 26 in 1829, by the ] (]. c. 31 s. 1){{efn|I.e., section 1 of the 31st statute issued in the 9th year of George IV; "nor will We not" in clause 29 is correctly quoted from this source.}}<ref name=UKStatute/> was the first time a clause of Magna Carta was repealed. Over the next 140 years, nearly the whole of Magna Carta (1297) as statute was repealed,<ref>{{cite web|title=Magna Carta|url=http://www.sagamoreinstitute.org/library-article/magna-carta/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141105004655/http://www.sagamoreinstitute.org/library-article/magna-carta/|url-status=dead|archive-date=5 November 2014|publisher=Segamore Institute|access-date=4 November 2014}}</ref> leaving just clauses 1, 9 and 29 still in force (in England and Wales) after 1969.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The contents of Magna Carta |url=https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/evolutionofparliament/originsofparliament/birthofparliament/overview/magnacarta/magnacartaclauses/#:~:text=Only%20four%20of%20the%2063,%2C%2013%2C%2039%20and%2040. |url-status=live |access-date=2022-08-28 |website=]|archive-date=2022-08-28|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220828101448/https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/evolutionofparliament/originsofparliament/birthofparliament/overview/magnacarta/magnacartaclauses/}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Magna Carta 1297 at Legislation.gov.uk|url=https://www.legislation.gov.uk/aep/Edw1cc1929/25/9/section/I |access-date=2022-12-08 |website=]}}</ref> Most of the clauses were repealed in England and Wales by the ], and in modern ] and also in the modern ] by the ].<ref name=UKStatute/>


Many later attempts to draft constitutional forms of government trace their lineage back to Magna Carta. The British dominions, Australia and New Zealand,{{sfn|Clark|2000}} Canada{{sfn|Kennedy|1922|p=228}} (except ]), and formerly the ] and ], reflected the influence of Magna Carta in their laws, and the Charter's effects can be seen in the laws of other states that evolved from the ].{{sfn|Drew|2004|pp=pxvi–pxxiii}}
], Australia's ] opened on 24 May 2003.]]


====Modern legacy====
In 1952 the Australian Government purchased a 1297 copy of Magna Carta for £12,500 from ], England.<ref>Harry Evans, </ref> This copy is now on display in the Members' Hall of ], Canberra. In January 2006, it was announced by the Department of Parliamentary Services that the document had been revalued down from ]40m to A$15m.
] at Runnymede, designed by Sir ] and erected by the ] in 1957. The memorial stands in the meadow known historically as Long Mede: it is likely that the actual site of the sealing of Magna Carta lay further east, towards ] and ].{{sfn|Tatton-Brown|2015|p=36}}]]


Magna Carta continues to have a powerful iconic status in British society, being cited by politicians and lawyers in support of constitutional positions.{{sfn|Danziger|Gillingham|2004|p=278}}{{sfn|Breay|2010|p=48}} Its perceived guarantee of trial by jury and other civil liberties, for example, led to ]'s reference to the debate in 2008 over whether to increase the maximum time terrorism suspects could be ] from 28 to 42 days as "the day Magna Carta was repealed".<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/so-will-the-revolution-start-in-haltemprice-and-howden-846938.html|title=So will the revolution start in Haltemprice and Howden?|work=The Independent|location=UK|date=14 June 2008|access-date=16 June 2008}}</ref> Although rarely invoked in court in the modern era, in 2012 the ] protestors attempted to use Magna Carta in resisting their eviction from ] by the ]. In his judgment the ] gave this short shrift, noting somewhat drily that although clause 29 was considered by many the foundation of the rule of law in England, he did not consider it directly relevant to the case, and that the two other surviving clauses ironically concerned the rights of the Church and the City of London and could not help the defendants.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Green|first1=David Allen|url=http://blogs.ft.com/david-allen-green/2014/06/16/the-myth-of-magna-carta/|title=The myth of Magna Carta |date=16 June 2014|access-date=21 January 2015|author-link=David Allen Green|work=Financial Times|quote=The sarcasm of the Master of the Rolls was plain|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Civ/2012/160.html|title=The Mayor Commonalty and Citizens of London v Samede|date=22 February 2012|access-date=21 January 2015}}</ref>
Only one copy (a 1297 copy with the royal seal of ]) is in private hands; it was held by the Brudenell family, earls of ], who had owned it for five centuries, before being sold to the ] Foundation in 1984. This copy, having been on long-term loan to the ], was auctioned at ] New York on 18 December 2007; The Perot Foundation sold it in order to "have funds available for medical research, for improving public education and for assisting wounded soldiers and their families."<ref>{{Cite news|work=] |url=http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/25/nyregion/25magna.html |title=Magna Carta is going on the auction block |date=25 September 2007 |accessdate=19 December 2007 | first=James | last=Barron}}</ref> It fetched ]21.3 million,<ref>{{Cite news|work=] |url=http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/magna-carta-copy-fetches-24m/2007/12/19/1197740327098.html |title=Magna Carta copy fetches $24m |date=19 December 2007 |accessdate=19 December 2007 }}</ref> It was bought by ] of ],<ref>{{Cite journal|title=Magna Carta Sells for $21.3m in New York |url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/19/AR2007121900459.html |work=] |date=19 December 2007 |accessdate=19 December 2007 |format= – <sup></sup> |publisher=The Washington Post |postscript=<!--None--> }} {{Dead link|date=May 2009}}</ref> who after the auction said, "I thought it was very important that the Magna Carta stay in the United States and I was concerned that the only copy in the United States might escape as a result of this auction." Rubenstein's copy is on permanent loan to the ] in ].<ref name="Howard"> "Magna Carta Comes to America", ''American Heritage'', Spring/Summer 2008.</ref>


Magna Carta carries little legal weight in modern Britain, as most of its clauses have been repealed and relevant rights ensured by other statutes, but the historian James Holt remarks that the survival of the 1215 charter in national life is a "reflexion of the continuous development of English law and administration" and symbolic of the many struggles between authority and the law over the centuries.{{sfn|Holt|1992b|p=2}} The historian W. L. Warren has observed that "many who knew little and cared less about the content of the Charter have, in nearly all ages, invoked its name, and with good cause, for it meant more than it said".{{sfn|Warren|1990|p=240}}
==Usage of the definite article, spelling "Magna Carta"==
Since there is no direct, consistent correlate of the English ] in ], the usual academic convention is to refer to the document in English without the article as "Magna Carta" rather than "'''the''' Magna Carta". According to the ], the first written appearance of the term was in 1218: ''{{lang|la|"Concesserimus libertates quasdam scriptas in '''magna carta''' nostra de libertatibus}}"'' (Latin: "We concede the certain liberties here written in our '''great charter''' concerning liberties"). However, "'''the''' Magna Carta" is frequently used in both academic and non-academic speech.


It also remains a topic of great interest to historians; ] characterised the charter as "one of the holiest of cows in English medieval history", with the debates over its interpretation and meaning unlikely to end.{{sfn|Fryde|2001|p=1}} The majority of contemporary historians however see the interpretation of the charter as a unique and early charter of legal rights as a myth that was created centuries later.<ref>{{harvnb|Helmholz|2014|p=1475}} "The latter, a negative opinion that a majority of professional historians seem to share, regards Magna Carta’s exalted reputation as a myth. In its origins, historians say, the Charter did little or nothing to promote good government. Nor, they add, did it serve to protect the legal rights of the great majority of English men and women. It served only the baronial class. Its glorification was a later invention, attributable to myth-making lawyers like Edward Coke in the seventeenth century and William Blackstone in the eighteenth."</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Baker|2017|p=missing}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Radin|1947|p=missing}}</ref> <!--section on current historians' views could do with being expanded -->
Especially in the past, the document has also been referred to as "Magna Charta", but the pronunciation was the same. "Magna Charta" is still an acceptable variant spelling recorded in many dictionaries due to continued use in some reputable sources. From the 13th to the 17th centuries, only the spelling "Magna Carta" was used. The spelling "Magna Charta" began to be used in the 18th century but never became more common despite also being used by some reputable writers.<ref>'''', Bryan A. Garner</ref><ref>''''</ref>


In many ways still a "sacred text", Magna Carta is generally considered part of the ] ]; in a 2005 speech, the ], ], described it as the "first of a series of instruments that now are recognised as having a special constitutional status".<ref name=woolfspeech>{{cite web|url=http://magnacarta800th.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Precedent_Recent_Constitutional_Change.pdf|title=Magna Carta: a precedent for recent constitutional change|work=Judiciary of England and Wales Speeches|date=15 June 2005|access-date=4 November 2014}}</ref>{{sfn|Holt|1992b|p=21}} Magna Carta was reprinted in ] in 1881 as one of the Imperial Acts in force there.<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.nzlii.org/nz/legis/imp_act_1881/mc25ei84/ |title= Magna Carta (25 Ed I) |publisher= New Zealand Law online }}</ref> Clause 29 of the document remains in force as part of New Zealand law.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |date=28 March 1297 |title=Magna Carta 1297 s 29 |url=http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/imperial/1297/0029/latest/whole.html#DLM10926 |website=New Zealand Legislation |language=en-NZ}}</ref>
==Popular perceptions==
]
] acknowledged the debt American law and constitutionalism had to Magna Carta by erecting a monument at ].]]
The document also continues to be honoured in the United States as an antecedent of the ] and ].<ref name=ChartersOfFreedom>{{cite web|url=https://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/constitution_q_and_a.html|title=United States Constitution Q + A|work=The Charters of Freedom|publisher=National Archives and Records Administration|access-date=4 November 2014}}</ref> In 1976, the UK lent one of four surviving originals of the 1215 Magna Carta to the United States for their bicentennial celebrations and also donated an ornate display case for it. The original was returned after one year, but a replica and the case are still on display in the ] Crypt in ]<ref>{{cite web|title=Magna Carta Replica and Display|url=http://www.aoc.gov/capitol-hill/other/magna-carta-replica-and-display|publisher=]|access-date=20 November 2014}}</ref>


The rights proclaimed with Magna Carta also found their path in the ] from 1789 as “Liberty, Equality and Fraternity” became a symbol of democratic freedom and later influenced conventions and international agreements.<ref>Vesna Stefanovska, "The Legacy Of Magna Carta And The Rule Of Law In The Republic Of Macedonia," Sciendo, , accessed January 7, 2025.</ref>
===Symbol and practice===
Magna Carta is often a symbol for the first time the citizens of England were granted rights against an absolute king. However, in practice the Commons could not enforce Magna Carta in the few situations where it applied to them, so its reach was limited. Also, a large part of Magna Carta was copied, nearly word for word, from the Charter of Liberties of ], issued when Henry I rose to the throne in 1100, which bound the king to laws which effectively granted certain civil liberties to the church and the English nobility.


====Celebration of the 800th anniversary====
===Many documents form Magna Carta===
Although the Magna Carta is popularly thought of as the document which was forced upon King John in 1215, this version of the charter was almost immediately annulled. Later monarchs reissued the document, but without the most direct challenges to their power, and without the provisions which were intended to right immediate wrongs rather than make long-term constitutional changes. The version which forms part of English law is actually that of 1297. ''Magna Carta'' can therefore be used to refer to any one of several related (but not identical) 13th century documents, or indeed to the various charters as a whole.


] in collaboration with ] and ] and supported by the law firm ]]]
===The document was unsigned===
The 800th anniversary of the original charter occurred on 15 June 2015, and organisations and institutions planned celebratory events.<ref name=doward>{{cite news|last1=Doward|first1=Jamie|title=Magna Carta 800 years on: recognition at last for 'England's greatest export'|url=https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2014/nov/01/magna-carta-800-celebrates-anniversary|access-date=7 November 2014|work=The Observer|date=1 November 2014}}</ref> The ] brought together the four existing copies of the 1215 manuscript in February 2015 for a special exhibition.<ref>{{cite web|title=Celebrating 800 years of Magna Carta|url=http://www.bl.uk/magna-carta/800th-anniversary-programme|publisher=British Library|access-date=7 November 2014}}</ref> British artist ] was commissioned to create a new artwork, '']'', which was shown at the British Library between May and July 2015.<ref>{{cite web|title=Magna Carta: Law, Liberty, Legacy|url=http://www.bl.uk/events/magna-carta--law-liberty-legacy|publisher=British Library|access-date=7 November 2014}}</ref> The artwork is a copy of the ] article about Magna Carta (as it appeared on the document's 799th anniversary, 15 June 2014), hand-embroidered by over 200 people.<ref name=Embroidery>{{cite news |last1=Jones |first1=Jonathan |title=Kings and needles: the Magna Carta gets an embroidery update |url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/jonathanjonesblog/2015/may/14/magna-carta-an-embroidery-cornelia-parker-british-library-wikipedia-prisoners-jarvis-cocker |access-date=14 May 2015 |work=The Guardian |date=14 May 2015}}</ref>
Popular perception is that King John and the barons ''signed'' Magna Carta. There were no signatures on the original document, however, only a single seal placed by the king. The words of the charter — ''Data per manum nostram'' — signify that the document was personally given by the king's hand. By placing his seal on the document, the King and the barons followed common law that a seal was sufficient to authenticate a deed, though it had to be done in front of witnesses. John's seal was the only one, and he did not sign it. The barons neither signed nor attached their seals to it.<ref>{{Cite book| first = Charles Henry | last = Browning | year = 1898 | url = http://books.google.com/?id=hTUfAAAAMAAJ | title = The Magna Charta Barons and Their American Descendants&nbsp;... | oclc = 9378577 | location = Philadelphia | page = 50 | chapter = The Magna Charta Described | chapterurl = http://books.google.com/books?vid=0XPZLx6VcMoY1KO0KO&id=hTUfAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA501 }}</ref>


On 15 June 2015, a commemoration ceremony was conducted in Runnymede at the National Trust park, attended by British and American dignitaries.<ref>{{Cite news|title = Magna Carta: leaders celebrate 800th anniversary of the Great Charter|url = https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/jun/15/magna-carta-leaders-celebrate-800th-anniversary-runnymede|newspaper = The Guardian|access-date = 2015-06-20|first = Caroline|last = Davies|date = 2015-06-15}}</ref> On the same day, ] celebrated the anniversary with a ].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://doodles.google/doodle/800th-anniversary-of-the-magna-carta/|title=800th Anniversary of the Magna Carta|website=Google|date=15 June 2015}}</ref>
===Perception in America===
The document is also honoured in America, where it is an antecedent of the ] and Bill of Rights. In 1957, the ] erected the Runnymede Memorial.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/featured_documents/magna_carta/ |title=National Archives Featured Documents: Magna Carta |publisher=Archives.gov |date= |accessdate=2010-08-30}}</ref> In 1976, the UK lent an original 1215 Magna Carta to the U.S. for its bicentennial celebrations, and also donated an ornate case to display it, which included a gold replica of Magna Carta. The case and gold replica are still on display in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda in Washington, D.C.<ref>Sarasin, Ronald A., , ], 12 September 2003.</ref>


The copy held by ] was exhibited in the ] in Washington, D.C., from November 2014 until January 2015.<ref>{{cite web|title=Magna Carta: Muse and Mentor|url=https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/magna-carta-muse-and-mentor|publisher=Library of Congress|access-date=30 January 2015|date=2014-11-06}}</ref> A new visitor centre at ] was opened for the anniversary.<ref>{{cite web|title=Magna Carta 800|url=http://www.visitlincoln.com/magnacarta|publisher=Visit Lincoln|access-date=7 November 2014}}</ref> The ] released two commemorative ].<ref>{{cite web|title=800th Anniversary of Magna Carta 2015 UK £2 BU Coin|url=http://www.royalmint.com/shop/800th_Anniversary_of_Magna_Carta_2015_UK_2_pound_BU_Coin|publisher=]|access-date=27 December 2014}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title = Magna Carta 800th Anniversary 2015 UK £2 Silver Piedfort Coin {{!}} The Royal Mint|url = http://www.royalmint.com/shop/Magna_Carta_800th_Anniversary_2015_UK_2_pound_Silver_Piedfort_Coin?tab=detail#productdetails|website = The Royal Mint|access-date = 2015-11-24|url-status=dead|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20151125052803/http://www.royalmint.com/shop/Magna_Carta_800th_Anniversary_2015_UK_2_pound_Silver_Piedfort_Coin?tab=detail#productdetails|archive-date = 25 November 2015|df = dmy-all}}</ref>
===21st-century Britain===

In 2006, '']'' held a poll to recommend a date for a proposed "Britain Day". 15 June, which was the date of the original 1215 Magna Carta, received most votes, above other suggestions such as ], ], and ]. The outcome was not binding, although the then ] ] had previously given his support to the idea of a new national day to celebrate ].<ref>{{Cite news| url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/5028496.stm | work = ] | title = Magna Carta tops British day poll | date = 30 May 2006 | accessdate = 2 September 2007 }}</ref> It was used as the name for an anti-surveillance movement in the 2008 BBC series '']''. According to a poll carried out by ] in 2008, 45% of the British public do not know what Magna Carta is.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/03/13/ncarta113.xml |title=Magna Carta what? English charter 'a mystery to 45% of population' |work=] |date=13 March 2008 |accessdate=13 March 2008 | location=London}}</ref> However, its perceived guarantee of trial by jury and other civil liberties led to ] to refer to the debate over whether to increase the maximum time terrorist suspects could be ] from 28 to 42 days as "the day Magna Carta was repealed".<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/so-will-the-revolution-start-in-haltemprice-and-howden-846938.html |title=So will the revolution start in Haltemprice and Howden? |work=] |date=14 June 2008 |accessdate=16 June 2008 | location=London}}</ref>
In 2014, ] in ] celebrated the 800th anniversary of the barons' Charter of Liberties, said to have been secretly agreed there in November 1214.<ref>{{cite web|title=Bury St Edmunds Magna Carta 800|url=http://magnacarta800.org.uk|publisher=The Bury Society|location=]|access-date=28 December 2014}}</ref>

==Copies==

===Physical format===
Numerous copies, known as ], were made of the various charters, and many of them still survive.{{sfn|Breay|2010|p=37}} The documents were written in heavily abbreviated medieval Latin in clear handwriting, using ] pens on sheets of ] made from sheep skin, approximately {{convert|15|by|20|in}} across.{{sfn|Breay|2010|pp=37–38}}{{sfn|Hindley|1990|p=143}} They were sealed with the ] by an official called the spigurnel, equipped with a special seal press, using beeswax and resin.{{sfn|Hindley|1990|p=143}}{{sfn|Breay|2010|pp=38–39}} There were no signatures on the charter of 1215, and the barons present did not attach their own ] to it.{{sfn|Browning|1898|p=50}} The text was not divided into paragraphs or numbered clauses: the numbering system used today was introduced by the jurist Sir ] in 1759.{{sfn|Turner|2003b|pp=67–68}}

===Exemplifications===

====1215 exemplifications====
At least thirteen original copies of the charter of 1215 were issued by the royal ] during that year, seven in the first tranche distributed on 24 June and another six later; they were sent to county sheriffs and bishops, who were probably charged for the privilege.{{sfn|Breay|2010|pp=34–35}} Slight variations exist between the surviving copies, and there was probably no single "master copy".{{sfn|Breay|2010|p=34}} Of these documents, only four survive, all held in England: two now at the ], one at ], and one, the property of ], on permanent loan to ].{{sfn|Breay|2010|p=35}} Each of these versions is slightly different in size and text, and each is considered by historians to be equally authoritative.{{sfn|Breay|2010|pp=34–36}}

] of the 1215 charter (''Cotton Charter XIII.31A'')]]
The two 1215 charters held by the British Library, known as ''Cotton MS. Augustus II.106'' and ''Cotton Charter XIII.31A'', were acquired by the antiquarian ] in the 17th century.{{sfn|Breay|2010|pp=35–36}} The first had been found by Humphrey Wyems, a London lawyer, who may have discovered it in a tailor's shop, and who gave it to Cotton in January 1629.{{sfn|Breay|2010|p=36}} The second was found in ] in 1630 by ]. The Dering charter was traditionally thought to be the copy sent in 1215 to the ],{{sfn|Turner|2003b|p=65}} but in 2015 the historian ] argued that it was more probably that sent to ], as its text was identical to a transcription made from the Cathedral's copy of the 1215 charter in the 1290s.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.canterbury.ac.uk/news/newsRelease.asp?newsPk=2372|title=Canterbury's Magna Carta rediscovered in time for 800th anniversary|publisher=Canterbury Christ Church University|access-date=31 January 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150123005702/http://www.canterbury.ac.uk/news/newsRelease.asp?newsPk=2372|archive-date=23 January 2015|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.kentnews.co.uk/news/remarkable_discovery_says_copy_of_magna_carta_in_british_library_was_canterbury_charter_1_3923530|title=Remarkable discovery says copy of Magna Carta in British Library was 'Canterbury charter'|publisher=kentnews|access-date=31 January 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150123010037/http://www.kentnews.co.uk/news/remarkable_discovery_says_copy_of_magna_carta_in_british_library_was_canterbury_charter_1_3923530|archive-date=23 January 2015|df=dmy-all}}</ref>{{sfn|Breay|Harrison|2015|pp=57, 66}} This copy was damaged in the ] of 1731, when its seal was badly melted. The parchment was somewhat shrivelled but otherwise relatively unscathed. An engraved ] of the charter was made by ] in 1733. In the 1830s, an ill-judged and bungled attempt at cleaning and ] rendered the manuscript largely illegible to the naked eye.{{sfn|Breay|Harrison|2015|pp=66, 216–219}}<ref>{{cite web |last=Duffy |first=Christina |title=Revealing the secrets of the burnt Magna Carta|url=http://www.bl.uk/magna-carta/articles/revealing-the-secrets-of-the-burnt-magna-carta |publisher=British Library|access-date=8 June 2016}}</ref> This is the only surviving 1215 copy still to have its great seal attached.{{sfn|Breay|2010|pp=36–37}}{{sfn|Davis|1963|p=36}}

Lincoln Cathedral's copy has been held by the county since 1215. It was displayed in the Common Chamber in the cathedral, before being moved to another building in 1846.{{sfn|Breay|2010|p=35}}<ref name=NationalSocietyMagna>{{cite web|url=http://www.magnacharta.org/DeanofLincolnsRemarks2004.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040821184913/http://www.magnacharta.org/DeanofLincolnsRemarks2004.htm |archive-date=21 August 2004 |publisher=National Society Magna Charta Dames and Barons|title=Magna Charta: Our Heritage and Yours|last=Knight|first=Alec|date=17 April 2004|access-date=2 September 2007}}</ref> Between 1939 and 1940 it was displayed in the British Pavilion at the ] in ], and at the ].<ref name=":0"/> When the Second World War broke out, ] wanted to give the charter to the American people, hoping that this would encourage the United States, then neutral, to enter the war against the ], but the cathedral was unwilling, and the plans were dropped.{{sfn|Vincent|2012|p=107}}<ref>{{Cite web|title=Proposed Gift of Magna Carta to America, 1941|quote=May we give you – at least as a token of our feelings – something of no intrinsic value whatever: a bit of parchment, more than seven hundred years old, rather the worse for wear.|url=https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/resources/magna-carta/magna-has-no-intrinsic-value/|access-date=2022-01-29|website=The National Archives|language=en-GB}}</ref>

After December 1941, the copy was stored in ], ], for safety, before being put on display again in 1944 and returned to Lincoln Cathedral in early 1946.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://loc.gov/exhibits/magna-carta-muse-and-mentor/magna-carta-comes-to-america.html|title=Magna Carta: Muse and Mentor Magna Carta Comes to America|website=]|date=2014-11-06}}</ref>{{sfn|Vincent|2012|p=107}}<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.britishpathe.com/video/magna-carta-as-exhibit-for-new-york-world-fair|title=Magna Carta As Exhibit For New York World Fair|website=British Pathé|access-date=2016-09-15}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://blogs.loc.gov/law/2014/04/magna-carta-in-the-us-part-i-the-british-pavilion-of-the-1939-new-york-worlds-fair/|title=Magna Carta in the US, Part I: The British Pavilion of the 1939 New York World's Fair|date=2014-04-30}}</ref> It was put on display in 1976 in the cathedral's ].<ref name=NationalSocietyMagna/> It was displayed in San Francisco, and was taken out of display for a time to undergo conservation in preparation for another visit to the United States, where it was exhibited in 2007 at the ] and the ] in Philadelphia.<ref name=NationalSocietyMagna/><ref>{{cite press release |url=http://www.constitutioncenter.org/PressRoom/PressReleases/2007_05_30_17687.shtml |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927032707/http://www.constitutioncenter.org/PressRoom/PressReleases/2007_05_30_17687.shtml |archive-date=27 September 2007|publisher=]|title=Magna Carta on Display Beginning 4&nbsp;July|date=30 May 2007|access-date=2 September 2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.virginiamoca.org/magna-carta-four-foundations-freedom|title=Magna Carta & Four Foundations of Freedom|publisher=Contemporary Art Center of Virginia|year=2007|access-date=4 November 2014}}</ref> In 2009 it returned to New York to be displayed at the ] Museum.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/14/nyregion/14magna.html|title=Copy of Magna Carta Travels to New York in Style|author=Kahn, Eve M|work=]|date=13 September 2009|access-date=4 January 2015}}</ref> It is currently on permanent loan to the ] Vault at ], along with an original copy of the 1217 ].<ref>{{cite web|title=Magna Carta|url=https://www.lincolncastle.com/content/magna-carta|website=Lincoln Castle|access-date=11 April 2018|date=2015-02-12}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Magna Carta|url=https://lincolncathedral.com/education-learning/magna-carta/|website=Lincoln Cathedral|access-date=11 April 2018}}</ref>

The fourth copy, held by Salisbury Cathedral, was first given in 1215 to its predecessor, ].<ref>{{cite web|author=Salisbury Cathedral|title=The Salisbury Connection|url=http://www.salisburycathedral.org.uk/magna-carta-how-did-magna-carta-come-about/salisbury-connection|access-date=13 November 2014|date=2013}}</ref> Rediscovered by the cathedral in 1812, it has remained in Salisbury throughout its history, except when being taken off-site for restoration work.{{sfn|Vincent|2012|p=104}}<ref name="Salisbury Cathedral 2013">{{cite web|author=Salisbury Cathedral|title=The Document|url=http://www.salisburycathedral.org.uk/magna-carta-what-magna-carta/document|access-date=13 November 2014|date=2013}}</ref> It is possibly the best preserved of the four, although small pin holes can be seen in the parchment from where it was once pinned up.<ref name="Salisbury Cathedral 2013"/><ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/wiltshire/8182987.stm|title=Award for cathedral Magna Carta|work=]|date=4 August 2009|access-date=4 January 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|author=Salisbury Cathedral|title=Visiting Magna Carta|url=http://www.salisburycathedral.org.uk/magna-carta/visiting-magna-carta|access-date=13 November 2014|date=2013}}</ref> The handwriting on this version is different from that of the other three, suggesting that it was not written by a royal scribe but rather by a member of the cathedral staff, who then had it exemplified by the royal court.{{sfn|Breay|2010|p=37}}{{sfn|Vincent|2012|p=104}}

====Later exemplifications====
] attached]]
Other early versions of the charters survive today. Only one exemplification of the 1216 charter survives, held in ].{{sfn|Vincent|2012|p=106}} Four copies of the 1217 charter exist; three of these are held by the Bodleian Library in Oxford and one by ].{{sfn|Vincent|2012|p=106}}<ref name="Magna Carta pulls in the crowds">{{cite web|title=Magna Carta pulls in the crowds|url=http://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/news/2008/2007_dec_19|website=Bodleian Libraries|publisher=University of Oxford|access-date=13 June 2015}}</ref> Hereford's copy is occasionally displayed alongside the ] in the cathedral's ] and has survived along with a small document called the {{lang|la|Articuli super Cartas}} that was sent along with the charter, telling the sheriff of the county how to observe the conditions outlined in the document.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/herefordandworcester/content/articles/2009/06/15/magna_carta_3108_event_feature.shtml|title=Magna Carta at Hereford Cathedral|publisher=BBC|access-date=4 November 2014}}</ref> One of the Bodleian's copies was displayed at San Francisco's ] in 2011.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Magna Carta|url=http://www.famsf.org/press-room/magna-carta|publisher=Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco|access-date=4 January 2015|date=2011-04-05}}</ref>

Four exemplifications of the 1225 charter survive: the British Library holds one, which was preserved at ] until 1945; Durham Cathedral also holds a copy, with the Bodleian Library holding a third.<ref name="Magna Carta pulls in the crowds"/><ref>{{cite web|title=Magna Carta, 1225|url=http://www.bl.uk/collection-items/magna-carta-1225|publisher=British Library|access-date=22 November 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last1=Campbell|first1=Sophie|title=Magna Carta: On the trail of the Great Charter|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/europe/uk/11098674/Magna-Carta-On-the-trail-of-the-Great-Charter.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220110/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/europe/uk/11098674/Magna-Carta-On-the-trail-of-the-Great-Charter.html |archive-date=10 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|access-date=4 November 2014|work=Telegraph|date=16 September 2014}}{{cbignore}}</ref> The fourth copy of the 1225 exemplification was held by the museum of the ] and is now held by ].{{sfn|Lewis|1987|p=494}}<ref>{{cite web|title=Magna Carta|url=http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C3540504|publisher=The National Archives|access-date=19 January 2015}}</ref> The ] also holds a draft of the 1215 charter (discovered in 2013 in a late-13th-century register from ]), a copy of the 1225 third re-issue (within an early-14th-century collection of statutes) and a roll copy of the 1225 reissue.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Moss|first1=Richard|title=Society of Antiquaries to restore and display Magna Carta for 800th anniversary|url=http://www.culture24.org.uk/history-and-heritage/art485564-Society-of-Anitiquaries-to-restore-and-display-its-copies-of-the-Magna-Carta-for-800th-anniversary|publisher=Culture 24|access-date=13 June 2015}}</ref>

]]]
Only two exemplifications of Magna Carta are held outside England, both from 1297. One of these was purchased in 1952 by the Australian Government for £12,500 from ], England.<ref>{{cite web |last=Evans |first=Harry |author-link=Harry Evans (Australian Senate clerk) |date=June 1998 |title=Bad King John and the Australian Constitution: Commemorating the 700th Anniversary of the 1297 Issue of Magna Carta |url=http://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Senate/Research_and_Education/~/~/link.aspx?_id=8DC4A294677941F3806E20CFFF4D3053&_z=z |website=] |series=Papers on Parliament No. 31 |publisher=}}</ref> Restored in 2024, this copy is now on display in the Members' Hall of ], Canberra.<ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=2024-12-04 |title=Magna Carta |url=https://www.aph.gov.au/Visit_Parliament/Art/Icons/Magna_Carta |access-date= |website=] |language=en-AU}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=2024-12-04 |title=Conservation of the Magna Carta |url=https://www.aph.gov.au/Visit_Parliament/Art/Icons/Conservation_of_the_Magna_Carta |access-date= |website=] |language=en-AU}}</ref> The second was originally held by the ], earls of ], before they sold it in 1984 to the ] in the United States, which in 2007 sold it to U.S. businessman ] for US$21.3&nbsp;million.<ref>{{Cite news|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/25/nyregion/25magna.html|title=Magna Carta is going on the auction block|date=25 September 2007|access-date=19 December 2007| first=James| last=Barron}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|work=Sydney Morning Herald|url=http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/magna-carta-copy-fetches-24m/2007/12/19/1197740327098.html|title=Magna Carta copy fetches $24m|date=19 December 2007|access-date=19 December 2007 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last1=Edgers|first1=Geoff|title=Two Magna Cartas in D.C.|date=31 October 2014|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/museums/two-magna-cartas-in-dc/2014/10/30/a24d2853-79ac-47cb-84c0-e200ba6591f7_story.html|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=4 November 2014}}</ref> Rubenstein commented "I have always believed that this was an important document to our country, even though it wasn't drafted in our country. I think it was the basis for the Declaration of Independence and the basis for the Constitution". This exemplification is now on permanent loan to the ] in Washington, D.C.{{sfn|Vincent|2015|p=160}}<ref>{{cite news|last1=Hossack|first1=James|title=Magna Carta Sold at Auction for $21.3 Million|url=http://www.smh.com.au/world/magna-carta-sold-for-213-million-at-new-york-auction-20071219-1i1k.html|access-date=14 June 2015|work=The Sydney Morning Herald|date=19 December 2007}}</ref> Only two other 1297 exemplifications survive,<ref name="magnacartacanada.ca">{{cite web|last1=Harris|first1=Carolyn|title=Where is Magna Carta Today?|url=http://www.magnacartacanada.ca/883/|publisher=Magna Carta 2015 Canada|access-date=13 June 2015}}</ref> one of which is held in the UK's National Archives,<ref>{{cite web|title=Magna Carta|url=http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C3540630|publisher=National Archives|access-date=13 June 2015|year=1297}}</ref> the other in the ].<ref name="magnacartacanada.ca"/>

Seven copies of the 1300 exemplification by Edward I survive,<ref name="magnacartacanada.ca"/><ref name="bbc.co.uk">{{cite news|title=Magna Carta edition found in Sandwich archive scrapbook|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-31242433|access-date=13 June 2015|work=BBC|date=8 February 2015}}</ref> in ],<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.canterburytimes.co.uk/Faversham-gets-ready-celebrate-Magna-Carta/story-22936779-detail/story.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150212202659/http://www.canterburytimes.co.uk/Faversham-gets-ready-celebrate-Magna-Carta/story-22936779-detail/story.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=12 February 2015|title=Faversham gets ready to celebrate its Magna Carta artefact|access-date=13 June 2015|work=Faversham Times|date=17 September 2014}}</ref> ], the ], ], ], the ] (held in the archives at the ]<ref>{{cite web|title=New City of London Heritage Gallery to open at the Guildhall|date=27 August 2014 |url=http://advisor.museumsandheritage.com/features/new-city-of-london-heritage-gallery-to-open-at-the-guildhall/|publisher=Museums and Heritage Advisor|access-date=13 June 2015}}</ref>) and ] (held in the ]).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.sandwichguildhallmuseum.co.uk/home |title=About us|publisher= Sandwich Guildhall Museum| access-date=13 September 2023}}</ref> The Sandwich copy was rediscovered in early 2015 in a Victorian scrapbook in the town archives of ], one of the ].<ref name="bbc.co.uk"/> In the case of the Sandwich and Oriel College exemplifications, the copies of the ] originally issued with them also survive.<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=]|title=£10m Magna Carta found in council archives. Expert says discovery of 1300 edition of historic document raises hopes that there are more than the 24 copies currently known about in existence|author=Press Association|authorlink= PA Media |date=8 Feb 2015|url= https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2015/feb/08/10m-magna-carta-found-in-council-archives}}</ref>

== Clauses ==
] King John ]. Much of Magna Carta concerned how royal revenues were raised.]]
Most of the 1215 charter and later versions sought to govern the feudal rights of the Crown over the barons.{{sfn|Breay|2010|p=28}} Under the Angevin kings, and in particular during John's reign, the rights of the King had frequently been used inconsistently, often in an attempt to maximise the royal income from the barons. ] was one way that a king could demand money, and clauses 2 and 3 fixed the fees payable when an heir inherited an estate or when a minor came of age and took possession of his lands.{{sfn|Breay|2010|p=28}}

] was a form of medieval taxation. All knights and nobles owed military service to the Crown in return for their lands, which theoretically belonged to the King. Many preferred to avoid this service and offer money instead. The Crown often used the cash to pay for mercenaries.{{sfn|Poole|1993|pp=16–17}} The rate of scutage that should be payable, and the circumstances under which it was appropriate for the King to demand it, was uncertain and controversial. Clauses 12 and 14 addressed the management of the process.{{sfn|Breay|2010|p=28}}

The English judicial system had altered considerably over the previous century, with the royal judges playing a larger role in delivering justice across the country. John had used his royal discretion to extort large sums of money from the barons, effectively taking payment to offer justice in particular cases, and the role of the Crown in delivering justice had become politically sensitive among the barons. Clauses 39 and 40 demanded due process be applied in the royal justice system, while clause 45 required that the King appoint knowledgeable royal officials to the relevant roles.{{sfn|Breay|2010|p=29}}

Although these clauses did not have any special significance in the original charter, this part of Magna Carta became singled out as particularly important in later centuries.{{sfn|Breay|2010|p=29}} In the United States, for example, the ] interpreted clause 45 in 1974 as establishing a requirement in common law that a defendant faced with the potential of incarceration be entitled to a trial overseen by a legally trained judge.<ref>''Gordon v. Justice Court'', (1974).</ref>

] holding a church, painted {{Circa|1250–1259}} by ]]]
]s were economically important in medieval England and were both protected and exploited by the Crown, supplying the King with hunting grounds, raw materials, and money.{{sfn|Huscroft|2005|p=97}}{{sfn|Poole|1993|pp=29–30}} They were subject to special royal jurisdiction and the resulting forest law was, according to the historian Richard Huscroft, "harsh and arbitrary, a matter purely for the King's will".{{sfn|Huscroft|2005|p=97}} The size of the forests had expanded under the Angevin kings, an unpopular development.{{sfn|Poole|1993|p=29}}

The 1215 charter had several clauses relating to the royal forests. Clauses 47 and 48 promised to deforest the lands added to the forests under John and investigate the use of royal rights in this area, but notably did not address the forestation of the previous kings, while clause 53 promised some form of redress for those affected by the recent changes, and clause 44 promised some relief from the operation of the forest courts.{{sfn|Breay|2010|p=32}} Neither Magna Carta nor the subsequent Charter of the Forest proved entirely satisfactory as a way of managing the political tensions arising in the operation of the royal forests.{{sfn|Breay|2010|p=32}}

Some of the clauses addressed wider economic issues. The concerns of the barons over the treatment of their debts to Jewish moneylenders, who occupied a special position in medieval England and were by tradition under the King's protection, were addressed by clauses 10 and 11.{{sfn|Poole|1993|pp=353, 474}} The charter concluded this section with the phrase "debts owing to other than Jews shall be dealt with likewise", so it is debatable to what extent the Jews were being singled out by these clauses.{{sfn|Hillaby|Hillaby|2013|p=23}} Some issues were relatively specific, such as clause 33 which ordered the removal of all ]s—an important and growing source of revenue at the time—from England's rivers.{{sfn|Breay|2010|p=32}}

The role of the English Church had been a matter for great debate in the years prior to the 1215 charter. The Norman and Angevin kings had traditionally exercised a great deal of power over the church within their territories. From the 1040s onwards successive popes had emphasised the importance of the church being governed more effectively from Rome, and had established an independent judicial system and hierarchical chain of authority.{{sfn|Huscroft|2005|p=190}} After the 1140s, these principles had been largely accepted within the English church, even if accompanied by an element of concern about centralising authority in Rome.{{sfn|Huscroft|2005|p=189}}{{sfn|Turner|2009|p=121}}

] brought the customary rights of lay rulers such as John over ecclesiastical appointments into question.{{sfn|Huscroft|2005|p=189}} As described above, John had come to a compromise with Pope Innocent III in exchange for his political support for the King, and clause 1 of Magna Carta prominently displayed this arrangement, promising the freedoms and liberties of the church.{{sfn|Breay|2010|p=28}} The importance of this clause may also reflect the role of Archbishop Langton in the negotiations: Langton had taken a strong line on this issue during his career.{{sfn|Breay|2010|p=28}}

=== Clauses in detail ===
{{hidden begin|title={{center|Magna Carta clauses in the 1215 and later charters}}|style=border:solid 1px #aaa}}
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="width:100%;"
! scope="col" | {{ubl|1215 clause|{{sfn|Breay|2010|pp=49–54}}}}
! scope="col" | {{ubl|Description|{{sfn|Breay|2010|pp=49–54}}<ref name="All clauses">{{cite web|title=All clauses|url=http://magnacarta.cmp.uea.ac.uk/read/magna_carta_1215/!all|website=The Magna Carta Project|publisher=University of East Anglia|access-date=9 November 2014}}</ref>}}
! scope="col" | {{ubl|Included in later charters|{{sfn|Breay|2010|pp=49–54}}<ref name=sharples>{{harvnb|Thomson|2011}}</ref>}}
! scope="col" | Notes
|-
! scope="row" |1
|Guaranteed the freedom of the English Church.
| Y
| Still in UK (England and Wales) law as clause 1 in the 1297 statute.
|-
! scope="row" |2
| Regulated the operation of ] upon the death of a baron.
| Y
|Repealed by ] and ].<ref name=natarchives>{{harvnb|UK Government|1297}}</ref>
|-
! scope="row" |3
| Regulated the operation of feudal relief and minors' coming of age.
| Y
| Repealed by ] and ].<ref name=natarchives/>
|-
! scope="row" |4
| Regulated the process of ], and the role of the guardian.
| Y
| Repealed by ] and ].<ref name=natarchives/>
|-
! scope="row" |5
| Forbade the exploitation of a ward's property by his guardian.
| Y
| Repealed by ] and ].<ref name=natarchives/>
|-
! scope="row" |6
| Forbade guardians from marrying a ward to a partner of lower social standing.
| Y
| Repealed by ] and ].<ref name=natarchives/>
|-
! scope="row" |7
| Referred to the rights of a ] to receive promptly her ] and inheritance.
| Y
|Repealed by ] and ].<ref name=natarchives/>
|-
! scope="row" |8
| Forbade the forcible remarrying of widows and confirmed the royal veto over baronial marriages.
| Y
| Repealed by ], ] and ].<ref name=natarchives/>
|-
! scope="row" |9
| Established protection for debtors, confirming that a debtor should not have his lands seized as long as he had other means to pay the debt.
| Y
| Repealed by ].<ref name=natarchives/>
|-
! scope="row" |10
| Regulated Jewish money lending, stating that children would not pay interest on a debt they had inherited while they were under age.
| N
|
|-
! scope="row" |11
| Further addressed Jewish money lending, stating that a widow and children should be provided for before paying an inherited debt.
| N
|
|-
! scope="row" |12
| Determined that ] or aid, forms of medieval taxation, could be levied and assessed only by the common consent of the realm.
| N
| Some exceptions to this general rule were given, such as for the payment of ransoms.
|-
! scope="row" |13
| Confirmed the liberties and customs of the ] and other boroughs.
| Y
| Still in UK (England and Wales) law as clause 9 in the 1297 statute.
|-
! scope="row" |14
| Described how senior churchmen and barons would be summoned to give consent for scutage and aid.
| N
|
|-
! scope="row" |15
| Prohibited anyone from levying aid on their free men.
| N
| Some exceptions to this general rule were given, such as for the payment of ransoms.
|-
! scope="row" |16
| Placed limits on the level of service required for a ].
| Y
| Repealed by ].<ref name=natarchives/>
|-
! scope="row" |17
| Established a fixed law court rather than one which followed the movements of the King.
| Y
| Repealed by ].<ref name=natarchives/>
|-
! scope="row" |18
| Defined the authority and frequency of county courts.
| Y
| Repealed by ].<ref name=natarchives/>
|-
! scope="row" |19
| Determined how excess business of a county court should be dealt with.
| Y
|
|-
! scope="row" |20
| Stated that an amercement, a type of medieval fine, should be proportionate to the offence, but even for a serious offence the fine should not be so heavy as to deprive a man of his livelihood. Fines should be imposed only through local assessment.
| Y
|Repealed by ] and ].<ref name=natarchives/>
|-
! scope="row" |21
| Determined that earls and barons should be fined only by other earls and barons.
| Y
| Repealed by ] and ].<ref name=natarchives/>
|-
! scope="row" |22
| Determined that the size of a fine on a member of the clergy should be independent of the ecclesiastical wealth held by the individual churchman.
| Y
|Repealed by ] and ].<ref name=natarchives/>
|-
! scope="row" |23
| Limited the right of feudal lords to demand assistance in building bridges across rivers.
| Y
| Repealed by ].<ref name=natarchives/>
|-
! scope="row" |24
| Prohibited royal officials, such as sheriffs, from trying a crime as an alternative to a royal judge.
| Y
| Repealed by ].<ref name=natarchives/>
|-
! scope="row" |25
| Fixed the royal rents on lands, with the exception of royal demesne manors.
| N
|
|-
! scope="row" |26
| Established a process for dealing with the death of those owing debts to the Crown.
| Y
| Repealed by ].<ref name=natarchives/>
|-
! scope="row" |27
| Laid out the process for dealing with ].
| N
|-
! scope="row" |28
| Determined that a royal officer requisitioning goods must offer immediate payment to their owner.
| Y
| Repealed by ] and ].<ref name=natarchives/>
|-
! scope="row" |29
| Regulated the exercise of ] duty.
| Y
| Repealed by ] and ].<ref name=natarchives/>
|-
! scope="row" |30
| Prevented royal officials from requisitioning horses or carts without the owner's consent.
| Y
| Repealed by ] and ].<ref name=natarchives/>
|-
! scope="row" |31
| Prevented royal officials from requisitioning timber without the owner's consent.
| Y
| Repealed by ] and ].<ref name=natarchives/>
|-
! scope="row" |32
| Prevented the Crown from confiscating the lands of felons for longer than a year and a day, after which they were to be returned to the relevant feudal lord.
| Y
| Repealed by ].<ref name=natarchives/>
|-
! scope="row" |33
| Ordered the removal of all ] from rivers.
| Y
| Repealed by ].<ref name=natarchives/>
|-
! scope="row" |34
| Forbade the issuing of ] ''precipes'' if doing so would undermine the right of trial in a local feudal court.
| Y
| Repealed by ] and ].<ref name=natarchives/>
|-
! scope="row" |35
| Ordered the establishment of standard measures for wine, ale, corn, and cloth.
| Y
| Repealed by ].<ref name=natarchives/>
|-
! scope="row" |36
| Determined that writs for loss of life or limb were to be freely given without charge.
| Y
| Repealed by ] and ].<ref name=natarchives/>
|-
! scope="row" |37
| Regulated the inheritance of Crown lands held by "fee-farm".
| Y
| Repealed by ] and ].<ref name=natarchives/>
|-
! scope="row" |38
| Stated that no one should be put on trial based solely on the unsupported word of a royal official.
| Y
|Repealed by ] and ].<ref name=natarchives/>
|-
! scope="row" |39
| Stated that no free man could be imprisoned or stripped of his rights or possessions without ] being legally applied.
| Y
| Still in UK (England and Wales) law as part of clause 29 in the 1297 statute.
|-
! scope="row" |40
| Forbade the selling of justice, or its denial or delay.<ref name="PAMadisonDPC">{{cite web|last=Madison|first=P. A.|title=Historical Analysis of the first of the 14th Amendment's First Section|url=http://www.federalistblog.us/mt/articles/14th_dummy_guide.htm#equal|publisher=The Federalist Blog|access-date=19 January 2013|date=2 August 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191118145152/http://www.federalistblog.us/mt/articles/14th_dummy_guide.htm#equal|archive-date=November 18, 2019|quote="The words "We will sell to no man" were intended to abolish the fines demanded by King John in order to obtain justice. "Will not deny" referred to the stopping of suits and the denial of writs. "Delay to any man" meant the delays caused either by the counter-fines of defendants, or by the prerogative of the King."}}</ref>
| Y
| Still in UK (England and Wales) law as part of clause 29 in the 1297 statute.
|-
! scope="row" |41
| Guaranteed the safety and the right of entry and exit of foreign merchants.
| Y
| Repealed by ].<ref name=natarchives/>
|-
! scope="row" |42
| Permitted men to leave England for short periods without prejudicing their allegiance to the King, with the exceptions for outlaws and wartime.
| N
|
|-
! scope="row" |43
| Established special provisions for taxes due on estates temporarily held by the Crown.
| Y
| Repealed by ] and ].<ref name=natarchives/>
|-
! scope="row" |44
| Limited the need for people to attend forest courts, unless they were actually involved in the proceedings.
| Y
|
|-
! scope="row" |45
| Stated that the King should appoint only justices, constables, sheriffs, or bailiffs who knew and would enforce the law.
| N
|
|-
! scope="row" |46
| Permitted barons to take guardianship of monasteries in the absence of an abbot.
| Y
| Repealed by ] and ].<ref name=natarchives/>
|-
! scope="row" |47
| Abolished those royal forests newly created under King John's reign.
| Y
|
|-
! scope="row" |48
| Established an investigation of "evil customs" associated with royal forests, with an intent to abolishing them.
| N
|
|-
! scope="row" |49
| Ordered the return of hostages held by the King.
| N
|
|-
! scope="row" |50
| Forbade any member of the ] from serving as a royal officer.
| N
|
|-
! scope="row" |51
| Ordered that all foreign knights and mercenaries leave England once peace was restored.
| N
|
|-
! scope="row" |52
| Established a process for giving restitution to those who had been unlawfully dispossessed of their "lands, castles, liberties, or of his right".<ref>{{cite web|title=The 1215 Magna Carta: Clause 52|url=http://magnacarta.cmp.uea.ac.uk/read/magna_carta_1215/Clause_52|website=The Magna Carta Project|publisher=University of East Anglia|access-date=22 July 2021}}</ref>
| N
|
|-
! scope="row" |53
| Established a process for giving restitution to those who had been mistreated by forest law.
| N
|
|-
! scope="row" |54
| Prevented men from being arrested or imprisoned on the testimony of a woman, unless the case involved the death of her husband.
| Y
| Repealed by ] and ].<ref name=natarchives/>
|-
! scope="row" |55
| Established a process for remitting any unjust fines imposed by the King.
| N
| Repealed by ] and ].<ref name=natarchives/>
|-
! scope="row" |56
| Established a process for dealing with Welshmen who had been unlawfully dispossessed of their property or rights.
| Y
|
|-
! scope="row" |57
| Established a process for returning the possessions of Welshmen who had been unlawfully dispossessed.
| N
|
|-
! scope="row" |58
| Ordered the return of Welsh hostages, including ]'s ].
| N
|
|-
! scope="row" |59
| Established a process for the return of Scottish hostages, including ]'s sisters.
| N
|
|-
! scope="row" |60
| Encouraged others in England to deal with their own subjects as the King dealt with his.
| Y
|
|-
! scope="row" |61
| Provided for the application and observation of the charter by twenty-five of the barons.
| N
|
|-
! scope="row" |62
| Pardoned those who had rebelled against the King.
| N
| Sometimes considered a subclause, "Suffix A", of clause 61.{{sfn|Hindley|1990|p=201}}<ref name="All clauses"/>
|-
! scope="row" |63
| Stated that the charter was binding on King John and his heirs.
| N
| Sometimes considered a subclause, "Suffix B", of clause 61.{{sfn|Hindley|1990|p=201}}<ref name="All clauses"/>
|}
{{hidden end}}

=== Clauses remaining in English law ===
Only three clauses of Magna Carta still remain on statute in England and Wales.{{sfn|Breay|2010|p=48}} These clauses concern 1) the freedom of the English Church, 2) the "ancient liberties" of the City of London (clause 13 in the 1215 charter, clause 9 in the 1297 statute), and 3) a right to due legal process (clauses 39 and 40 in the 1215 charter, clause 29 in the 1297 statute).{{sfn|Breay|2010|p=48}} In detail, these clauses (using the numbering system from the 1297 statute) state that:

{{blockquote|
* I. FIRST, We have granted to God, and by this our present Charter have confirmed, for Us and our Heirs for ever, that the Church of England shall be free, and shall have all her whole Rights and Liberties inviolable. We have granted also, and given to all the Freemen of our Realm, for Us and our Heirs for ever, these Liberties under-written, to have and to hold to them and their Heirs, of Us and our Heirs for ever.
* IX. THE ] shall have all the old Liberties and Customs which it hath been used to have. Moreover We will and grant, that all other Cities, Boroughs, Towns, and the Barons of the ], and all other Ports, shall have all their Liberties and free Customs.
* XXIX. NO Freeman shall be taken or imprisoned, or be disseised of his Freehold, or Liberties, or free Customs, or be outlawed, or exiled, or any other wise destroyed; nor will We not pass upon him, nor condemn him, but by lawful judgment of his Peers, or by the ]. We will sell to no man, we will not deny or defer to any man either Justice or Right.<ref name=UKStatute>{{cite web|url=http://www.statutelaw.gov.uk/content.aspx?activeTextDocId=1517519 |title=(Magna Carta) (1297) (c. 9) |work=UK Statute Law Database |access-date=2 September 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070905014018/http://www.statutelaw.gov.uk/content.aspx?activeTextDocId=1517519 |archive-date=5 September 2007 }}</ref><ref name="PAMadisonDPC"/>
}}

=== Clauses in force in other countries ===<!-- The status of Magna Carta in other former British colonies could also be added. -->
Clauses of Magna Carta also remain in force in several countries that were formerly British colonies. British colonies received the common and statutory law in force at a particular time in England, often through specific ] or by adoption into local law. As a result chapter 29 of the 1297 Magna Carta remains in force in ]<ref name=":1" /> and the ] states of ],<ref>{{Cite web |title=Imperial Acts Application Act 1969 (NSW) s 6 |url=https://legislation.nsw.gov.au/view/html/inforce/current/act-1969-030#sec.6 |website=NSW Legislation}}</ref> ],<ref>{{Cite Legislation AU|Vic|act|iaaa1980240|Imperial Acts Application Act 1980}}</ref> ]<ref>{{Cite web |title=Imperial Acts Application Act 1984 (Qld) sch 1 |url=https://www.legislation.qld.gov.au/view/whole/html/inforce/current/act-1984-070#sch.1 |website=Queensland Legislation}}</ref> and the ].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Magna Carta (1297) 25 Edw 1 c 29 |url=https://www.legislation.act.gov.au/a/db_1781/ |website=ACT Legislation Register}}</ref> The entirety of Magna Carta apart from chapter 26 remains in force in the Australian states of ], ], ] and the ].{{Sfn|Clark|2000|page=866}}


==See also== ==See also==
{{Portal|United Kingdom|Law}}
* ]
* ] * ]
* ]
* ]
* ] * ]
* ]
* ] * ]
* ] * ]
* ]
* ]
* '']'' * '']'', 2015 artwork
* {{lang|la|]}} – an issue of the English Magna Carta, or Great Charter of Liberties in Ireland
* '']''
* ] * ]
* '']''
* ] * ]

* ]
== Explanatory notes ==
* ]
{{Notelist|notes=|30em}}
* ]
* ]


==References== ==References==
{{Reflist|colwidth=30em}} {{Reflist|21em}}


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*
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* {{cite book|last1=Clanchy|first1=Michael T.|author-link=Michael Clanchy|title=Early Medieval England|date=1997|publisher=The Folio Society}}
{{Refend}}
* {{cite journal|last1=Clark|first1=David|title=The Icon of Liberty: The Status and Role of Magna Carta in Australian and New Zealand Law|journal=Melbourne University Law Review|date=2000|volume=24|issue=3|url=http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/MULR/2000/34.html}}
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* {{cite book|last1=Danziger|first1=Danny|last2=Gillingham|first2=John|title=1215: The Year of Magna Carta|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=av1pjnpVRNAC&q=Cromwell+Magna+Carta&pg=PA271|date=2004|publisher=Hodder Paperbacks|isbn=978-0340824757}}
* {{cite book|last1=Davis|first1=G.R.C.|title=Magna Carta|date=1963|publisher=The British Library Publishing Division|isbn=978-0712300148}}
* {{cite book | last = Davis | first = John Paul | year = 2013 | title = The Gothic King: A Biography of Henry III | publisher = Peter Owen | location= London | isbn = 978-0720614800 }}
* {{cite book|last1=Drew|first1=Katherine F.|title=Magna Carta|date=2004|publisher=Greenwood Press|isbn=978-0313325908}}
* {{cite journal|last1=Edwards|first1=J.G.|title=Confirmatio Cartarum and Baronial Grievances in 1297|journal=The English Historical Review|date=1943|volume=58|issue=231|pages=273–300|jstor=554340|doi=10.1093/ehr/lviii.ccxxxi.273}}
* {{Cite thesis |last=Eele |first=Caroline |title=Perceptions of Magna Carta: Why has it been seen as significant? |url=http://magnacarta800th.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Perceptions-of-Magna-Carta-C-Eele-Dissertation.pdf |year=2013 |publisher=2014 Magna Carta 2015 Committee |access-date=18 November 2014 }}
* {{cite book|last1=Fryde|first1=Natalie|author-link=Natalie Fryde|title=Why Magna Carta? Angevin England Revisited|date=2001|publisher=LiT|location=Munster, Germany|isbn=978-3825856571}}
* {{cite book|last1=Fritze|first1=Ronald|last2=Robison|first2=William|title=Historical Dictionary of Late Medieval England 1272–1485|date=2002|publisher=Greenwood Press|isbn=978-0313291241}}
* {{cite book|last1=Galef|first1=David|author-link=David Galef|title=Second Thoughts: Focus on Rereading|date=1998|publisher=Wayne State University Press|location=Detroit, MI|isbn=978-0814326473}}
* {{cite book|last1=Goodman|first1=Ellen|title=The Origins of the Western Legal Tradition: From Thales to the Tudors|date=1995|publisher=Federation Press|isbn=978-1862871816|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bB_0M9oviBQC&pg=PA260}}
* {{cite book|last1=Greenberg|first1=Janelle|title=The Radical Face of the Ancient Constitution: St Edward's 'Laws' in Early Modern Political Thought|date=2006|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge|isbn=978-0521024884}}
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* {{cite book|last1=Hazeltine|first1=H.D.|chapter=The Influence of Magna Carta on American Constitutional Development|editor-last=Malden|editor-first=Henry Elliot|title=Magna Carta commemoration essays |date=1917|publisher=BiblioBazaar|isbn=978-1116447477}}
* {{cite journal|first1=R. H. |last1=Helmholz |title=The Myth of Magna Carta Revisited |journal=North Carolina Law Review |url=https://scholarship.law.unc.edu/nclr/vol94/iss5/5 |date=2014|pages=1475–1493|volume=94|issue=5 }}
* {{cite journal|first1=R. H.|last1=Helmholz|title=Magna Carta and the Law of Nature|url=https://law.loyno.edu/sites/law.loyno.edu/files/file_attach/Helmholz-Proof%20-1_30_17.pdf|journal=Loyola Law Review|date= 2016|pages=869–886|volume=62}}
* {{cite book|last1=Hewit|first1=H.J.|title=Mediaeval Cheshire|date=1929|publisher=Manchester University Press|location=Manchester, UK}}
* {{cite book|last1=Hill|first1=Christopher|author-link=Christopher Hill (historian)|title=Winstanley 'The Law of Freedom' and Other Writings|date=2006|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0521031608|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_cnrjlrzUE4C&q=An+appeal+to+the+house+of+commons+Winstanley&pg=PA109}}
* {{cite book|last1=Hillaby|first1=Joe|last2=Hillaby|first2=Caroline|title=The Palgrave Dictionary of Medieval Anglo-Jewish History|date=2013|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|isbn=978-1137308153|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Zb8hAQAAQBAJ&q=Magna+Carta+Debts+owing+to+other+than+Jews+shall+be+dealt+with+likewise&pg=PA23}}
* {{cite book|last1=Hindley|first1=Geoffrey|title=The Book of Magna Carta|date=1990|publisher=Constable|location=London|isbn=978-0094682405}}
* {{cite book|last1=Holt|first1=James C.|title=The Northerners: A Study in the Reign of King John|year=1992a|publisher=Oxford University Press|location= Oxford|isbn=978-0198203094|author-link=J. C. Holt}}
* {{Cite book|last1=Holt|first1=James C.|title=Magna Carta|location=Cambridge|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1992b |isbn=978-0521277785|author-link=J. C. Holt}}
* {{Cite book|last1=Holt|first1=James C.|title=Magna Carta|edition=3rd|location=Cambridge|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2015 |isbn=978-1107093164 |doi=10.1017/CBO9781316144596}}
* {{Cite book|last1=Holt|first1=James C.|title=The Ancient Constitution in Medieval England|publisher=Liberty Fund|year=2008|url=http://lf-oll.s3.amazonaws.com/titles/2180/Sandoz1470_LFeBk.pdf|orig-date=1993|isbn=978-0865977099|author-link=J. C. Holt}}
* {{cite journal|last1=Howard|first1=A.E. Dick|title=Magna Carta Comes To America|journal=Fourscore|date=2008|volume=58|issue=4}}
* {{cite book|last1=Huscroft|first1=Richard|title=Ruling England, 1042–1217|year=2005|publisher=Pearson|location= Harlow, UK|isbn=978-0582848825}}
* {{cite book | last = Jobson |first = Adrian | year = 2012 | title = The First English Revolution: Simon de Montfort, Henry III and the Barons' War | publisher = Bloomsbury | location= London | isbn = 978-1847252265 }}
* {{cite book|last1=Kennedy|first1=William Paul McClure|title=The Constitution of Canada|date=1922|publisher=Oxford University Press|location= Oxford}}
* {{cite book|last1=Kewes|first1=Paulina|title=The Uses of History in Early Modern England|date=2006|publisher=University of California Press|location=Berkeley|isbn=978-0873282192}}
* {{cite book|last1=Lewis|first1=Suzanne|title=The Art of Matthew Paris in the Chronica Majora|date=1987|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0520049819|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sXBdNsDxJ_cC&q=Four+exemplifications+1225+charter&pg=PA494}}
* {{cite book|last1=Linebaugh|first1=Peter|author-link=Peter Linebaugh|title=The Magna Carta Manifesto: Liberties and Commons for All|date=2009|publisher=University of California Press|location=Berkeley|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2kx7KiTEZCsC&q=An+appeal+to+the+house+of+commons+Winstanley&pg=PA85|isbn=978-0520260009}}
* {{cite book|last = Mayr-Harting|first=Henry|author-link=Henry Mayr-Harting|year=2011|title=Religion, Politics and Society in Britain, 1066–1272|publisher=Longman|location= Harlow, UK|isbn=978-0582414136}}
* {{cite book|last1=McGlynn|first1=Sean|title=Blood Cries Afar: The Forgotten Invasion of England, 1216|date=2013|publisher=Spellmount|location=London|isbn=978-0752488318}}
* {{cite book|last1=Menache|first1=Sophia|title=Clement V|date=2003|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge|isbn=978-0521521987}}
* {{cite book|last1=Pocock|first1=J.G.A.|author-link=J. G. A. Pocock|title=The Ancient Constitution and the Feudal Law: A Study of English Historical Thought in the Seventeenth Century|date=1987|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge|isbn=978-0521316439}}
* {{cite book|last1=Pollard|first1=Albert Frederick|author-link=Albert Pollard|title=The history of England; a study in political evolution|date=1912|publisher=H. Holt|url=https://archive.org/details/historyenglanda00pollgoog}}
* {{cite book|last1=Poole|first1=Austin Lane|author-link=Austin Lane Poole|title=From Domesday Book to Magna Carta 1087–1216|date=1993|edition=2nd|orig-date=1951|publisher=Oxford University Press|location= Oxford}}
* {{cite journal |first=F.M. |last=Powicke |author-link=F. M. Powicke |title=The Bull 'Miramur Plurimum' and a Letter to Archbishop Stephen Langton, 5 September 1215 |journal=] |volume=44 |year=1929 |pages=87–93 |doi=10.1093/ehr/xliv.clxxiii.87}}
* {{cite book|last1=Powicke|first1=Frederick Maurice|author-link=F. M. Powicke|title=The Thirteenth Century 1216–1307|date=1963|publisher=Oxford University Press|location= Oxford|isbn=978-0198217084}}
* {{cite book|last1=Prestwich|first1=Michael|author-link=Michael Prestwich|title=Edward I|date=1997|publisher=Yale University Press|location=New Haven, CN|isbn=978-0300071573}}
* {{ODNBweb |first=H. W. |last=Ridgeway |title=Henry III (1207–1272) |year=2010 |origyear=2004 |edition=online |id=12950 }}
* {{cite journal|first1=Max|last1=Radin|title=The Myth of Magna Carta|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1335742|journal=Harvard Law Review|date=1947|issn=0017-811X|pages=1060–1091|volume=60|issue=7|doi=10.2307/1335742|jstor=1335742 }}
* {{cite book|last=Rothwell|first=Harry|title=English Historical Documents 1189–1327|date=1975|publisher=Eyre & Spottiswoode|location=London|isbn=978-0413233004}}
* {{cite book|last1=Russell|first1=Conrad|author-link=Conrad Russell, 5th Earl Russell|title=Unrevolutionary England, 1603–1642|date=1990|publisher=Continnuum-3PL|isbn=978-1852850258}}
* {{cite book|last1=Scott|first1=Robert McNair|title=Robert The Bruce: King Of Scots|date=2014|publisher=Canongate Books|isbn=978-1847677464|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ivEhAwAAQBAJ&q=How+shall+the+king+of+England+keep+faith+with+me&pg=PT155}}
* {{cite book|last1=Simmons|first1=Clare A.|chapter=Absent Presence: The Romantic-Era Magna Charta and the English Constitution|editor1-last=Shippey|editor1-first=Richard|editor2-last=Utz|editor2-first=Tom |title=Medievalism in the Modern World. Essays in Honour of Leslie J. Workman|publisher=Brepols Publishers|date=1998}}
* {{cite book|last1=Stimson|first1=Frederick Jessup|author-link=Frederic Jesup Stimson|title=The Law Of The Federal And State Constitutions Of The United States|date=2004|publisher=Lawbook Exchange Ltd|isbn=978-1584773696}}
* {{cite journal |first=Tim |last=Tatton-Brown |title=Magna Carta at 800: Uncovering its Landscape Archaeology |journal=Current Archaeology |issue=304 |date=July 2015 |pages=34–37}}
* {{cite book|last1=Thompson|first1=Faith|title=Magna Carta – Its Role In The Making Of The English Constitution 1300–1629|date=1948|publisher=University of Minnesota Press|location=Minneapolis|isbn=978-1299948686}}
* {{cite book|editor-last1=Sharples|editor-first1=Barry|chapter=Magna Carta Liberatum (The Great Charter of Liberties) The First Great Charter of King Edward The First Granted October 12th 1297|url=http://www.bsswebsite.me.uk/History/MagnaCarta/magnacarta-1297.doc|access-date=13 November 2014| last1=Thomson |first1=Richard |title=An Historical Essay on the Magna Charta of King John |date=2011 |orig-date=1829}}
* {{cite journal|last1=Turner|first1=Ralph V.|title=The Meaning of Magna Carta since 1215|journal=History Today|date=2003a|volume=53|issue=9|url=http://www.historytoday.com/ralph-v-turner/meaning-magna-carta-1215}}
* {{cite book|last1=Turner|first1=Ralph|title=Magna Carta: Through the Ages|date=2003b|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-0582438262}}
* {{cite book|last1=Turner|first1=Ralph|title= King John: England's Evil King?|date=2009|publisher=History Press|location=Stroud, UK|isbn=978-0752448503}}
* {{cite web|title=Magna Carta (1297)|url=http://www.legislation.gov.uk/aep/Edw1cc1929/25/9|publisher=UK Government|access-date=15 November 2014|ref = {{harvid|UK Government|1297}}}}
* {{cite book|last1=Vincent|first1=Nicholas|title=Magna Carta: A Very Short Introduction|date=2012|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford|isbn=978-0199582877}}
* {{cite book|last1=Vincent|first1=Nicholas|editor-last1=Vincent|editor-first1=Nicholas|title=Magna Carta: The Foundation of Freedom, 1215–2015|chapter=From World War to World Heritage: Magna Carta in the Twentieth Century|pages=154–169|date=2015|publisher=Third Millennium Publishing|location=London|isbn=978-1908990488}}
* {{cite book|last1=Warren|first1=W. Lewis|author-link=W. L. Warren|title= King John|date=1990|publisher=Methuen|location=London|isbn=978-0413455208}}
* {{cite book | last = Weiler | first = Björn K.U. | year = 2012 | title = Henry III of England and the Staufen Empire, 1216–1272 | publisher = Royal Historical Society: Boydell Press | location= Paris | isbn = 978-0861933198 }}
* {{cite journal|last1=White|first1=Albert Beebe|title=The Name Magna Carta|journal=The English Historical Review|date=1915|volume=XXX|issue=CXIX|pages=472–475|doi=10.1093/ehr/XXX.CXIX.472}}
* {{cite journal|last1=White|first1=Albert Beebe|title=Note on the Name Magna Carta|journal=The English Historical Review|date=1917|volume=XXXII|issue=CXXVIII|pages=545–555|doi=10.1093/ehr/XXXII.CXXVIII.554}}
* {{cite book|last1=Woolwrych|first1=Austin Herbert|author-link=Austin Herbert Woolrych|editor-last=Smith|editor-first=David Lee|title=Cromwell and Interregnum: The Essential Readings|date=2003|publisher=Wiley-Blackwell |isbn=978-0631227250|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sW8ycm-sC9cC}}
* {{cite book|last1=Wright|first1=Herbert G.|title=The Life And Works Of Arthur Hall Of Grantham, Member Of Parliament, Courtier And First Translator Of Homer Into English|date=1919|publisher=Book on Demand}}
* {{cite book|last1=Wright|first1=Patrick|title=The River: A Thames Journey|date=1990|publisher=BBC Books|location=London|isbn=978-0563384786}}
{{refend}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite journal|journal=English Historical Review|first=S. T. |last=Ambler |author-link=Sophie T. Ambler |title=Magna Carta: Its Confirmation at Simon de Montfort's Parliament of 1265|date=August 2015|volume=CXXX|number=545|pages=801–830|doi=10.1093/ehr/cev202}}
* {{cite encyclopedia |last=Davies|first=Stephen |author-link= |editor-first=Ronald |editor-last=Hamowy |editor-link=Ronald Hamowy |title=The Encyclopedia of Libertarianism |chapter=Magna Carta|chapter-url=https://sk.sagepub.com/reference/libertarianism/n188.xml|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=yxNgXs3TkJYC |doi=10.4135/9781412965811.n188 |year=2008 |publisher= ]; ] |location= Thousand Oaks, CA |isbn= 978-1412965804 |oclc=750831024| <!-- lccn = 2008009151 | -->pages=313–314 }}
* {{cite book|last1=McKechnie|first1=William Sharp|title= Magna Carta: A Commentary on the Great Charter of King John with an Historical Introduction|location=Glasgow, UK|publisher=James Maclehose and Sons|year=1914|url=http://lf-oll.s3.amazonaws.com/titles/338/0032_Bk.pdf|author-link=William Sharp McKechnie}}


==External links== ==External links==
{{Wikisource|1=Source_Problems_in_English_History/Appendix/Magna_Carta._1215|2=Magna Carta}}
{{Wikiquote}}
{{Wikisource}}
{{Wikisourcelang|la|Magna Carta}} {{Wikisourcelang|la|Magna Carta}}
* {{UK-SLD|1517519|Magna Carta 1297 (c. 9)}} {{Commons category|Magna Carta}}
{{Wikiquote}}
* , two copies from 1215 from the ] in multi-media format.

*
===Government websites===
* Document contains side-by-side translations in
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** Latin (original),
*
** English,
*
** English (again),

** Spanish, and
===Academic websites===
** French
* *

* Latin Text
===Texts===
* Latin and English text
* {{UK-LEG|title=Magna Carta 1297|norig=yes|path=aep/Edw1cc1929/25/9/contents}}
*
* by Peter Linebaugh U of C Press 2008 * Latin and English text of the 1215 charter
* English translation, with introductory historical note. From the ].
* The influence of Magna Carta on the United States Constitution and Bill of Rights
* {{librivox book | title=Magna Carta | author=Unknown}}
* and Lecture commemorating the 700th anniversary of the 1297 issue of Magna Carta.

* English translations. ] celebratory etext 10000
* English translation, with introductory historical note. From the ].
*
*
* from BBC News
*
* from Unlock Democracy.
*
* of a copy from 1297, previously owned by ] and given to the ]
*
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{{UK legislation}} {{UK legislation}}
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Latest revision as of 12:31, 7 January 2025

English charter of freedoms made in 1215 This article is about the English charter of 1215. For other uses, see Magna Carta (disambiguation).

Magna Carta
Cotton MS. Augustus II. 106, one of four surviving exemplifications of the 1215 text
Created1215; 810 years ago (1215)
LocationTwo at the British Library; one each in Lincoln Castle and in Salisbury Cathedral
Author(s)
PurposePeace treaty
Full text
Magna Carta at Wikisource
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Magna Carta Libertatum (Medieval Latin for "Great Charter of Freedoms"), commonly called Magna Carta or sometimes Magna Charta ("Great Charter"), is a royal charter of rights agreed to by King John of England at Runnymede, near Windsor, on 15 June 1215. First drafted by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Cardinal Stephen Langton, to make peace between the unpopular king and a group of rebel barons who demanded that the King confirm the Charter of Liberties, it promised the protection of church rights, protection for the barons from illegal imprisonment, access to swift and impartial justice, and limitations on feudal payments to the Crown, to be implemented through a council of 25 barons. Neither side stood by their commitments, and the charter was annulled by Pope Innocent III, leading to the First Barons' War.

After John's death, the regency government of his young son, Henry III, reissued the document in 1216, stripped of some of its more radical content, in an unsuccessful bid to build political support for their cause. At the end of the war in 1217, it formed part of the peace treaty agreed at Lambeth, where the document acquired the name "Magna Carta", to distinguish it from the smaller Charter of the Forest, which was issued at the same time. Short of funds, Henry reissued the charter again in 1225 in exchange for a grant of new taxes. His son, Edward I, repeated the exercise in 1297, this time confirming it as part of England's statute law. However, the Magna Carta was not unique; other legal documents of its time, both in England and beyond, made broadly similar statements of rights and limitations on the powers of the Crown. The charter became part of English political life and was typically renewed by each monarch in turn, although as time went by and the fledgling Parliament of England passed new laws, it lost some of its practical significance.

At the end of the 16th century, there was an upsurge in interest in Magna Carta. Lawyers and historians at the time believed that there was an ancient English constitution, going back to the days of the Anglo-Saxons, that protected individual English freedoms. They argued that the Norman invasion of 1066 had overthrown these rights and that Magna Carta had been a popular attempt to restore them, making the charter an essential foundation for the contemporary powers of Parliament and legal principles such as habeas corpus. Although this historical account was badly flawed, jurists such as Sir Edward Coke used Magna Carta extensively in the early 17th century, arguing against the divine right of kings. Both James I and his son Charles I attempted to suppress the discussion of Magna Carta. The political myth of Magna Carta and its protection of ancient personal liberties persisted after the Glorious Revolution of 1688 until well into the 19th century. It influenced the early American colonists in the Thirteen Colonies and the formation of the United States Constitution, which became the supreme law of the land in the new republic of the United States.

Research by Victorian historians showed that the original 1215 charter had concerned the medieval relationship between the monarch and the barons, rather than the rights of ordinary people. The majority of historians now see the interpretation of the charter as a unique and early charter of universal legal rights as a myth that was created centuries later. Despite the changes in views of historians, the charter has remained a powerful, iconic document, even after almost all of its content was repealed from the statute books in the 19th and 20th centuries. Magna Carta still forms an important symbol of liberty today, often cited by politicians and campaigners, and is held in great respect by the British and American legal communities, Lord Denning describing it in 1956 as "the greatest constitutional document of all times—the foundation of the freedom of the individual against the arbitrary authority of the despot". In the 21st century, four exemplifications of the original 1215 charter remain in existence, two at the British Library, one at Lincoln Castle and one at Salisbury Cathedral. There are also a handful of the subsequent charters in public and private ownership, including copies of the 1297 charter in both the United States and Australia. The 800th anniversary of Magna Carta in 2015 included extensive celebrations and discussions, and the four original 1215 charters were displayed together at the British Library. None of the original 1215 Magna Carta is currently in force since it has been repealed; however, four clauses of the original charter are enshrined in the 1297 reissued Magna Carta and do still remain in force in England and Wales.

History

13th century

Background

Main article: John, King of England
An illuminated picture of King John riding a white horse and accompanied by four hounds. The King is chasing a stag, and several rabbits can be seen at the bottom of the picture.
King John on a stag hunt

Magna Carta originated as an unsuccessful attempt to achieve peace between royalist and rebel factions in 1215, as part of the events leading to the outbreak of the First Barons' War. England was ruled by King John, the third of the Angevin kings. Although the kingdom had a robust administrative system, the nature of government under the Angevin monarchs was ill-defined and uncertain. John and his predecessors had ruled using the principle of vis et voluntas, or "force and will", taking executive and sometimes arbitrary decisions, often justified on the basis that a king was above the law. Many contemporary writers believed that monarchs should rule in accordance with the custom and the law, with the counsel of the leading members of the realm, but there was no model for what should happen if a king refused to do so.

John had lost most of his ancestral lands in France to King Philip II in 1204 and had struggled to regain them for many years, raising extensive taxes on the barons to accumulate money to fight a war which ended in expensive failure in 1214. Following the defeat of his allies at the Battle of Bouvines, John had to sue for peace and pay compensation. John was already personally unpopular with many of the barons, many of whom owed money to the Crown, and little trust existed between the two sides. A triumph would have strengthened his position, but in the face of his defeat, within a few months after his return from France, John found that rebel barons in the north and east of England were organising resistance to his rule.

The rebels took an oath that they would "stand fast for the liberty of the church and the realm", and demanded that the King confirm the Charter of Liberties that had been declared by King Henry I in the previous century, and which was perceived by the barons to protect their rights. The rebel leadership was unimpressive by the standards of the time, even disreputable, but were united by their hatred of John; Robert Fitzwalter, later elected leader of the rebel barons, claimed publicly that John had attempted to rape his daughter, and was implicated in a plot to assassinate John in 1212.

A mural of Pope Innocent III, c. 1219

John held a council in London in January 1215 to discuss potential reforms, and sponsored discussions in Oxford between his agents and the rebels during the spring. Both sides appealed to Pope Innocent III for assistance in the dispute. During the negotiations, the rebellious barons produced an initial document, which historians have termed "the Unknown Charter of Liberties", which drew on Henry I's Charter of Liberties for much of its language; seven articles from that document later appeared in the "Articles of the Barons" and the subsequent charter.

It was John's hope that the Pope would give him valuable legal and moral support, and accordingly John played for time; the King had declared himself to be a papal vassal in 1213 and correctly believed he could count on the Pope for help. John also began recruiting mercenary forces from France, although some were later sent back to avoid giving the impression that the King was escalating the conflict. In a further move to shore up his support, John took an oath to become a crusader, a move which gave him additional political protection under church law, even though many felt the promise was insincere.

Letters backing John arrived from the Pope in April, but by then the rebel barons had organised into a military faction. They congregated at Northampton in May and renounced their feudal ties to John, marching on London, Lincoln, and Exeter. John's efforts to appear moderate and conciliatory had been largely successful, but once the rebels held London, they attracted a fresh wave of defectors from the royalists. The King offered to submit the problem to a committee of arbitration with the Pope as the supreme arbiter, but this was not attractive to the rebels. Stephen Langton, the archbishop of Canterbury, had been working with the rebel barons on their demands, and after the suggestion of papal arbitration failed, John instructed Langton to organise peace talks.

Great Charter of 1215

The Articles of the Barons, 1215, held by the British Library

John met the rebel leaders at Runnymede, a water-meadow on the south bank of the River Thames, on 10 June 1215. Runnymede was a traditional place for assemblies, but it was also located on neutral ground between the royal fortress of Windsor Castle and the rebel base at Staines, and offered both sides the security of a rendezvous where they were unlikely to find themselves at a military disadvantage. Here the rebels presented John with their draft demands for reform, the 'Articles of the Barons'. Stephen Langton's pragmatic efforts at mediation over the next ten days turned these incomplete demands into a charter capturing the proposed peace agreement; a few years later, this agreement was renamed Magna Carta, meaning "Great Charter". By 15 June, general agreement had been made on a text, and on 19 June, the rebels renewed their oaths of loyalty to John and copies of the charter were formally issued.

Although, as the historian David Carpenter has noted, the charter "wasted no time on political theory", it went beyond simply addressing individual baronial complaints, and formed a wider proposal for political reform. It promised the protection of church rights, protection from illegal imprisonment, access to swift justice, and, most importantly, limitations on taxation and other feudal payments to the Crown, with certain forms of feudal taxation requiring baronial consent. It focused on the rights of free men—in particular, the barons. The rights of serfs were included in articles 16, 20 and 28. Its style and content reflected Henry I's Charter of Liberties, as well as a wider body of legal traditions, including the royal charters issued to towns, the operations of the Church and baronial courts and European charters such as the Statute of Pamiers. The Magna Carta reflected other legal documents of its time, in England and beyond, which made broadly similar statements of rights and limitations on the powers of the Crown.

Under what historians later labelled "clause 61", or the "security clause", a council of 25 barons would be created to monitor and ensure John's future adherence to the charter. If John did not conform to the charter within 40 days of being notified of a transgression by the council, the 25 barons were empowered by clause 61 to seize John's castles and lands until, in their judgement, amends had been made. Men were to be compelled to swear an oath to assist the council in controlling the King, but once redress had been made for any breaches, the King would continue to rule as before.

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In one sense this was not unprecedented. Other kings had previously conceded the right of individual resistance to their subjects if the King did not uphold his obligations. Magna Carta was novel in that it set up a formally recognised means of collectively coercing the King. The historian Wilfred Warren argues that it was almost inevitable that the clause would result in civil war, as it "was crude in its methods and disturbing in its implications". The barons were trying to force John to keep to the charter, but clause 61 was so heavily weighted against the King that this version of the charter could not survive.

John and the rebel barons did not trust each other, and neither side seriously attempted to implement the peace accord. The 25 barons selected for the new council were all rebels, chosen by the more extremist barons, and many among the rebels found excuses to keep their forces mobilised. Disputes began to emerge between the royalist faction and those rebels who had expected the charter to return lands that had been confiscated.

Clause 61 of Magna Carta contained a commitment from John that he would "seek to obtain nothing from anyone, in our own person or through someone else, whereby any of these grants or liberties may be revoked or diminished". Despite this, the King appealed to Pope Innocent for help in July, arguing that the charter compromised the Pope's rights as John's feudal lord. As part of the June peace deal, the barons were supposed to surrender London by 15 August, but this they refused to do. Meanwhile, instructions from the Pope arrived in August, written before the peace accord, with the result that papal commissioners excommunicated the rebel barons and suspended Langton from office in early September.

Once aware of the charter, the Pope responded in detail: in a letter dated 24 August and arriving in late September, he declared the charter to be "not only shameful and demeaning but also illegal and unjust" since John had been "forced to accept" it, and accordingly the charter was "null, and void of all validity for ever"; under threat of excommunication, the King was not to observe the charter, nor the barons try to enforce it.

By then, violence had broken out between the two sides. Less than three months after it had been agreed, John and the loyalist barons firmly repudiated the failed charter: the First Barons' War erupted. The rebel barons concluded that peace with John was impossible, and turned to Philip II's son, the future Louis VIII, for help, offering him the English throne. The war soon settled into a stalemate. The King became ill and died on the night of 18 October 1216, leaving the nine-year-old Henry III as his heir.

Charters of the Welsh Princes

Magna Carta was the first document in which reference is made to English and Welsh law alongside one another, including the principle of the common acceptance of the lawful judgement of peers.

Chapter 56: The return of lands and liberties to Welshmen if those lands and liberties had been taken by English (and vice versa) without a law abiding judgement of their peers.

Chapter 57: The return of Gruffudd ap Llywelyn ap Iorwerth, illegitimate son of Llywelyn ap Iorwerth (Llywelyn the Great) along with other Welsh hostages which were originally taken for "peace" and "good".

Lists of participants in 1215
Counsellors named in Magna Carta

The preamble to Magna Carta includes the names of the following 27 ecclesiastical and secular magnates who had counselled John to accept its terms. The names include some of the moderate reformers, notably Archbishop Stephen Langton, and some of John's loyal supporters, such as William Marshal, Earl of Pembroke. They are listed here in the order in which they appear in the charter itself:

The Council of Twenty-Five Barons

The names of the Twenty-Five Barons appointed under clause 61 to monitor John's future conduct are not given in the charter itself, but do appear in four early sources, all seemingly based on a contemporary listing: a late-13th-century collection of law tracts and statutes, a Reading Abbey manuscript now in Lambeth Palace Library, and the Chronica Majora and Liber Additamentorum of Matthew Paris. The process of appointment is not known, but the names were drawn almost exclusively from among John's more active opponents. They are listed here in the order in which they appear in the original sources:

Excommunicated rebels

In September 1215, the papal commissioners in England—Subdeacon Pandulf, Peter des Roches, Bishop of Winchester, and Simon, Abbot of Reading—excommunicated the rebels, acting on instructions earlier received from Rome. A letter sent by the commissioners from Dover on 5 September to Archbishop Langton explicitly names nine senior rebel barons (all members of the Council of Twenty-Five), and six clerics numbered among the rebel ranks:

Barons

Clerics

Great Charter of 1216

Although the Charter of 1215 was a failure as a peace treaty, it was resurrected under the new government of the young Henry III as a way of drawing support away from the rebel faction. On his deathbed, King John appointed a council of thirteen executors to help Henry reclaim the kingdom, and requested that his son be placed into the guardianship of William Marshal, one of the most famous knights in England. William knighted the boy, and Cardinal Guala Bicchieri, the papal legate to England, then oversaw his coronation at Gloucester Cathedral on 28 October.

The young King inherited a difficult situation, with over half of England occupied by the rebels. He had substantial support though from Guala, who intended to win the civil war for Henry and punish the rebels. Guala set about strengthening the ties between England and the Papacy, starting with the coronation itself, during which Henry gave homage to the Papacy, recognising the Pope as his feudal lord. Pope Honorius III declared that Henry was the Pope's vassal and ward, and that the legate had complete authority to protect Henry and his kingdom. As an additional measure, Henry took the cross, declaring himself a crusader and thereby entitled to special protection from Rome.

The war was not going well for the loyalists, but Prince Louis and the rebel barons were also finding it difficult to make further progress. John's death had defused some of the rebel concerns, and the royal castles were still holding out in the occupied parts of the country. Henry's government encouraged the rebel barons to come back to his cause in exchange for the return of their lands, and reissued a version of the 1215 Charter, albeit having first removed some of the clauses, including those unfavourable to the Papacy and clause 61, which had set up the council of barons. The move was not successful, and opposition to Henry's new government hardened.

Great Charter of 1217

See also: First Barons' War, Charter of the Forest, and English land law
The Charter of the Forest re-issued in 1225, held by the British Library

In February 1217, Louis set sail for France to gather reinforcements. In his absence, arguments broke out between Louis' French and English followers, and Cardinal Guala declared that Henry's war against the rebels was the equivalent of a religious crusade. This declaration resulted in a series of defections from the rebel movement, and the tide of the conflict swung in Henry's favour. Louis returned at the end of April, but his northern forces were defeated by William Marshal at the Battle of Lincoln in May.

Meanwhile, support for Louis' campaign was diminishing in France, and he concluded that the war in England was lost. He negotiated terms with Cardinal Guala, under which Louis would renounce his claim to the English throne. In return, his followers would be given back their lands, any sentences of excommunication would be lifted, and Henry's government would promise to enforce the charter of the previous year. The proposed agreement soon began to unravel amid claims from some loyalists that it was too generous towards the rebels, particularly the clergy who had joined the rebellion.

In the absence of a settlement, Louis stayed in London with his remaining forces, hoping for the arrival of reinforcements from France. When the expected fleet arrived in August, it was intercepted and defeated by loyalists at the Battle of Sandwich. Louis entered into fresh peace negotiations. The factions came to agreement on the final Treaty of Lambeth, also known as the Treaty of Kingston, on 12 and 13 September 1217.

The treaty was similar to the first peace offer, but excluded the rebel clergy, whose lands and appointments remained forfeit. It included a promise that Louis' followers would be allowed to enjoy their traditional liberties and customs, referring back to the Charter of 1216. Louis left England as agreed. He joined the Albigensian Crusade in the south of France, bringing the war to an end.

A great council was called in October and November to take stock of the post-war situation. This council is thought to have formulated and issued the Charter of 1217. The charter resembled that of 1216, although some additional clauses were added to protect the rights of the barons over their feudal subjects, and the restrictions on the Crown's ability to levy taxation were watered down. There remained a range of disagreements about the management of the royal forests, which involved a special legal system that had resulted in a source of considerable royal revenue. Complaints existed over both the implementation of these courts, and the geographic boundaries of the royal forests.

A complementary charter, the Charter of the Forest, was created, pardoning existing forest offences, imposing new controls over the forest courts, and establishing a review of the forest boundaries. To distinguish the two charters, the term 'magna carta libertatum' ("the great charter of liberties") was used by the scribes to refer to the larger document, which in time became known simply as Magna Carta.

Great Charter of 1225

1225 version of Magna Carta issued by Henry III, held in the National Archives

Magna Carta became increasingly embedded into English political life during Henry III's minority. As the King grew older, his government slowly began to recover from the civil war, regaining control of the counties and beginning to raise revenue once again, taking care not to overstep the terms of the charters. Henry remained a minor and his government's legal ability to make permanently binding decisions on his behalf was limited. In 1223, the tensions over the status of the charters became clear in the royal court, when Henry's government attempted to reassert its rights over its properties and revenues in the counties, facing resistance from many communities that argued—if sometimes incorrectly—that the charters protected the new arrangements.

This resistance resulted in an argument between Archbishop Langton and William Brewer over whether the King had any duty to fulfil the terms of the charters, given that he had been forced to agree to them. On this occasion, Henry gave oral assurances that he considered himself bound by the charters, enabling a royal inquiry into the situation in the counties to progress.

In 1225, the question of Henry's commitment to the charters re-emerged, when Louis VIII of France invaded Henry's remaining provinces in France, Poitou and Gascony. Henry's army in Poitou was under-resourced, and the province quickly fell. It became clear that Gascony would also fall unless reinforcements were sent from England. In early 1225, a great council approved a tax of £40,000 to dispatch an army, which quickly retook Gascony. In exchange for agreeing to support Henry, the barons demanded that the King reissue Magna Carta and the Charter of the Forest. The content was almost identical to the 1217 versions, but in the new versions, the King declared that the charters were issued of his own "spontaneous and free will" and confirmed them with the royal seal, giving the new Great Charter and the Charter of the Forest of 1225 much more authority than the previous versions.

The barons anticipated that the King would act in accordance with these charters, subject to the law and moderated by the advice of the nobility. Uncertainty continued, and in 1227, when he was declared of age and able to rule independently, Henry announced that future charters had to be issued under his own seal. This brought into question the validity of the previous charters issued during his minority, and Henry actively threatened to overturn the Charter of the Forest unless the taxes promised in return for it were actually paid. In 1253, Henry confirmed the charters once again in exchange for taxation.

Henry placed a symbolic emphasis on rebuilding royal authority, but his rule was relatively circumscribed by Magna Carta. He generally acted within the terms of the charters, which prevented the Crown from taking extrajudicial action against the barons, including the fines and expropriations that had been common under his father, John. The charters did not address the sensitive issues of the appointment of royal advisers and the distribution of patronage, and they lacked any means of enforcement if the King chose to ignore them. The inconsistency with which he applied the charters over the course of his rule alienated many barons, even those within his own faction.

Despite the various charters, the provision of royal justice was inconsistent and driven by the needs of immediate politics: sometimes action would be taken to address a legitimate baronial complaint, while on other occasions the problem would simply be ignored. The royal courts, which toured the country to provide justice at the local level, typically for lesser barons and the gentry claiming grievances against major lords, had little power, allowing the major barons to dominate the local justice system. Henry's rule became lax and careless, resulting in a reduction in royal authority in the provinces and, ultimately, the collapse of his authority at court.

In 1258, a group of barons seized power from Henry in a coup d'état, citing the need to strictly enforce Magna Carta and the Charter of the Forest, creating a new baronial-led government to advance reform through the Provisions of Oxford. The barons were not militarily powerful enough to win a decisive victory, and instead appealed to Louis IX of France in 1263–1264 to arbitrate on their proposed reforms. The reformist barons argued their case based on Magna Carta, suggesting that it was inviolable under English law and that the King had broken its terms.

Louis came down firmly in favour of Henry, but the French arbitration failed to achieve peace as the rebellious barons refused to accept the verdict. England slipped back into the Second Barons' War, which was won by Henry's son, the Lord Edward. Edward also invoked Magna Carta in advancing his cause, arguing that the reformers had taken matters too far and were themselves acting against Magna Carta. In a conciliatory gesture after the barons had been defeated, in 1267 Henry issued the Statute of Marlborough, which included a fresh commitment to observe the terms of Magna Carta.

Witnesses in 1225
Witnesses to the 1225 charter

The following 65 individuals were witnesses to the 1225 issue of Magna Carta, named in the order in which they appear in the charter itself:

Great Charter of 1297: statute

United Kingdom legislation
Magna Carta (1297)
Act of Parliament
Parliament of England
Citation25 Edw. 1
Dates
Royal assent1297
Other legislation
Amended by
Relates toCharter of the Forest, Confirmation of the Charters (1297), A Statute Concerning Tallage (1297)
Status: Amended
Text of the Magna Carta (1297) as in force today (including any amendments) within the United Kingdom, from legislation.gov.uk.
1297 version of the Great Charter, on display in the National Archives Building in Washington, D.C.

King Edward I reissued the Charters of 1225 in 1297 in return for a new tax. It is this version which remains in statute today, although with most articles now repealed.

United Kingdom legislation
Confirmation of the Charters (1297)
Act of Parliament
Parliament of England
Citation25 Edw. 1
Dates
Royal assent1297
Other legislation
Amended by
Relates to
Status: Amended
Text of the Confirmation of the Charters (1297) as in force today (including any amendments) within the United Kingdom, from legislation.gov.uk.

The Confirmatio Cartarum (Confirmation of Charters) was issued in Norman French by Edward I in 1297. Edward, needing money, had taxed the nobility, and they had armed themselves against him, forcing Edward to issue his confirmation of Magna Carta and the Forest Charter to avoid civil war. The nobles had sought to add another document, the De Tallagio, to Magna Carta. Edward I's government was not prepared to concede this, they agreed to the issuing of the Confirmatio, confirming the previous charters and confirming the principle that taxation should be by consent, although the precise manner of that consent was not laid down.

A passage mandates that copies shall be distributed in "cathedral churches throughout our realm, there to remain, and shall be read before the people two times by the year", hence the permanent installation of a copy in Salisbury Cathedral. In the Confirmation's second article, it is confirmed that:

...if any judgement be given from henceforth contrary to the points of the charters aforesaid by the justices, or by any other our ministers that hold plea before them against the points of the charters, it shall be undone, and holden for nought.

With the reconfirmation of the charters in 1300, an additional document was granted, the Articuli super Cartas (The Articles upon the Charters). It was composed of 17 articles and sought in part to deal with the problem of enforcing the charters. Magna Carta and the Forest Charter were to be issued to the sheriff of each county, and should be read four times a year at the meetings of the county courts. Each county should have a committee of three men who could hear complaints about violations of the Charters.

Pope Clement V continued the papal policy of supporting monarchs (who ruled by divine grace) against any claims in Magna Carta which challenged the King's rights, and annulled the Confirmatio Cartarum in 1305. Edward I interpreted Clement V's papal bull annulling the Confirmatio Cartarum as effectively applying to the Articuli super Cartas, although the latter was not specifically mentioned. In 1306 Edward I took the opportunity given by the Pope's backing to reassert forest law over large areas which had been "disafforested". Both Edward and the Pope were accused by some contemporary chroniclers of "perjury", and it was suggested by Robert McNair Scott that Robert the Bruce refused to make peace with Edward I's son, Edward II, in 1312 with the justification: "How shall the king of England keep faith with me, since he does not observe the sworn promises made to his liege men ...".

Magna Carta's influence on English medieval law

The Great Charter was referred to in legal cases throughout the medieval period. For example, in 1226, the knights of Lincolnshire argued that their local sheriff was changing customary practice regarding the local courts, "contrary to their liberty which they ought to have by the charter of the lord king". In practice, cases were not brought against the King for breach of Magna Carta and the Forest Charter, but it was possible to bring a case against the King's officers, such as his sheriffs, using the argument that the King's officers were acting contrary to liberties granted by the King in the charters.

In addition, medieval cases referred to the clauses in Magna Carta which dealt with specific issues such as wardship and dower, debt collection, and keeping rivers free for navigation. Even in the 13th century, some clauses of Magna Carta rarely appeared in legal cases, either because the issues concerned were no longer relevant, or because Magna Carta had been superseded by more relevant legislation. By 1350 half the clauses of Magna Carta were no longer actively used.

14th–15th centuries

Magna carta cum statutis angliae ("Great Charter with English Statutes"), early 14th century

During the reign of King Edward III six measures, later known as the Six Statutes, were passed between 1331 and 1369. They sought to clarify certain parts of the Charters. In particular the third statute, in 1354, redefined clause 29, with "free man" becoming "no man, of whatever estate or condition he may be", and introduced the phrase "due process of law" for "lawful judgement of his peers or the law of the land".

Between the 13th and 15th centuries Magna Carta was reconfirmed 32 times according to Sir Edward Coke, and possibly as many as 45 times. Often the first item of parliamentary business was a public reading and reaffirmation of the Charter, and, as in the previous century, parliaments often exacted confirmation of it from the monarch. The Charter was confirmed in 1423 by King Henry VI.

By the mid-15th century, Magna Carta ceased to occupy a central role in English political life, as monarchs reasserted authority and powers which had been challenged in the 100 years after Edward I's reign. The Great Charter remained a text for lawyers, particularly as a protector of property rights, and became more widely read than ever as printed versions circulated and levels of literacy increased.

16th century

A version of the Charter of 1217, produced between 1437 and c. 1450

During the 16th century, the interpretation of Magna Carta and the First Barons' War shifted. Henry VII took power at the end of the turbulent Wars of the Roses, followed by Henry VIII, and extensive propaganda under both rulers promoted the legitimacy of the regime, the illegitimacy of any sort of rebellion against royal power, and the priority of supporting the Crown in its arguments with the Papacy.

Tudor historians rediscovered the Barnwell chronicler, who was more favourable to King John than other 13th-century texts, and, as historian Ralph Turner describes, they "viewed King John in a positive light as a hero struggling against the papacy", showing "little sympathy for the Great Charter or the rebel barons". Pro-Catholic demonstrations during the 1536 uprising cited Magna Carta, accusing the King of not giving it sufficient respect.

The first mechanically printed edition of Magna Carta was probably the Magna Carta cum aliis Antiquis Statutis of 1508 by Richard Pynson, although the early printed versions of the 16th century incorrectly attributed the origins of Magna Carta to Henry III and 1225, rather than to John and 1215, and accordingly worked from the later text. An abridged English-language edition was published by John Rastell in 1527. Thomas Berthelet, Pynson's successor as the royal printer during 1530–1547, printed an edition of the text along with other "ancient statutes" in 1531 and 1540.

In 1534, George Ferrers published the first unabridged English-language edition of Magna Carta, dividing the Charter into 37 numbered clauses.

a stone statue of a man in Tudor clothes and down and cap and cahins off office holding a rolled up copy of maga carter
Magna Carta held by Sir Rowland Hill in his monument in Shropshire: his 16th Century funerary monument in London also showed him holding the document

The mid-sixteenth century funerary monument Sir Rowland Hill of Soulton, placed in St Stephens Wallbroke, included a full statue of the Tudor statesman and judge holding a copy of Magna Carta. Hill was a Mercer and a Lord Mayor of London; both of these statuses were shared with Serlo the Mercer who was a negotiator and enforcer of Magna Carta. The original monument was lost in the Great Fire of London, but it was restated on a 110 foot tall column on his family's estates in Shropshire.

At the end of the 16th century, there was an upsurge in antiquarian interest in Magna Carta in England. Legal historians concluded that there was a set of ancient English customs and laws which had been temporarily overthrown by the Norman invasion of 1066, and been recovered in 1215 and recorded in Magna Carta, which in turn gave authority to important 16th-century legal principles. Modern historians regard this narrative as fundamentally incorrect, and many refer to it as a "myth".

The antiquarian William Lambarde published what he believed were the Anglo-Saxon and Norman law codes, tracing the origins of the 16th-century English Parliament back to this period, but he misinterpreted the dates of many documents concerned. Francis Bacon argued that clause 39 of Magna Carta was the basis of the 16th-century jury system and judicial processes. Antiquarians Robert Beale, James Morice and Richard Cosin argued that Magna Carta was a statement of liberty and a fundamental, supreme law empowering English government. Those who questioned these conclusions, including the Member of Parliament Arthur Hall, faced sanctions.

17th–18th centuries

Political tensions

The jurist Edward Coke made extensive political use of Magna Carta.

In the early 17th century, Magna Carta became increasingly important as a political document in arguments over the authority of the English monarchy. James I and Charles I both propounded greater authority for the Crown, justified by the doctrine of the divine right of kings, and Magna Carta was cited extensively by their opponents to challenge the monarchy.

Magna Carta, it was argued, recognised and protected the liberty of individual Englishmen, made the King subject to the common law of the land, formed the origin of the trial by jury system, and acknowledged the ancient origins of Parliament: because of Magna Carta and this ancient constitution, an English monarch was unable to alter these long-standing English customs. Although the arguments based on Magna Carta were historically inaccurate, they nonetheless carried symbolic power, as the charter had immense significance during this period; antiquarians such as Sir Henry Spelman described it as "the most majestic and a sacrosanct anchor to English Liberties".

Sir Edward Coke was a leader in using Magna Carta as a political tool during this period. Still working from the 1225 version of the text – the first printed copy of the 1215 charter only emerged in 1610 – Coke spoke and wrote about Magna Carta repeatedly. His work was challenged at the time by Lord Ellesmere, and modern historians such as Ralph Turner and Claire Breay have critiqued Coke as "misconstruing" the original charter "anachronistically and uncritically", and taking a "very selective" approach to his analysis. More sympathetically, J. C. Holt noted that the history of the charters had already become "distorted" by the time Coke was carrying out his work.

The Leveller John Lilburne criticised Magna Carta as an inadequate definition of English liberties.

In 1621, a bill was presented to Parliament to renew Magna Carta; although this bill failed, lawyer John Selden argued during Darnell's Case in 1627 that the right of habeas corpus was backed by Magna Carta. Coke supported the Petition of Right in 1628, which cited Magna Carta in its preamble, attempting to extend the provisions, and to make them binding on the judiciary. The monarchy responded by arguing that the historical legal situation was much less clear-cut than was being claimed, restricted the activities of antiquarians, arrested Coke for treason, and suppressed his proposed book on Magna Carta. Charles initially did not agree to the Petition of Right, and refused to confirm Magna Carta in any way that would reduce his independence as King.

England descended into civil war in the 1640s, resulting in Charles I's execution in 1649. Under the republic that followed, some questioned whether Magna Carta, an agreement with a monarch, was still relevant. An anti-Cromwellian pamphlet published in 1660, The English devil, said that the nation had been "compelled to submit to this Tyrant Nol or be cut off by him; nothing but a word and a blow, his Will was his Law; tell him of Magna Carta, he would lay his hand on his sword and cry Magna Farta". In a 2005 speech the Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales, Lord Woolf, repeated the claim that Cromwell had referred to Magna Carta as "Magna Farta".

The radical groups that flourished during this period held differing opinions of Magna Carta. The Levellers rejected history and law as presented by their contemporaries, holding instead to an "anti-Normanism" viewpoint. John Lilburne, for example, argued that Magna Carta contained only some of the freedoms that had supposedly existed under the Anglo-Saxons before being crushed by the Norman yoke. The Leveller Richard Overton described the charter as "a beggarly thing containing many marks of intolerable bondage".

Both saw Magna Carta as a useful declaration of liberties that could be used against governments they disagreed with. Gerrard Winstanley, the leader of the more extreme Diggers, stated "the best lawes that England hath, were got by our Forefathers importunate petitioning unto the kings that still were their Task-masters; and yet these best laws are yoaks and manicles, tying one sort of people to be slaves to another; Clergy and Gentry have got their freedom, but the common people still are, and have been left servants to work for them."

Glorious Revolution

The first attempt at a proper historiography was undertaken by Robert Brady, who refuted the supposed antiquity of Parliament and belief in the immutable continuity of the law. Brady realised that the liberties of the Charter were limited and argued that the liberties were the grant of the King. By putting Magna Carta in historical context, he cast doubt on its contemporary political relevance; his historical understanding did not survive the Glorious Revolution, which, according to the historian J. G. A. Pocock, "marked a setback for the course of English historiography."

According to the Whig interpretation of history, the Glorious Revolution was an example of the reclaiming of ancient liberties. Reinforced with Lockean concepts, the Whigs believed England's constitution to be a social contract, based on documents such as Magna Carta, the Petition of Right, and the Bill of Rights. The English Liberties (1680, in later versions often British Liberties) by the Whig propagandist Henry Care (d. 1688) was a cheap polemical book that was influential and much-reprinted, in the American colonies as well as Britain, and made Magna Carta central to the history and the contemporary legitimacy of its subject.

Ideas about the nature of law in general were beginning to change. In 1716, the Septennial Act was passed, which had a number of consequences. First, it showed that Parliament no longer considered its previous statutes unassailable, as it provided for a maximum parliamentary term of seven years, whereas the Triennial Act (1694) (enacted less than a quarter of a century previously) had provided for a maximum term of three years.

It also greatly extended the powers of Parliament. Under this new constitution, monarchical absolutism was replaced by parliamentary supremacy. It was quickly realised that Magna Carta stood in the same relation to the King-in-Parliament as it had to the King without Parliament. This supremacy would be challenged by the likes of Granville Sharp. Sharp regarded Magna Carta as a fundamental part of the constitution, and maintained that it would be treason to repeal any part of it. He also held that the Charter prohibited slavery.

Sir William Blackstone published a critical edition of the 1215 Charter in 1759, and gave it the numbering system still used today. In 1763, Member of Parliament John Wilkes was arrested for writing an inflammatory pamphlet, No. 45, 23 April 1763; he cited Magna Carta continually. Lord Camden denounced the treatment of Wilkes as a contravention of Magna Carta. Thomas Paine, in his Rights of Man, would disregard Magna Carta and the Bill of Rights on the grounds that they were not a written constitution devised by elected representatives.

Use in the Thirteen Colonies and the United States

Magna Carta replica and display in the rotunda of the United States Capitol, Washington, D.C.

When English colonists left for the New World, they brought royal charters that established the colonies. The Massachusetts Bay Company charter, for example, stated that the colonists would "have and enjoy all liberties and immunities of free and natural subjects." The Virginia Charter of 1606, which was largely drafted by Sir Edward Coke, stated that the colonists would have the same "liberties, franchises and immunities" as people born in England. The Massachusetts Body of Liberties contained similarities to clause 29 of Magna Carta; when drafting it, the Massachusetts General Court viewed Magna Carta as the chief embodiment of English common law. The other colonies would follow their example. In 1638, Maryland sought to recognise Magna Carta as part of the law of the province, but the request was denied by Charles I.

In 1687, William Penn published The Excellent Privilege of Liberty and Property: being the birth-right of the Free-Born Subjects of England, which contained the first copy of Magna Carta printed on American soil. Penn's comments reflected Coke's, indicating a belief that Magna Carta was a fundamental law. The colonists drew on English law books, leading them to an anachronistic interpretation of Magna Carta, believing that it guaranteed trial by jury and habeas corpus.

The development of parliamentary supremacy in the British Isles did not constitutionally affect the Thirteen Colonies, which retained an adherence to English common law, but it directly affected the relationship between Britain and the colonies. When American colonists fought against Britain, they were fighting not so much for new freedom, but to preserve liberties and rights that they believed to be enshrined in Magna Carta.

In the late 18th century, the United States Constitution became the supreme law of the land, recalling the manner in which Magna Carta had come to be regarded as fundamental law. The Constitution's Fifth Amendment guarantees that "no person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law", a phrase that was derived from Magna Carta. In addition, the Constitution included a similar writ in the Suspension Clause, Article 1, Section 9: "The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion, the public safety may require it."

Each of these proclaim that no person may be imprisoned or detained without evidence that he or she committed a crime. The Ninth Amendment states that "The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people." The writers of the U.S. Constitution wished to ensure that the rights they already held, such as those that they believed were provided by Magna Carta, would be preserved unless explicitly curtailed.

The U.S. Supreme Court has explicitly referenced Edward Coke's analysis of Magna Carta as an antecedent of the Sixth Amendment's right to a speedy trial.

19th–21st centuries

Interpretation

A romanticised 19th-century recreation of King John signing Magna Carta. Rather than signing in writing, the document would have been authenticated with the Great Seal and applied by officials rather than John himself.

Initially, the Whig interpretation of Magna Carta and its role in constitutional history remained dominant during the 19th century. The historian William Stubbs's Constitutional History of England, published in the 1870s, formed the high-water mark of this view. Stubbs argued that Magna Carta had been a major step in the shaping of the English nation, and he believed that the barons at Runnymede in 1215 were not just representing the nobility, but the people of England as a whole, standing up to a tyrannical ruler in the form of King John.

This view of Magna Carta began to recede. The late-Victorian jurist and historian Frederic William Maitland provided an alternative academic history in 1899, which began to return Magna Carta to its historical roots. In 1904, Edward Jenks published an article entitled "The Myth of Magna Carta", which undermined the previously accepted view of Magna Carta. Historians such as Albert Pollard agreed with Jenks in concluding that Edward Coke had largely "invented" the myth of Magna Carta in the 17th century; these historians argued that the 1215 charter had not referred to liberty for the people at large, but rather to the protection of baronial rights.

This view also became popular in wider circles, and in 1930 Sellar and Yeatman published their parody on English history, 1066 and All That, in which they mocked the supposed importance of Magna Carta and its promises of universal liberty: "Magna Charter was therefore the chief cause of Democracy in England, and thus a Good Thing for everyone (except the Common People)".

In many literary representations of the medieval past, however, Magna Carta remained a foundation of English national identity. Some authors used the medieval roots of the document as an argument to preserve the social status quo, while others pointed to Magna Carta to challenge perceived economic injustices. The Baronial Order of Magna Charta was formed in 1898 to promote the ancient principles and values felt to be displayed in Magna Carta. The legal profession in England and the United States continued to hold Magna Carta in high esteem; they were instrumental in forming the Magna Carta Society in 1922 to protect the meadows at Runnymede from development in the 1920s, and in 1957, the American Bar Association erected the Magna Carta Memorial at Runnymede. The prominent lawyer Lord Denning described Magna Carta in 1956 as "the greatest constitutional document of all times—the foundation of the freedom of the individual against the arbitrary authority of the despot".

Repeal of articles and constitutional influence

Radicals such as Sir Francis Burdett believed that Magna Carta could not be repealed, but in the 19th century clauses which were obsolete or had been superseded began to be repealed. The repeal of clause 26 in 1829, by the Offences Against the Person Act 1828 (9 Geo. 4. c. 31 s. 1) was the first time a clause of Magna Carta was repealed. Over the next 140 years, nearly the whole of Magna Carta (1297) as statute was repealed, leaving just clauses 1, 9 and 29 still in force (in England and Wales) after 1969. Most of the clauses were repealed in England and Wales by the Statute Law Revision Act 1863, and in modern Northern Ireland and also in the modern Republic of Ireland by the Statute Law Revision (Ireland) Act 1872.

Many later attempts to draft constitutional forms of government trace their lineage back to Magna Carta. The British dominions, Australia and New Zealand, Canada (except Quebec), and formerly the Union of South Africa and Southern Rhodesia, reflected the influence of Magna Carta in their laws, and the Charter's effects can be seen in the laws of other states that evolved from the British Empire.

Modern legacy

The Magna Carta Memorial at Runnymede, designed by Sir Edward Maufe and erected by the American Bar Association in 1957. The memorial stands in the meadow known historically as Long Mede: it is likely that the actual site of the sealing of Magna Carta lay further east, towards Egham and Staines.

Magna Carta continues to have a powerful iconic status in British society, being cited by politicians and lawyers in support of constitutional positions. Its perceived guarantee of trial by jury and other civil liberties, for example, led to Tony Benn's reference to the debate in 2008 over whether to increase the maximum time terrorism suspects could be held without charge from 28 to 42 days as "the day Magna Carta was repealed". Although rarely invoked in court in the modern era, in 2012 the Occupy London protestors attempted to use Magna Carta in resisting their eviction from St. Paul's Churchyard by the City of London. In his judgment the Master of the Rolls gave this short shrift, noting somewhat drily that although clause 29 was considered by many the foundation of the rule of law in England, he did not consider it directly relevant to the case, and that the two other surviving clauses ironically concerned the rights of the Church and the City of London and could not help the defendants.

Magna Carta carries little legal weight in modern Britain, as most of its clauses have been repealed and relevant rights ensured by other statutes, but the historian James Holt remarks that the survival of the 1215 charter in national life is a "reflexion of the continuous development of English law and administration" and symbolic of the many struggles between authority and the law over the centuries. The historian W. L. Warren has observed that "many who knew little and cared less about the content of the Charter have, in nearly all ages, invoked its name, and with good cause, for it meant more than it said".

It also remains a topic of great interest to historians; Natalie Fryde characterised the charter as "one of the holiest of cows in English medieval history", with the debates over its interpretation and meaning unlikely to end. The majority of contemporary historians however see the interpretation of the charter as a unique and early charter of legal rights as a myth that was created centuries later.

In many ways still a "sacred text", Magna Carta is generally considered part of the uncodified constitution of the United Kingdom; in a 2005 speech, the Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales, Lord Woolf, described it as the "first of a series of instruments that now are recognised as having a special constitutional status". Magna Carta was reprinted in New Zealand in 1881 as one of the Imperial Acts in force there. Clause 29 of the document remains in force as part of New Zealand law.

The ceremony in the Capitol rotunda honouring the arrival of Magna Carta in 1976

The document also continues to be honoured in the United States as an antecedent of the United States Constitution and Bill of Rights. In 1976, the UK lent one of four surviving originals of the 1215 Magna Carta to the United States for their bicentennial celebrations and also donated an ornate display case for it. The original was returned after one year, but a replica and the case are still on display in the United States Capitol Crypt in Washington, D.C.

The rights proclaimed with Magna Carta also found their path in the French Revolution from 1789 as “Liberty, Equality and Fraternity” became a symbol of democratic freedom and later influenced conventions and international agreements.

Celebration of the 800th anniversary

The plan for four surviving original copies of Magna Carta to be brought together in 2015, at the British Library in collaboration with Lincoln Cathedral and Salisbury Cathedral and supported by the law firm Linklaters

The 800th anniversary of the original charter occurred on 15 June 2015, and organisations and institutions planned celebratory events. The British Library brought together the four existing copies of the 1215 manuscript in February 2015 for a special exhibition. British artist Cornelia Parker was commissioned to create a new artwork, Magna Carta (An Embroidery), which was shown at the British Library between May and July 2015. The artwork is a copy of the Misplaced Pages article about Magna Carta (as it appeared on the document's 799th anniversary, 15 June 2014), hand-embroidered by over 200 people.

On 15 June 2015, a commemoration ceremony was conducted in Runnymede at the National Trust park, attended by British and American dignitaries. On the same day, Google celebrated the anniversary with a Google Doodle.

The copy held by Lincoln Cathedral was exhibited in the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., from November 2014 until January 2015. A new visitor centre at Lincoln Castle was opened for the anniversary. The Royal Mint released two commemorative two-pound coins.

In 2014, Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk celebrated the 800th anniversary of the barons' Charter of Liberties, said to have been secretly agreed there in November 1214.

Copies

Physical format

Numerous copies, known as exemplifications, were made of the various charters, and many of them still survive. The documents were written in heavily abbreviated medieval Latin in clear handwriting, using quill pens on sheets of parchment made from sheep skin, approximately 15 by 20 inches (380 by 510 mm) across. They were sealed with the royal great seal by an official called the spigurnel, equipped with a special seal press, using beeswax and resin. There were no signatures on the charter of 1215, and the barons present did not attach their own seals to it. The text was not divided into paragraphs or numbered clauses: the numbering system used today was introduced by the jurist Sir William Blackstone in 1759.

Exemplifications

1215 exemplifications

At least thirteen original copies of the charter of 1215 were issued by the royal chancery during that year, seven in the first tranche distributed on 24 June and another six later; they were sent to county sheriffs and bishops, who were probably charged for the privilege. Slight variations exist between the surviving copies, and there was probably no single "master copy". Of these documents, only four survive, all held in England: two now at the British Library, one at Salisbury Cathedral, and one, the property of Lincoln Cathedral, on permanent loan to Lincoln Castle. Each of these versions is slightly different in size and text, and each is considered by historians to be equally authoritative.

1733 engraving by John Pine of the 1215 charter (Cotton Charter XIII.31A)

The two 1215 charters held by the British Library, known as Cotton MS. Augustus II.106 and Cotton Charter XIII.31A, were acquired by the antiquarian Sir Robert Cotton in the 17th century. The first had been found by Humphrey Wyems, a London lawyer, who may have discovered it in a tailor's shop, and who gave it to Cotton in January 1629. The second was found in Dover Castle in 1630 by Sir Edward Dering. The Dering charter was traditionally thought to be the copy sent in 1215 to the Cinque Ports, but in 2015 the historian David Carpenter argued that it was more probably that sent to Canterbury Cathedral, as its text was identical to a transcription made from the Cathedral's copy of the 1215 charter in the 1290s. This copy was damaged in the Cotton library fire of 1731, when its seal was badly melted. The parchment was somewhat shrivelled but otherwise relatively unscathed. An engraved facsimile of the charter was made by John Pine in 1733. In the 1830s, an ill-judged and bungled attempt at cleaning and conservation rendered the manuscript largely illegible to the naked eye. This is the only surviving 1215 copy still to have its great seal attached.

Lincoln Cathedral's copy has been held by the county since 1215. It was displayed in the Common Chamber in the cathedral, before being moved to another building in 1846. Between 1939 and 1940 it was displayed in the British Pavilion at the 1939 World Fair in New York City, and at the Library of Congress. When the Second World War broke out, Winston Churchill wanted to give the charter to the American people, hoping that this would encourage the United States, then neutral, to enter the war against the Axis powers, but the cathedral was unwilling, and the plans were dropped.

After December 1941, the copy was stored in Fort Knox, Kentucky, for safety, before being put on display again in 1944 and returned to Lincoln Cathedral in early 1946. It was put on display in 1976 in the cathedral's medieval library. It was displayed in San Francisco, and was taken out of display for a time to undergo conservation in preparation for another visit to the United States, where it was exhibited in 2007 at the Contemporary Art Center of Virginia and the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia. In 2009 it returned to New York to be displayed at the Fraunces Tavern Museum. It is currently on permanent loan to the David P. J. Ross Vault at Lincoln Castle, along with an original copy of the 1217 Charter of the Forest.

The fourth copy, held by Salisbury Cathedral, was first given in 1215 to its predecessor, Old Sarum Cathedral. Rediscovered by the cathedral in 1812, it has remained in Salisbury throughout its history, except when being taken off-site for restoration work. It is possibly the best preserved of the four, although small pin holes can be seen in the parchment from where it was once pinned up. The handwriting on this version is different from that of the other three, suggesting that it was not written by a royal scribe but rather by a member of the cathedral staff, who then had it exemplified by the royal court.

Later exemplifications

1225 charter, held in the British Library, with the royal great seal attached

Other early versions of the charters survive today. Only one exemplification of the 1216 charter survives, held in Durham Cathedral. Four copies of the 1217 charter exist; three of these are held by the Bodleian Library in Oxford and one by Hereford Cathedral. Hereford's copy is occasionally displayed alongside the Mappa Mundi in the cathedral's chained library and has survived along with a small document called the Articuli super Cartas that was sent along with the charter, telling the sheriff of the county how to observe the conditions outlined in the document. One of the Bodleian's copies was displayed at San Francisco's California Palace of the Legion of Honor in 2011.

Four exemplifications of the 1225 charter survive: the British Library holds one, which was preserved at Lacock Abbey until 1945; Durham Cathedral also holds a copy, with the Bodleian Library holding a third. The fourth copy of the 1225 exemplification was held by the museum of the Public Record Office and is now held by The National Archives. The Society of Antiquaries also holds a draft of the 1215 charter (discovered in 2013 in a late-13th-century register from Peterborough Abbey), a copy of the 1225 third re-issue (within an early-14th-century collection of statutes) and a roll copy of the 1225 reissue.

A 1297 copy of Magna Carta, owned by the Australian Government and on display in the Members' Hall of Parliament House, Canberra

Only two exemplifications of Magna Carta are held outside England, both from 1297. One of these was purchased in 1952 by the Australian Government for £12,500 from King's School, Bruton, England. Restored in 2024, this copy is now on display in the Members' Hall of Parliament House, Canberra. The second was originally held by the Brudenell family, earls of Cardigan, before they sold it in 1984 to the Perot Foundation in the United States, which in 2007 sold it to U.S. businessman David Rubenstein for US$21.3 million. Rubenstein commented "I have always believed that this was an important document to our country, even though it wasn't drafted in our country. I think it was the basis for the Declaration of Independence and the basis for the Constitution". This exemplification is now on permanent loan to the National Archives in Washington, D.C. Only two other 1297 exemplifications survive, one of which is held in the UK's National Archives, the other in the Guildhall, London.

Seven copies of the 1300 exemplification by Edward I survive, in Faversham, Oriel College, Oxford, the Bodleian Library, Durham Cathedral, Westminster Abbey, the City of London (held in the archives at the London Guildhall) and Sandwich (held in the Sandwich Guildhall Museum). The Sandwich copy was rediscovered in early 2015 in a Victorian scrapbook in the town archives of Sandwich, Kent, one of the Cinque Ports. In the case of the Sandwich and Oriel College exemplifications, the copies of the Charter of the Forest originally issued with them also survive.

Clauses

A photograph of the "heads" side of a silver King John penny
A silver King John penny. Much of Magna Carta concerned how royal revenues were raised.

Most of the 1215 charter and later versions sought to govern the feudal rights of the Crown over the barons. Under the Angevin kings, and in particular during John's reign, the rights of the King had frequently been used inconsistently, often in an attempt to maximise the royal income from the barons. Feudal relief was one way that a king could demand money, and clauses 2 and 3 fixed the fees payable when an heir inherited an estate or when a minor came of age and took possession of his lands.

Scutage was a form of medieval taxation. All knights and nobles owed military service to the Crown in return for their lands, which theoretically belonged to the King. Many preferred to avoid this service and offer money instead. The Crown often used the cash to pay for mercenaries. The rate of scutage that should be payable, and the circumstances under which it was appropriate for the King to demand it, was uncertain and controversial. Clauses 12 and 14 addressed the management of the process.

The English judicial system had altered considerably over the previous century, with the royal judges playing a larger role in delivering justice across the country. John had used his royal discretion to extort large sums of money from the barons, effectively taking payment to offer justice in particular cases, and the role of the Crown in delivering justice had become politically sensitive among the barons. Clauses 39 and 40 demanded due process be applied in the royal justice system, while clause 45 required that the King appoint knowledgeable royal officials to the relevant roles.

Although these clauses did not have any special significance in the original charter, this part of Magna Carta became singled out as particularly important in later centuries. In the United States, for example, the Supreme Court of California interpreted clause 45 in 1974 as establishing a requirement in common law that a defendant faced with the potential of incarceration be entitled to a trial overseen by a legally trained judge.

King John holding a church, painted c. 1250–1259 by Matthew Paris

Royal forests were economically important in medieval England and were both protected and exploited by the Crown, supplying the King with hunting grounds, raw materials, and money. They were subject to special royal jurisdiction and the resulting forest law was, according to the historian Richard Huscroft, "harsh and arbitrary, a matter purely for the King's will". The size of the forests had expanded under the Angevin kings, an unpopular development.

The 1215 charter had several clauses relating to the royal forests. Clauses 47 and 48 promised to deforest the lands added to the forests under John and investigate the use of royal rights in this area, but notably did not address the forestation of the previous kings, while clause 53 promised some form of redress for those affected by the recent changes, and clause 44 promised some relief from the operation of the forest courts. Neither Magna Carta nor the subsequent Charter of the Forest proved entirely satisfactory as a way of managing the political tensions arising in the operation of the royal forests.

Some of the clauses addressed wider economic issues. The concerns of the barons over the treatment of their debts to Jewish moneylenders, who occupied a special position in medieval England and were by tradition under the King's protection, were addressed by clauses 10 and 11. The charter concluded this section with the phrase "debts owing to other than Jews shall be dealt with likewise", so it is debatable to what extent the Jews were being singled out by these clauses. Some issues were relatively specific, such as clause 33 which ordered the removal of all fishing weirs—an important and growing source of revenue at the time—from England's rivers.

The role of the English Church had been a matter for great debate in the years prior to the 1215 charter. The Norman and Angevin kings had traditionally exercised a great deal of power over the church within their territories. From the 1040s onwards successive popes had emphasised the importance of the church being governed more effectively from Rome, and had established an independent judicial system and hierarchical chain of authority. After the 1140s, these principles had been largely accepted within the English church, even if accompanied by an element of concern about centralising authority in Rome.

These changes brought the customary rights of lay rulers such as John over ecclesiastical appointments into question. As described above, John had come to a compromise with Pope Innocent III in exchange for his political support for the King, and clause 1 of Magna Carta prominently displayed this arrangement, promising the freedoms and liberties of the church. The importance of this clause may also reflect the role of Archbishop Langton in the negotiations: Langton had taken a strong line on this issue during his career.

Clauses in detail

Magna Carta clauses in the 1215 and later charters
  • 1215 clause
  • Description
  • Included in later charters
 Notes
1 Guaranteed the freedom of the English Church. Y Still in UK (England and Wales) law as clause 1 in the 1297 statute.
2 Regulated the operation of feudal relief upon the death of a baron. Y Repealed by Statute Law Revision Act 1863 and Statute Law Revision (Ireland) Act 1872.
3 Regulated the operation of feudal relief and minors' coming of age. Y Repealed by Statute Law Revision Act 1863 and Statute Law Revision (Ireland) Act 1872.
4 Regulated the process of wardship, and the role of the guardian. Y Repealed by Statute Law Revision Act 1863 and Statute Law Revision (Ireland) Act 1872.
5 Forbade the exploitation of a ward's property by his guardian. Y Repealed by Statute Law Revision Act 1863 and Statute Law Revision (Ireland) Act 1872.
6 Forbade guardians from marrying a ward to a partner of lower social standing. Y Repealed by Statute Law Revision Act 1863 and Statute Law Revision (Ireland) Act 1872.
7 Referred to the rights of a widow to receive promptly her dowry and inheritance. Y Repealed by Statute Law Revision Act 1863 and Statute Law Revision (Ireland) Act 1872.
8 Forbade the forcible remarrying of widows and confirmed the royal veto over baronial marriages. Y Repealed by Administration of Estates Act 1925, Administration of Estates Act (Northern Ireland) 1955 and Statute Law (Repeals) Act 1969.
9 Established protection for debtors, confirming that a debtor should not have his lands seized as long as he had other means to pay the debt. Y Repealed by Statute Law (Repeals) Act 1969.
10 Regulated Jewish money lending, stating that children would not pay interest on a debt they had inherited while they were under age. N
11 Further addressed Jewish money lending, stating that a widow and children should be provided for before paying an inherited debt. N
12 Determined that scutage or aid, forms of medieval taxation, could be levied and assessed only by the common consent of the realm. N Some exceptions to this general rule were given, such as for the payment of ransoms.
13 Confirmed the liberties and customs of the City of London and other boroughs. Y Still in UK (England and Wales) law as clause 9 in the 1297 statute.
14 Described how senior churchmen and barons would be summoned to give consent for scutage and aid. N
15 Prohibited anyone from levying aid on their free men. N Some exceptions to this general rule were given, such as for the payment of ransoms.
16 Placed limits on the level of service required for a knight's fee. Y Repealed by Statute Law Revision Act 1948.
17 Established a fixed law court rather than one which followed the movements of the King. Y Repealed by Civil Procedure Acts Repeal Act 1879.
18 Defined the authority and frequency of county courts. Y Repealed by Civil Procedure Acts Repeal Act 1879.
19 Determined how excess business of a county court should be dealt with. Y
20 Stated that an amercement, a type of medieval fine, should be proportionate to the offence, but even for a serious offence the fine should not be so heavy as to deprive a man of his livelihood. Fines should be imposed only through local assessment. Y Repealed by Statute Law Revision Act 1863 and Statute Law Revision (Ireland) Act 1872.
21 Determined that earls and barons should be fined only by other earls and barons. Y Repealed by Statute Law Revision Act 1863 and Statute Law Revision (Ireland) Act 1872.
22 Determined that the size of a fine on a member of the clergy should be independent of the ecclesiastical wealth held by the individual churchman. Y Repealed by Statute Law Revision Act 1863 and Statute Law Revision (Ireland) Act 1872.
23 Limited the right of feudal lords to demand assistance in building bridges across rivers. Y Repealed by Statute Law (Repeals) Act 1969.
24 Prohibited royal officials, such as sheriffs, from trying a crime as an alternative to a royal judge. Y Repealed by Statute Law (Repeals) Act 1969.
25 Fixed the royal rents on lands, with the exception of royal demesne manors. N
26 Established a process for dealing with the death of those owing debts to the Crown. Y Repealed by Crown Proceedings Act 1947.
27 Laid out the process for dealing with intestacy. N
28 Determined that a royal officer requisitioning goods must offer immediate payment to their owner. Y Repealed by Statute Law Revision Act 1863 and Statute Law Revision (Ireland) Act 1872.
29 Regulated the exercise of castle-guard duty. Y Repealed by Statute Law Revision Act 1863 and Statute Law Revision (Ireland) Act 1872.
30 Prevented royal officials from requisitioning horses or carts without the owner's consent. Y Repealed by Statute Law Revision Act 1863 and Statute Law Revision (Ireland) Act 1872.
31 Prevented royal officials from requisitioning timber without the owner's consent. Y Repealed by Statute Law Revision Act 1863 and Statute Law Revision (Ireland) Act 1872.
32 Prevented the Crown from confiscating the lands of felons for longer than a year and a day, after which they were to be returned to the relevant feudal lord. Y Repealed by Statute Law Revision Act 1948.
33 Ordered the removal of all fish weirs from rivers. Y Repealed by Statute Law (Repeals) Act 1969.
34 Forbade the issuing of writ precipes if doing so would undermine the right of trial in a local feudal court. Y Repealed by Statute Law Revision Act 1863 and Statute Law Revision (Ireland) Act 1872.
35 Ordered the establishment of standard measures for wine, ale, corn, and cloth. Y Repealed by Statute Law Revision Act 1948.
36 Determined that writs for loss of life or limb were to be freely given without charge. Y Repealed by Offences Against the Person Act 1828 and Offences Against the Person (Ireland) Act 1829.
37 Regulated the inheritance of Crown lands held by "fee-farm". Y Repealed by Statute Law Revision Act 1863 and Statute Law Revision (Ireland) Act 1872.
38 Stated that no one should be put on trial based solely on the unsupported word of a royal official. Y Repealed by Statute Law Revision Act 1863 and Statute Law Revision (Ireland) Act 1872.
39 Stated that no free man could be imprisoned or stripped of his rights or possessions without due process being legally applied. Y Still in UK (England and Wales) law as part of clause 29 in the 1297 statute.
40 Forbade the selling of justice, or its denial or delay. Y Still in UK (England and Wales) law as part of clause 29 in the 1297 statute.
41 Guaranteed the safety and the right of entry and exit of foreign merchants. Y Repealed by Statute Law (Repeals) Act 1969.
42 Permitted men to leave England for short periods without prejudicing their allegiance to the King, with the exceptions for outlaws and wartime. N
43 Established special provisions for taxes due on estates temporarily held by the Crown. Y Repealed by Statute Law Revision Act 1863 and Statute Law Revision (Ireland) Act 1872.
44 Limited the need for people to attend forest courts, unless they were actually involved in the proceedings. Y
45 Stated that the King should appoint only justices, constables, sheriffs, or bailiffs who knew and would enforce the law. N
46 Permitted barons to take guardianship of monasteries in the absence of an abbot. Y Repealed by Statute Law Revision Act 1863 and Statute Law Revision (Ireland) Act 1872.
47 Abolished those royal forests newly created under King John's reign. Y
48 Established an investigation of "evil customs" associated with royal forests, with an intent to abolishing them. N
49 Ordered the return of hostages held by the King. N
50 Forbade any member of the d'Athée family from serving as a royal officer. N
51 Ordered that all foreign knights and mercenaries leave England once peace was restored. N
52 Established a process for giving restitution to those who had been unlawfully dispossessed of their "lands, castles, liberties, or of his right". N
53 Established a process for giving restitution to those who had been mistreated by forest law. N
54 Prevented men from being arrested or imprisoned on the testimony of a woman, unless the case involved the death of her husband. Y Repealed by Statute Law Revision Act 1863 and Statute Law Revision (Ireland) Act 1872.
55 Established a process for remitting any unjust fines imposed by the King. N Repealed by Statute Law Revision Act 1863 and Statute Law Revision (Ireland) Act 1872.
56 Established a process for dealing with Welshmen who had been unlawfully dispossessed of their property or rights. Y
57 Established a process for returning the possessions of Welshmen who had been unlawfully dispossessed. N
58 Ordered the return of Welsh hostages, including Prince Llywelyn's son. N
59 Established a process for the return of Scottish hostages, including King Alexander's sisters. N
60 Encouraged others in England to deal with their own subjects as the King dealt with his. Y
61 Provided for the application and observation of the charter by twenty-five of the barons. N
62 Pardoned those who had rebelled against the King. N Sometimes considered a subclause, "Suffix A", of clause 61.
63 Stated that the charter was binding on King John and his heirs. N Sometimes considered a subclause, "Suffix B", of clause 61.

Clauses remaining in English law

Only three clauses of Magna Carta still remain on statute in England and Wales. These clauses concern 1) the freedom of the English Church, 2) the "ancient liberties" of the City of London (clause 13 in the 1215 charter, clause 9 in the 1297 statute), and 3) a right to due legal process (clauses 39 and 40 in the 1215 charter, clause 29 in the 1297 statute). In detail, these clauses (using the numbering system from the 1297 statute) state that:

  • I. FIRST, We have granted to God, and by this our present Charter have confirmed, for Us and our Heirs for ever, that the Church of England shall be free, and shall have all her whole Rights and Liberties inviolable. We have granted also, and given to all the Freemen of our Realm, for Us and our Heirs for ever, these Liberties under-written, to have and to hold to them and their Heirs, of Us and our Heirs for ever.
  • IX. THE City of London shall have all the old Liberties and Customs which it hath been used to have. Moreover We will and grant, that all other Cities, Boroughs, Towns, and the Barons of the Five Ports, and all other Ports, shall have all their Liberties and free Customs.
  • XXIX. NO Freeman shall be taken or imprisoned, or be disseised of his Freehold, or Liberties, or free Customs, or be outlawed, or exiled, or any other wise destroyed; nor will We not pass upon him, nor condemn him, but by lawful judgment of his Peers, or by the Law of the land. We will sell to no man, we will not deny or defer to any man either Justice or Right.

Clauses in force in other countries

Clauses of Magna Carta also remain in force in several countries that were formerly British colonies. British colonies received the common and statutory law in force at a particular time in England, often through specific reception statutes or by adoption into local law. As a result chapter 29 of the 1297 Magna Carta remains in force in New Zealand and the Australian states of New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland and the Australian Capital Territory. The entirety of Magna Carta apart from chapter 26 remains in force in the Australian states of Western Australia, Tasmania, South Australia and the Northern Territory.

See also

Explanatory notes

  1. The document's Latin name is spelled either Magna Carta or Magna Charta (the pronunciation is the same), and may appear in English with or without the definite article "the", though it is more usual for the article to be omitted. Latin does not have a definite article equivalent to "the".The spelling Charta originates in the 18th century, as a restoration of classical Latin charta for the Medieval Latin spelling carta. While "Charta" remains an acceptable variant spelling, it never became prevalent in English usage.
  2. Within this article, dates before 14 September 1752 are in the Julian calendar. Later dates are in the Gregorian calendar. In the Gregorian calendar, however, the date would have been 22 June 1215.
  3. These were 1 (part), 13, 39, and 40 of the 1215 charter, being clauses 1, 9, and 29 of the 1297 statute. Although scholars refer to the 63 numbered "clauses" of Magna Carta, this is a modern system of numbering, introduced by Sir William Blackstone in 1759; the original charter formed a single, long unbroken text.
  4. The Runnymede Charter of Liberties did not apply to Chester, which at the time was a separate feudal domain. Earl Ranulf granted his own Magna Carta of Chester. Some of its articles were similar to the Runnymede Charter.
  5. Louis's claim to the English throne, described as "debatable" by the historian David Carpenter, derived from his wife, Blanche of Castile, who was the granddaughter of King Henry II of England. Louis argued that since John had been legitimately deposed, the barons could then legally appoint him king over the claims of John's son Henry.
  6. Roger de Montbegon is named in only one of the four early sources (BL, Harley MS 746, fol. 64); whereas the others name Roger de Mowbray. However, Holt believes the Harley listing to be "the best", and the de Mowbray entries to be an error.
  7. Among the historians to have discussed the "myth" of Magna Carta and the ancient English constitution are Claire Breay, Geoffrey Hindley, James Holt, John Pocock, Danny Danziger, and John Gillingham.
  8. I.e., section 1 of the 31st statute issued in the 9th year of George IV; "nor will We not" in clause 29 is correctly quoted from this source.

References

  1. "Magna Carta". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.) "Usually without article."
  2. Du Cange s.v. 1 carta
  3. Garner, Bryan A. (1995). A Dictionary of Modern Legal Usage. Oxford University Press. p. 541. ISBN 978-0195142365. "The usual—and the better—form is Magna Carta. Magna Carta does not take a definite article".Magna Charta is the recommended spelling in German-language literature. (Duden online)
  4. "Magna Carta 1215". British Library. Retrieved 3 February 2019.
  5. Peter Crooks (July 2015). "Exporting Magna Carta: exclusionary liberties in Ireland and the world". History Ireland. 23 (4).
  6. Carpenter 1990, p. 8.
  7. ^ Turner 2009, p. 149.
  8. Carpenter 1990, p. 7.
  9. Danziger & Gillingham 2004, p. 168.
  10. Turner 2009, p. 139.
  11. Warren 1990, p. 181.
  12. Carpenter 1990, pp. 6–7.
  13. ^ Carpenter 1990, p. 9.
  14. ^ Turner 2009, p. 174.
  15. Danziger & Gillingham 2004, pp. 256–258.
  16. McGlynn 2013, pp. 131–132.
  17. McGlynn 2013, p. 130.
  18. Danziger & Gillingham 2004, p. 104.
  19. Danziger & Gillingham 2004, p. 165.
  20. ^ Turner 2009, p. 178.
  21. ^ McGlynn 2013, p. 132.
  22. Holt 1992a, p. 115.
  23. Poole 1993, pp. 471–472.
  24. Vincent 2012, pp. 59–60.
  25. Turner 2009, p. 179.
  26. Warren 1990, p. 233.
  27. Danziger & Gillingham 2004, pp. 258–2.
  28. Turner 2009, pp. 174, 179–180.
  29. ^ Turner 2009, p. 180.
  30. Holt 1992a, p. 112.
  31. ^ McGlynn 2013, p. 137.
  32. ^ Tatton-Brown 2015, p. 36.
  33. Holt 2015, p. 219.
  34. ^ Warren 1990, p. 236.
  35. Turner 2009, pp. 180, 182.
  36. ^ Turner 2009, p. 182.
  37. Turner 2009, pp. 184–185.
  38. "Magna Carta". British Library. Retrieved 16 March 2016.
  39. Hewit 1929, p. 9.
  40. Holt 1992b, pp. 379–380.
  41. Vincent 2012, pp. 61–63.
  42. Carpenter 2004, pp. 293–294.
  43. Helmholz 2016, p. 869 "First, the formulation of Magna Carta in England was not an isolated event. It was not unique. The results of the meeting at Runnymede coincided with many similar statements of law on the Continent."
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