The Magna Carta
The Magna Carta, also known as ‘The Great Charter’ is one of the most famous documents in the world. Originally issued at Runnymede by King John of England (r.1199-1216) as a practical solution to the political crisis he faced in 1215, Magna Carta established for the first time, the principle that everybody, including the King, was subject to the law.
The document was a series of written promises between the King and his subjects. It provided that the King would govern England and deal with its people according to the customs of feudal law. Magna Carta was an attempt by the barons to stop a King – in this case John – abusing his power with the people of England suffering.
The agreement, made at Runnymede, placed several restrictions on the king’s future action, which he was bound to find humiliating. John therefore sought, and quickly gained, the Pope’s agreement to annul Magna Carta. The conflict with the barons was only delayed, and it was in the course of pursuing it that John died the following year.
Ironically, it was John’s death that gave rise to the permanent place of his Magna Carta in English and world history. His son Henry III was too young to reign in person, and so to ensure peace and the stability of the Crown, it was decided to make an immediate issue of Magna Carta – the first of several reissues during the reign of Henry and of his son Edward I.
Only three of the original clauses in Magna Carta are still law today. One defends the freedom and rights of the English church, another confirms the liberties and customs of London and other towns, and the third paved the way for trial by jury by stating that no man could be arrested, imprisoned or have their possessions taken away except by “the lawful judgment of his equals or by the law of the land”.
Magna Carta continues to have a powerful iconic status in British society, being cited by politicians and lawyers in support of constitutional positions. In 2008, former member of the European Parliament, Tony Benn, made reference to the Magna Carta when commenting on the debate over whether to increase the maximum time terrorism suspects could be held without charge from 28 to 42 days. He referred to the debate as “the day Magna Carta was repealed”.
The Magna Carta also placed limits on royal authority, and made clear that the monarch was not above the law, and this is still very much the case today.
For many, Magna Carta is still alive and well. It remains a bedrock of Britishness; the foundation of all that’s good about laws and liberties from Land’s End to John O’Groats.
The alternative view is that Magna Carta has been reduced to nothing but a symbol; a crumbling relic, redundant at law and in practice. The truth is probably somewhere in the middle.