A
Milestone in Constitutional Government
Magna
Charta is one of the most famous document in all history. Written
in 1215 by feudal barons and accepted at the point of the the sword by
King John of England, this famous pact has often been viewed as the source
of almost all British freedoms. However, students of history should
understand its limitations and should be careful not to distort its meaning.
Magna Charta was a feudal document. In no sense did it signal the
advent of democracy in England. It came as the result of a long series
of events which revealed John as untrustworthy, cruel and greedy.
The English barons having inherited rights from their ancestors, resisted
the king's attempts to violate these rights and run the country as he pleased.
In forcing the king to sign the charter, the nobles sought only specific
remedies for particular abuses.
A chronological chart will show that major events of John's reign.
These are divided into three categories, according to whether they were
concerned with France, internal affairs (particularly taxation), or the
Church.
QUESTIONS:
1. Was Magna Charta confined to granting privileges only to the barons?
2. What possible beginnings of constitutional government do not detect
in these excerpts from Magna Charta?? Can you find specific references
that seem to suggest the following?
a. limitations on executive power;
b. no taxation without representation;
c. trial by jury;
d. respect for property;
e. Supremacy of national law
3.
What seems most significant about Clause 61? Is it a clear-cut right
to revolt?
4.
Is it possible to discern from this reading the form of future parliamentary
institutions?
MAGNA CARTA
| From "magna carta
(1215)" in Sources of English Constitutional History, edited and translated
by Carl Stephenson and Frederick George Marcham. Copyright 1937 by
Carl Stephenson and Frederick George Marcham. Reprinted with
the permission of the publishers. Harper & Row. Publishers, Incorporated.
Pp 115-121, 125-126 |
John, by the grace
of God king of England, lord of Ireland, duke of Normandy and of Aquitaine,
and count of Anjoy, to his archbishops, bishops, abbots, earls, barons,
justiciars, foresters, sheriffs, reeves, ministers, and all his bailiffs
and faithful men, greeting. Know that, through the inspiration of
God, for the health of our sour and (the souls) of all our ancestors and
heirs, for the honour of God and the exaltation of Holy Church, and for
the betterment of our realm and the counsel of our venerable fathers.....of
our nobles...and of our other faithful men....
2. If any
one of our earls or barons or other men holding of us in chief dies, and
if when he dies his heir is of full age and owes relief (sum paid to
the lord of an estate by an heir when the latter takes possession) (their
heir) shall have his inheritance for the ancient relief; namely, the heir
or heirs of an earl 100 for the whole barony of an earl; the heir
or heirs of a baron 100 for a whole barony; the heir or heirs of a knight
100s, at most for a whole knight's fee (fief) And let whoever owes
less give less, according to the ancient custom of fiefs.....
12. Scutage
(tax paid by tenant of a knight's fief, usually instead of military
service) or aid shall be levied in our kingdom only by the common counsel
of our body of, except for ransoming our body, for knighting our eldest
son, and for once marrying our eldest daughter; and for these (purposes
)only a reasonable aid shall be taken. The same provision shall
hold with regard to the aids of the city of London.
13. And the
city of London shall have all its ancient liberties and free customs, both
by land and by water. Besides we will and grant that all the other
cities, boroughs, towns, and ports shall have all their liberties
and free customs.
14. And in
order to have the common counsel of the kingdom for assessing aid other
than in the three cases aforesaid, or for assessing scutage, we will cause
the arch bishops, bishops, abbots, ears and greater barons to be summoned
by our letters individually; and besides we will cause to be summoned in
general through out sheriffs and bailiffs, all those who hold of us in
chief - for a certain day, namely at the end of forty days at least, and
to a certain place. A nd in all such letters of summons we will state
the cause of the summons; and when the summons has thus been made, the
business assigned and when the summons has thus been made, the business
assigned for the day shall proceed according to the counsel of those who
are present, although all those summoned may not come...
17. Common
pleas (civil lawsuits) shall not follow our court, but shall
be held in some definite place...
20. A freeman
should be amerced (fined) for a small offence only according
to the degree of the offence; and for a grave offence he shall be amerced
according to the gravity of the offence, saving his contenement (except
for his land)
And a merchant shall be amerced the
same way, saving his merchandise; and a villein (serf) in
the same way, saving his wainage (farm implements) - should
they fall into our mercy. And non of the aforesaid amercements shall
be imposed except by the oaths of good men from the neighbourhood. ...
28. No constable
or other bailiff of ours shall take grain or other chattels of anyone without
immediate payment there for in money, unless by the will of the seller
he may secure postponement of that (payment)
35. There
shall be one measure of wine throughout our entire kingdom, and one measure
of ale; also one measure of grain, namely, the quarter of London;
and one width of dyed cloth, russet (cloth), and hauberk (cloth), namely,
two yards between borders. With weights , moreover, it shall
be as with measures.....
39. No freeman
shall be captured or imprisoned or disseised (dispossessed)
or outlawed or exiled or in any way destroyed, nor will we go against him
or send against him, except by the lawful judgement of his peers or
by the law of the land.
40. To no
one will we sell, to no one will we deny or delay right of justice....
51. And immediately
after the restoration of peace we will remove from the kingdom all alien
knights, crossbowmen, serjeants, and mercenaries, who have come with horses
and arms to the injury of the kingdom.....
61. Since
moreover for (the love of ) God, for the improvement of out kingdom, and
for the better allayment of the conflict that has arisen between us and
our barons, we have granted all these (liberties) aforesaid, wishing them
to enjoy those (liberties) by full and firm establishment forever, we have
made and granted them the following security; namely, that the barons shall
elect twenty-five barons of the kingdom, whosoever they please, who to
the best of their abilities should observe, hold, and cause to be observed
the peace and liberties that we have granted to them and have confirmed
b this our represent charter; so that, specifically if we or our justiciars
or our bailiffs or any of our ministers are in any respect delinquent toward
any one or transgress any article of the peace or the security and if the
delinquent is shown to four barons of the foresaid twenty-give barons,
those four barons shall come to us, or to our justiciar if we are out of
the kingdom, to explain to us the wrong, asking that without delay
we cause this wrong to be redressed. And if within a period of forty
days, counted from the time that notification is made to us, or to our
justiclar if we are out of the kingdom, we do not redress the wrong, or,
if we are out of the kingdom, our justiciar does not redress it, the four
barons aforesaid shall refer that case to the rest of the twenty-five barons,
and those twenty-five barons, together with the community of the entire
country, shall distress and injure us in all ways possible - namely, by
capturing our castles, lands, and possessions and in all ways that they
ca- until they secure redress according to their own decision, saving our
person and (the person) of our queen and (the persons) of our children.
And when redress has been made, they shall be obedient to us as they were
before.... And neither of ourself nor through others will we procure from
any one anything whereby any of these concessions and liberties may be
revoked or diminished; and should anything of the sort be procured, it
shall be null and void, and we will never make use of it either of ourself
or through others....
63. Wherefore
we wish and straitly enjoin that the English Church shall be free and that
the men in our kingdom shall have and hold all the aforesaid liberties,
rights, and grants well and in peace, freely and quietly, full and completely,
for themselves and their heirs from us and our heirs, in all things and
in all places forever, as aforesaid. Moreover, it has been sworn
both on our part on the part of the barons that all a aforesaid (provisions)
shall be observed in good faith and without malicious intent....
By the witness
of the aforesaid men and of many others. Given by our hand in the
meadow that is called Runnymede between Windsor and Staines, June 15, in
the seventeenth year of reign.