800 Year-Old Constitutional Document: The Magna Carta
I. The Magna Carta, which means “Great Charter” in Latin, is a 800 year old constitutional document that is considered one of the greatest of its kind in all of human history.
A. Its original purpose was to act as a peace treaty between powerful English barons and the cruel and unpopular monarch King James; the barons wanted to end his arbitrary taxes, confiscations, and other injustices.
B. After being defeated by the barons, he was forced to concede and put his seal on the document on July 15, 1215, at a ceremony in a meadow called Runnymede along the Thames River, which is a short distance from London.
C. In putting his seal on the document, King John was forced to grant many rights to English aristocrats, and it seemed like the ordinary citizens of the country would not benefit. The first nine articles of the Charter protect property of earls and barons, and other matters …show more content…
such as provisions dealing with borrowing money from Jews, the treatment of Welsh hostages, and the placement of fish traps in the Thames River are scattered throughout, seemingly out of place.
D.
Although the original purpose of the charter was to protect the interests of the barons, it was written in such broad terms that future generations could interpret it as a charter of civic liberty, as shown in Article 39, which became the cornerstone for due process.
II. After periods of time in which the charter had less meaning because kings and queens did not abuse their powers, the Stuart Dynasty came to power.
A. King James, the first of the dynasty, denied the importance of England’s fundamental laws and claimed that he was appointed the law giver by “divine right”.
B. However, a great jurist named Sir Edward Coke argued that he had unbalanced the ancient constitution in many ways. Coke became the leader of an effort to end for all time the idea of absolute monarchy by divine right in the Petition of Right of 1628.
III. In America, the Magna Carta was constantly cited when our government was being drawn up and in Supreme Court discussions; is referenced to in political discussions and inaugural addresses; and even the language in the U.S. Constitution echoes that of the
documents.
IV. Although the original purpose of the document is different than it is today, it stands now for government by contract of the people, for fundamental law, for the rule of law, for no taxation without representation, for due process of the law, for habeas corpus, for equality before the law, for representative government, and for the rights of the criminally accused.
A. Its original purpose was to act as a peace treaty between powerful English barons and the cruel and unpopular monarch King James; the barons wanted to end his arbitrary taxes, confiscations, and other injustices.
B. After being defeated by the barons, he was forced to concede and put his seal on the document on July 15, 1215, at a ceremony in a meadow called Runnymede along the Thames River, which is a short distance from London.
C. In putting his seal on the document, King John was forced to grant many rights to English aristocrats, and it seemed like the ordinary citizens of the country would not benefit. The first nine articles of the Charter protect property of earls and barons, and other matters …show more content…
such as provisions dealing with borrowing money from Jews, the treatment of Welsh hostages, and the placement of fish traps in the Thames River are scattered throughout, seemingly out of place.
D.
Although the original purpose of the charter was to protect the interests of the barons, it was written in such broad terms that future generations could interpret it as a charter of civic liberty, as shown in Article 39, which became the cornerstone for due process.
II. After periods of time in which the charter had less meaning because kings and queens did not abuse their powers, the Stuart Dynasty came to power.
A. King James, the first of the dynasty, denied the importance of England’s fundamental laws and claimed that he was appointed the law giver by “divine right”.
B. However, a great jurist named Sir Edward Coke argued that he had unbalanced the ancient constitution in many ways. Coke became the leader of an effort to end for all time the idea of absolute monarchy by divine right in the Petition of Right of 1628.
III. In America, the Magna Carta was constantly cited when our government was being drawn up and in Supreme Court discussions; is referenced to in political discussions and inaugural addresses; and even the language in the U.S. Constitution echoes that of the
documents.
IV. Although the original purpose of the document is different than it is today, it stands now for government by contract of the people, for fundamental law, for the rule of law, for no taxation without representation, for due process of the law, for habeas corpus, for equality before the law, for representative government, and for the rights of the criminally accused.