Question: We know that much of our legal system has been inherited from our colonial history with Britain. How does legal progress made in the Magna Carta effect Canadian Society today?
Magna Carta, also known as the Great Charter was signed on June 15th, 1215 by King John on the requisition of the nobles, church and free men. Nowadays, it is recognized as the cornerstone of English democracy and our civil liberties. It is clear that some aspects of the legal process presented in the Magna Carta have impacts on Canadian society today. . Canada, having been a colony of England, evidently has several fundamental rights and freedoms originated from the Magna Carta. To start with, every citizen of Canada has the right to enter, remain in and leave Canada. This mobility rights were guaranteed by the King is presented in section 42 of Magna Carta. Sections 30 and 31 of Magna Carta emphasize incompetence of power holders to take advantage of freeman’s labour or holdings against their will. This concept has developed further to be the security of property and person guaranteed in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Moreover, one of the fundamental freedoms we have is the freedom of conscience and religion. This is a recurrent concept in Magna Carta, where the King could not impose restriction regarding people’s religion. Another very important aspect of fundamental justice was rooted from the Magna Carta. Section 9 in Constitution Acts of Charter of Rights and Freedom states that everyone has the right not to be arbitrarily detained or imprisoned. Similar phrase can be found in section 39 of Magna Carta which states that no freeman shall be taken or imprisoned or disseised or exiled or in any way destroyed. All these parallel concepts between Magna Carta and our own constitution Act shows that Magna Carta truly had a great effect on building current rights and freedoms of Canadian society.
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