Magna Carta Explained
The original Magna Carta, which is the version most people are
familiar with, has a preamble and 63 clauses. The first
group says that the church is free to appoint its own
officials. The second group affirmed feudal law relating to
lands held by the king. The third affirmed rights of
subtenants. The fourth had to do with towns and
merchants. The fifth affirmed points of law and
justice. The sixth related to government
officials. The seventh was about royal forests.
The eighth aimed to resolve current disputes, including the
firing of certain royal officials. The ninth provided
assurances that the king would honor the terms of the charter.
In other words, Magna Carta addressed
specific grievances of its day. There isn’t any statement
of fundamental principles such as were expressed in the U.S.
Declaration of Independence or the French Declaration of the
Rights of Man and of the Citizen.
As historian Samuel Thorne observed,
"The document looks very much like answers given by many persons
to the questions, 'What is being done wrong?' 'What
practices should be halted?' 'What improvements in
administration should be adopted?'" England's barons didn't
rebel against King John to secure Magna Carta. They rebelled
because they wanted to stop him from dragging them into another
costly European war. Magna Carta was what they demanded
after his defeat.
For future generations, the most
important single clause was #39 which affirmed the right to trial
by jury: “No man shall be seized or imprisoned, or stripped of
his rights or possessions, or outlawed or exiled, or deprived of
his standing in any other way, nor will we proceed with force
against him, or send others to do so, except by the lawful
judgment of his equals or by the law of the land.” In
addition, clause #40 declared, “To no one will we sell, to no one
deny or delay right or justice.”
Clause #14 provided a starting
definition for Parliament: “To obtain the general consent of the
realm for the assessment of an ‘aid’ – except in the three cases
specified above – or a ‘scutage,’ we will cause the archbishops,
bishops, abbots, earls, and greater barons to be summoned
individually by letter. To those who hold lands directly of
us we will cause a general summons to be issued, through the
sheriffs and other officials, to come together on a fixed day (of
which at least 40 days notice shall be given) and at a fixed
place. In all letters of summons, the cause of the summons
will be stated. When a summons has been issued, the
business appointed for the day shall go forward in accordance
with the resolution of those present, even if not all those who
were summoned have appeared.”
According to constitutional historian
F.W. Maitland, “During the period which ends with the charter we
have little evidence as to the constitution of the national
assembly. The earliest writ of summons that we have is one
addressed to the Bishop of Salisbury in 1205; of general
summonses sent out through the sheriffs we have none preserved;
but very possibly throughout the reign of Henry the Second the
assembly had been constituted after the fashion prescribed by the
charter.” Maitland added: “It is not very clear that in
theory the consent of the national council had been necessary for
taxation or that it had been in fact granted.”
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Pope Innocent III (1198-1216) objected to Magna Carta because of
its provision that English authorities and not the Pope would
appoint Church officials in England. He called Magna Carta
a "shameful and demeaning agreement, forced upon the king by
violence and fear...we utterly reject and condemn this
settlement, and under threat of excommunication order that the king not
dare to observe it nor the barons require it to be
observed. The charter, we hereby declare to be a nullity,
void of all validity forever." In early 1216 King John repudiated
Magna Carta.