CARD 11 - Constitutional Influences II
The Magna Carta (Great Charter)
In 1215, the feudal nobles of England confronted King John and demanded that he sign a document called Magna Carta. It established, in writing, the principle that the power of a ruler was not absolute. The Pope annulled the 1215 charter almost immediately, presumably at the request of King John. Other Magna Cartas were issued by subsequent kings (Henry III in 1216, 1217 and 1225). A 1297 Charter superseded the 1225 charter, but merely confirmed and reinforced the 1215 Charter.
". . . here is a law which is above the King and which even he must not break. This reaffirmation of a supreme law and its expression in a general charter is the great work of Magna Carta; and this alone justifies the respect in which men have held it."
--Winston Churchill, 1956
Written 575 years before the US Constitution, Magna Carta declares:
"No freeman shall be taken, imprisoned, . . . or in any other way destroyed . . . except by the lawful judgment of his peers, or by the law of the land. To no one will we sell, to none will we deny or delay, right or justice."
