DOCSLIB.ORG

THE LEGACY of the MAGNA CARTA MAGNA CARTA 1215 the Magna Carta Controlled the Power Government Ruled with the Consent of Eventually Spreading Around the Globe

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
THE LEGACY of the MAGNA CARTA MAGNA CARTA 1215 the Magna Carta Controlled the Power Government Ruled with the Consent of Eventually Spreading Around the Globe THE LEGACY OF THE MAGNA CARTA MAGNA CARTA 1215 The Magna Carta controlled the power government ruled with the consent of eventually spreading around the globe. of the King for the first time in English the people. The Magna Carta was only Reissues of the Magna Carta reminded history. It began the tradition of respect valid for three months before it was people of the rights and freedoms it gave for the law, limits on government annulled, but the tradition it began them. Its inclusion in the statute books power, and a social contract where the has lived on in English law and society, meant every British lawyer studied it. PETITION OF RIGHT 1628 Sir Edward Coke drafted a document King Charles I was not persuaded by By creating the Petition of Right which harked back to the Magna Carta the Petition and continued to abuse Parliament worked together to and aimed to prevent royal interference his power. This led to a civil war, and challenge the King. The English Bill with individual rights and freedoms. the King ultimately lost power, and his of Rights and the Constitution of the Though passed by the Parliament, head! United States were influenced by it. HABEAS CORPUS ACT 1679 The writ of Habeas Corpus gives imprisonment. In 1697 the House of Habeas Corpus is a writ that exists in a person who is imprisoned the Lords passed the Habeas Corpus Act. It many countries with common law opportunity to go before a court now applies to everyone everywhere in legal systems. and challenge the lawfulness of their the United Kingdom. ENGLISH BILL OF RIGHTS 1689 This document limited Royal power established the importance of an elected of the rule of law, and protecting the and contained a list of individual rights Parliament who would make laws for rights and freedoms granted by the that were to be respected under the law. the people. Magna Carta. This list drew heavily on the Magna Like the Petition of Right it influenced Carta and the Petition of Right. It listed countries around the world and marked the wrongdoings of the King and also a key step in securing the development US DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE 1768 The US Declaration of Independence Men, deriving their just powers from was the result of a belief that the the consent of the governed.” protections of the Magna Carta applied The drafters of the Declaration of in America. It echoed the ideas of Independence drew inspiration from the Magna Carta as it declared that the work of Sir Edward Coke and the “Governments are instituted among Magna Carta. CONSTITUTIONS The Australian Constitution (1901) State shall take steps to separate the upholds the rule of law principle that judiciary from the executive. the law is made by representatives of The Constitution of Fiji (2013) states the people. The Constitution stipulates that the Republic of Fiji is “founded on in Section 24 that “The House of the values of ... freedom and the rule of Representatives shall be composed of law.” members directly chosen by the people The Constitution of Uganda (1995) of the Commonwealth.” also features the rule of law, stating that The Constitution of India (1949) he duties of a citizen are “to promote upholds the independence of the democracy and the rule of law.” judiciary. Section 50 states that “The UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS 1948 After the horrors of the Second World The UDHR was drafted by War representatives from around the Eleanor Roosevelt, Chair of the UN world gathered to draft a treaty that Commission on Human Rights. She would prevent future wars and preserve was an advocate for human peace and freedom. The result was the rights around the world, Universal Declaration of Human Rights and called the UDHR “the (UDHR). The UDHR was the first ever international Magna Carta for declaration of the fundamental rights all men everywhere.” and values of the entire human race. ICCPR AND ICESCR 1966 After the UDHR other international most well known. treaties were drafted to protect freedom These documents provide around the world. The International a more detailed description Covenant on Civil and Political of the rights described in the Rights (ICCPR) and the International UDHR. The contain echoes of Covenant on Economic, Social, and the freedoms mentioned in the Cultural Rights (ICESCR) are the two Magna Carta. WWW.RULEOFLAW.ORG.AU WWW.MAGNACARTALEGACY.ORG.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Magna Carta and the Development of the Common Law
    Magna Carta and the Development of the Common Law Professor Paul Brand, FBA Emeritus Fellow All Souls College, Oxford Paper related to a presentation given for the High Court Public Lecture series, at the High Court of Australia, Canberra, Courtroom 1, 13 May 2015 Magna Carta and the Development of the Common Law I We are about to commemorate the eight hundredth anniversary of the granting by King John on 15 June 1215 of a ‘charter of liberties’ in favour of all the free men of his kingdom [of England] and their heirs. That charter was not initially called Magna Carta (or ‘the Great Charter’, in English). It only acquired that name after it had been revised and reissued twice and after the second reissue had been accompanied by the issuing of a separate, but related, Charter of the Forest. The revised version of 1217 was called ‘The Great Charter’ simply to distinguish it from the shorter, and therefore smaller, Forest Charter, but the name stuck. To call it a ‘charter of liberties’ granted by king John to ‘all the free men of his kingdom’ of England is, however, in certain respects misleading. The term ‘liberty’ or ‘liberties’, particularly in the context of a royal grant, did not in 1215 bear the modern meaning of a recognised human right or human rights. ‘Liberty’ in the singular could mean something closer to that, in the general sense of the ‘freedom’ or the ‘free status’ of a free man, as opposed to the ‘unfreedom’ of a villein. ‘Liberties’, though, were something different (otherwise known as ‘franchises’), generally specific privileges granted by the king, particular rights such as the right to hold a fair or a market or a particular kind of private court, the right to have a park or a rabbit warren which excluded others from hunting or an exemption such as freedom from tolls at markets or fairs.
    [Show full text]
  • Constitutional Jurisprudence of History and Natural Law: Complementary Or Rival Modes of Discourse?
    California Western Law Review Volume 24 Number 2 Bicentennial Constitutional and Legal Article 6 History Symposium 1988 Constitutional Jurisprudence of History and Natural Law: Complementary or Rival Modes of Discourse? C.M.A. McCauliff Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarlycommons.law.cwsl.edu/cwlr Recommended Citation McCauliff, C.M.A. (1988) "Constitutional Jurisprudence of History and Natural Law: Complementary or Rival Modes of Discourse?," California Western Law Review: Vol. 24 : No. 2 , Article 6. Available at: https://scholarlycommons.law.cwsl.edu/cwlr/vol24/iss2/6 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by CWSL Scholarly Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in California Western Law Review by an authorized editor of CWSL Scholarly Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. McCauliff: Constitutional Jurisprudence of History and Natural Law: Compleme Constitutional Jurisprudence of History and Natural Law: Complementary or Rival Modes of Discourse? C.M.A. MCCAULIFF* The Bill of Rights provides broadly conceived guarantees which invite specific judicial interpretation to clarify the purpose, scope and meaning of particular constitutional safeguards. Two time- honored but apparently divergent approaches to the jurisprudence of constitutional interpretation have been employed in recent first amendment cases: first, history has received prominent attention from former Chief Justice Burger in open-trial, family and reli- gion cases; second, natural law has been invoked by Justice Bren- nan in the course of responding to the Chief Justice's historical interpretation. History, although indirectly stating constitutional values, provides the closest expression of the Chief Justice's own jurisprudence and political philosophy.
    [Show full text]
  • Case and ~C®Mment
    251 CASE AND ~C®MMENT. CROWN -SERVANT- INCORPORATION -IMMUNITY FROM BEING SUED. The recent case of Gilleghan v. Minister of Healthl decided by Farwell, J., is a decision on the questions : Will an action lie against a Minister-of the Crown in respect of an act admittedly done as a Minister of the Crown? Or -is the true view that the only remedy is against the Crown by petition of right? Does the mere incorporation. of a servant of the Crown confer the privilege of suing and the liability to be sued? The rationale for the general rule that a servant of the Crown cannot be sued in his official capacity is that the servant holds no assets in his official capacity which can be seized in satisfaction of a judgment. He holds only on behalf of the Crown.2 Collins, M.R., in Bainbridge v. Postmaster-General3 said : "The revenue of the country cannot be reached by an action against an official, unless there is some provision to be found in the legisla~ tion to enable this to be done." In the Gilleghan case the defendant moved to-strike out the statement of claim. The Minister of Health was established by the Ministry of Health Act- which provided, inter alia, that the Minister "may sue and be sued in the name of the Minister of Health" and that "for the purpose of acquiring and holding land" the Minister for the time being "shall be a corporation sole." Farwell, J ., decided that the provision that the Minister may sue and be sued does not give the plaintiff a cause of action for breach of contract against the Minister.
    [Show full text]
  • Runnymede Revisited: Bicentennial Reflections on a 750Th Anniversary William F
    College of William & Mary Law School William & Mary Law School Scholarship Repository Faculty Publications Faculty and Deans 1976 Runnymede Revisited: Bicentennial Reflections on a 750th Anniversary William F. Swindler William & Mary Law School Repository Citation Swindler, William F., "Runnymede Revisited: Bicentennial Reflections on a 750th Anniversary" (1976). Faculty Publications. 1595. https://scholarship.law.wm.edu/facpubs/1595 Copyright c 1976 by the authors. This article is brought to you by the William & Mary Law School Scholarship Repository. https://scholarship.law.wm.edu/facpubs MISSOURI LAW REVIEW Volume 41 Spring 1976 Number 2 RUNNYMEDE REVISITED: BICENTENNIAL REFLECTIONS ON A 750TH ANNIVERSARY* WILLIAM F. SWINDLER" I. MAGNA CARTA, 1215-1225 America's bicentennial coincides with the 750th anniversary of the definitive reissue of the Great Charter of English liberties in 1225. Mile- stone dates tend to become public events in themselves, marking the be- ginning of an epoch without reference to subsequent dates which fre- quently are more significant. Thus, ten years ago, the common law world was astir with commemorative festivities concerning the execution of the forced agreement between King John and the English rebels, in a marshy meadow between Staines and Windsor on June 15, 1215. Yet, within a few months, John was dead, and the first reissues of his Charter, in 1216 and 1217, made progressively more significant changes in the document, and ten years later the definitive reissue was still further altered.' The date 1225, rather than 1215, thus has a proper claim on the his- tory of western constitutional thought-although it is safe to assume that few, if any, observances were held vis-a-vis this more significant anniver- sary of Magna Carta.
    [Show full text]
  • The Constitution of the United States [PDF]
    THE CONSTITUTION oftheUnitedStates NATIONAL CONSTITUTION CENTER We the People of the United States, in Order to form a within three Years after the fi rst Meeting of the Congress more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic of the United States, and within every subsequent Term of Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote ten Years, in such Manner as they shall by Law direct. The the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to Number of Representatives shall not exceed one for every ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this thirty Thousand, but each State shall have at Least one Constitution for the United States of America. Representative; and until such enumeration shall be made, the State of New Hampshire shall be entitled to chuse three, Massachusetts eight, Rhode-Island and Providence Plantations one, Connecticut fi ve, New-York six, New Jersey four, Pennsylvania eight, Delaware one, Maryland Article.I. six, Virginia ten, North Carolina fi ve, South Carolina fi ve, and Georgia three. SECTION. 1. When vacancies happen in the Representation from any All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a State, the Executive Authority thereof shall issue Writs of Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Sen- Election to fi ll such Vacancies. ate and House of Representatives. The House of Representatives shall chuse their SECTION. 2. Speaker and other Offi cers; and shall have the sole Power of Impeachment. The House of Representatives shall be composed of Mem- bers chosen every second Year by the People of the several SECTION.
    [Show full text]
  • Ubi Jus, Ibi Remedium: the Fundamental Right to a Remedy, 41 San Diego Law Review 1633 (2004)
    The University of Akron IdeaExchange@UAkron Akron Law Publications The chooS l of Law January 2004 Ubi Jus, Ibi Remedium: The undF amental Right to a Remedy Tracy A. Thomas 1877, [email protected] Please take a moment to share how this work helps you through this survey. Your feedback will be important as we plan further development of our repository. Follow this and additional works at: http://ideaexchange.uakron.edu/ua_law_publications Part of the Law Commons Recommended Citation Tracy A. Thomas, Ubi Jus, Ibi Remedium: The Fundamental Right to a Remedy, 41 San Diego Law Review 1633 (2004). This Article is brought to you for free and open access by The chooS l of Law at IdeaExchange@UAkron, the institutional repository of The nivU ersity of Akron in Akron, Ohio, USA. It has been accepted for inclusion in Akron Law Publications by an authorized administrator of IdeaExchange@UAkron. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. Forthcoming, Symposium: Remedies Discussion Forum, 41 U.S.D. ___ (2004) Ubi Jus, Ibi Remedium: The Fundamental Right to a Remedy Under Due Process Tracy A. Thomas* One of the legacies of Brown v. Board of Education is its endorsement of affirmative remedial action to enforce constitutional rights.1 In Brown I and Brown II, the United States Supreme Court rejected mere declaratory or prohibitory relief in favor of a mandatory injunction that would compel the constitutionally-required change.2 Disputes over the parameters of this active remedial power and compliance with the ordered remedies have dominated the ensuing decades of post-Brown school desegregation cases.3 These enforcement disputes have overshadowed the importance of Brown’s establishment of a remedial norm embracing affirmative judicial action to provide meaningful relief.
    [Show full text]
  • The Royal Prerogative and Equality Rights the Royal
    THE ROYAL PREROGATIVE AND EQUALITY RIGHTS 625 THE ROYAL PREROGATIVE AND EQUALITY RIGHTS: CAN MEDIEVAL CLASSISM COEXIST WITH SECTION 15 OF THE CHARTER? GERALD CHI PE UR• The author considers whether the prerogative L' auteur se demande si la prerogative de priorite priority of the Crown in the collection of debts of de la Cour01me dans le recouvrement des crea11ces equal degree is inconsistem with the guaramee of de degre ega/ respecte la garantie d' egalite que equality found in section I 5 of the Canadian Charter colltiefll /' art. 15 de la Charle des droits et libertes. of Rights an.d Freedoms "Charter." He concludes Sa conclusion est negatfre et ii estime qu',me telle that the Crown prerogative of priority is 1101 prerogatfre ne constitue pas une limite raismmable consistent with section I 5 and that such prerogative dons ,me societe fibre et democratique, atLrtermes de is not a reasonable limit in a free and democratic /' art. I de la Charte. society under section 1 of the Charter. L' a111eur etudie d' abord /es origines de la The author first investigates the origins of the prerogative de la Courom1e,puis la prerogative de la Crown prerogative in general and then the priorite plus particulierement. II I' examine ensuite a prerogative of priority in particular. The author then la lumiere de la Chane. L' auteur dec:/areque /' objet proceeds to apply the Charter to the prerogative of de la prerogative de priorite etait de recom,aitre la priority. The author submits that the purpose of the notion medierale de preeminence et superiorite prerogative priority is to recogni:e the medieval person11elle de la Reine sur ses sujets, et qu'un tel concept of the personal pre-eminence and superiority objet est contraire aux valeurs promues par la of the Queen over her subjects and that such a garalltie d' egalite e11oncee dons I' art.
    [Show full text]
  • Constitution of the United States of America—17871
    CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA—1787 1 WE THE PEOPLE of the United States, in Order to SECTION. 2. 1 The House of Representatives form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, shall be composed of Members chosen every sec- insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the ond Year by the People of the several States, common defence, promote the general Welfare, and the Electors in each State shall have the and secure the Blessings of Liberty to our- Qualifications requisite for Electors of the most selves and our Posterity, do ordain and estab- numerous Branch of the State Legislature. lish this Constitution for the United States of 2 No Person shall be a Representative who America. shall not have attained to the Age of twenty five Years, and been seven Years a Citizen of the ARTICLE. I. United States, and who shall not, when elected, SECTION 1. All legislative Powers herein grant- be an Inhabitant of that State in which he shall ed shall be vested in a Congress of the United be chosen. States, which shall consist of a Senate and 3 Representatives and direct Taxes shall be ap- House of Representatives. portioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be deter- 1 This text of the Constitution follows the engrossed copy signed by Gen. Washington and the deputies from 12 States. The mined by adding to the whole Number of free small superior figures preceding the paragraphs designate Persons, including those bound to Service for a clauses, and were not in the original and have no reference to Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, footnotes.
    [Show full text]
  • The Magna Carta of the Defendant According to the New Bill of Rights in Israel - a Comparative Study, 8 Pace Int'l L
    Pace International Law Review Volume 8 Article 2 Issue 1 Winter 1996 January 1996 The aM gna Carta of the Defendant According to the New Bill of Rights in Israel - A Comparative Study Emanuel Gross Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.pace.edu/pilr Recommended Citation Emanuel Gross, The Magna Carta of the Defendant According to the New Bill of Rights in Israel - A Comparative Study, 8 Pace Int'l L. Rev. 91 (1996) Available at: http://digitalcommons.pace.edu/pilr/vol8/iss1/2 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the School of Law at DigitalCommons@Pace. It has been accepted for inclusion in Pace International Law Review by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@Pace. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE MAGNA CARTA OF THE DEFENDANT ACCORDING TO THE NEW BILL OF RIGHTS IN ISRAEL - A COMPARATIVE STUDY Emanuel Grosst A. INTRODUCTION. The enactment of the Basic Law: Human Dignity and Lib- erty' has been defined as a "constitutional revolution."2 The primary purpose of this article is to discuss the Basic Law's im- pact on criminal law and on defendants' rights, as well as ad- dress many questions that arise about the Basic Law's scope and its implications on various legal fields. Furthermore, this article will expose the problematic reality created when the new Basic Law interacts with the existing legislation and case law. Through a comparison to the Canadian legal system, it will point to possible new and progressive directions in the develop- ment of the Israeli legal system.
    [Show full text]
  • Protecting Economic Liberties
    Protecting Economic Liberties Bernard H. Siegan* I. INTRODUCTION This Article details the evolution of the treatment of economic liberties, beginning with the Magna Cartas of 1215 and 1225. The Magna Cartas were the original source of protection from govern- mental intrusion upon economic liberties. The Article considers Sir Edward Coke and William Blackstone's interpretations of the Magna Carta both in their writings and in common law cases. Next, the Article traces the influence of Coke and Blackstone's writings, and of the English common law on American jurispru- dence, including a discussion of how these influences affected the United States Constitution. The Article subsequently examines numerous United States Supreme Court cases, mapping the major shifts in the Supreme Court's protections-or lack thereof-of eco- nomic liberties. In conclusion, the Article considers the impact of the judicial termination for protections of economic rights. II. THE MAGNA CARTAS OF 1215 AND 1225 t To quell the barons' revolt against him, John, King of En- gland and Ireland, in 1215 accepted the Magna Carta, a document which the barons largely wrote and which was the first govern- mental document in the English-speaking countries to protect eco- nomic and other liberties.1 John's own oppressive and arbitrary * Distinguished Professor of Law, University of San Diego. This article contains and expands views that Professor Siegan has expressed in books and articles he has written as follows: ECONOMIC LIBERTIES AND THE CONSTITUTION (1980), PROPERTY RIGHTS: FROM MAGNA CARTA TO THE FOURTEENTH AMENDMENT (Social Philosophy & Policy Foundation & Transaction Publishers, 2001), Separationof Powers & Economic Liberties, 70 NOTRE DAME L.
    [Show full text]
  • The Constitutional Status of Tort Law: Due Process and the Right to a Law for the Redress of Wrongs
    TH AL LAW JORAL JOHN C.P. GOLDBERG The Constitutional Status of Tort Law: Due Process and the Right to a Law for the Redress of Wrongs A B ST RACT. In our legal system, redressing private wrongs has tended to be the business of tort law, itself traditionally a branch of the common law. But do individuals have a "vested interest" in law that redresses wrongs? If so, do state and federal governments have a constitutional duty to provide that law? Since the New Deal era, conventional wisdom has held that individuals do not possess such a right, and consequently, government bears no such duty. In this view, it is a matter of unfettered legislative discretion- "whim" -whether or how to provide a law of redress. This view is wrongheaded. To be clear: I do not argue that individuals have a property-like interest in a particular corpus of tort rules. The law of tort is always capable of improvement, and legislatures have an obligation and the requisite authority to undertake such improvements. Nonetheless, I do argue that tort law, understood as a law for the redress of private wrongs, forms part of the basic structure of our government. And though the Constitution does not confer on any particular individual a right to a specific version of tort rules, all American citizens have a right to a body of law for the redress of private wrongs that generates meaningful and judicially enforceable limits on tort reform legislation. A UT HO R. John C.P. Goldberg is Associate Dean for Research and Professor, Vanderbilt Law School.
    [Show full text]
  • The Original Meaning of the Habeas Corpus Suspension Clause, the Right of Natural Liberty, and Executive Discretion
    William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal Volume 29 (2020-2021) Issue 3 The Presidency and Individual Rights Article 4 March 2021 The Original Meaning of the Habeas Corpus Suspension Clause, the Right of Natural Liberty, and Executive Discretion John Harrison Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.law.wm.edu/wmborj Part of the Constitutional Law Commons, Legal History Commons, President/Executive Department Commons, and the United States History Commons Repository Citation John Harrison, The Original Meaning of the Habeas Corpus Suspension Clause, the Right of Natural Liberty, and Executive Discretion, 29 Wm. & Mary Bill Rts. J. 649 (2021), https://scholarship.law.wm.edu/wmborj/vol29/iss3/4 Copyright c 2021 by the authors. This article is brought to you by the William & Mary Law School Scholarship Repository. https://scholarship.law.wm.edu/wmborj THE ORIGINAL MEANING OF THE HABEAS CORPUS SUSPENSION CLAUSE, THE RIGHT OF NATURAL LIBERTY, AND EXECUTIVE DISCRETION John Harrison* The Habeas Corpus Suspension Clause of Article I, Section 9, is primarily a limit on Congress’s authority to authorize detention by the executive. It is not mainly con- cerned with the remedial writ of habeas corpus, but rather with the primary right of natural liberty. Suspensions of the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus are statutes that vest very broad discretion in the executive to decide which individuals to hold in custody. Detention of combatants under the law of war need not rest on a valid suspen- sion, whether the combatant is an alien or a citizen of the United States. The Suspension Clause does not affirmatively require that the federal courts have any jurisdiction to issue the writ of habeas corpus, and so does not interfere with Congress’s general control over the jurisdiction of the federal courts.
    [Show full text]