Tuesday, April 7, 2009

What is Magna Carta?

Magna Carta is the great charter of English liberty granted by King John in 1215 at Runnymede, near Windsor. It was reissued with some alterations in 1216 and again with further changes in 1217. In 1225 King Henry III reissued it and it is this document that is the Magna Carta of English law and history.

King John had quarreled with the Church, barons, merchants and eventually the whole nation. Magna Carta, produced by Stephen Langton, Archbishop of Canterbury, insisted that the king should obey the law.

The Charter asserted the right to personal liberty and to property; protested against punishment administered without trial; required that justice should be properly administered and that there should be a right to free trial.

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