Magna Carta was a charter of liberties that King John of England sealed at Runnymede in 1215 under pressure from rebellious barons. By declaring the king subject to the law, it became a founding reference point for constitutional government in the English-speaking world.
Facts
Dates
SignedSealed by King John at Runnymede. ReissuedReissued by King Henry III's minority government shortly after John's death. ReissuedReissued alongside the new, separate Charter of the Forest. ReissuedReissued in Henry III's own name on reaching his majority; this 1225 text became the definitive version later entered onto the statute rolls. Key ProvisionExtracted from King John by rebel barons at Runnymede in 1215, it required the king to govern according to established law rather than arbitrary will; its most enduring clause, numbered 39, promised that no free man would be imprisoned, dispossessed or destroyed except by the lawful judgment of his peers or the law of the land, while clause 61 established a council of twenty five barons empowered to check the king if he violated the charter. Though annulled within weeks and substantially reissued and revised over the following decades, its principle that even the monarch is subject to law became foundational to later English and Anglo-American constitutionalism. 1 Classification
Document Type Original Language Partially Attested
ReissuedConfirmed by Edward I as the Confirmatio Cartarum, entering the 1225 text onto the statute rolls; sources differ on the exact October day (10th is most commonly given, some give the 12th) and a further engrossment was sealed in Flanders that November. FAQs
Is Magna Carta still law today?
Only three of its clauses remain in force in England and Wales.
Of the 1297 statute-roll version's clauses, three remain in force in England and Wales today: a guarantee of the freedom of the English Church, a confirmation of the City of London's ancient liberties and customs, and the due-process guarantee descended from clauses 39 and 40, that no free man shall be imprisoned or stripped of his rights except by lawful judgment. Parliament repealed most of the rest over the centuries as more specific statutes replaced its provisions.
Connections
Influenced
Source Magna Carta (Britannica)
Clause 39's promise against arbitrary imprisonment is the medieval root historians trace forward to the 1679 Act's formal writ of habeas corpus.
Source Magna Carta (Britannica)
Source Magna Carta (Britannica)
Signed By
Sealed at Runnymede on 15 June 1215 under pressure from rebel barons; John sought papal annulment of the charter within weeks.
Source John, King of England (Britannica)
In the Other Atlases
Same As
Also in History Atlas: the same subject.
Also in Law Atlas: the same subject.
Sources
1. Magna Carta (Britannica)
Encyclopaedia BritannicaDocument type, description
Magna Carta was a charter of liberties that King John of England sealed at Runnymede in 1215 under pressure from rebellious barons.
- Influenced: Rule of Law
- Influenced: Checks and Balances
- Influenced: Habeas Corpus Act 1679
View the Source 2. Magna Carta (Wikipedia)
Article text
The documents were written in heavily abbreviated medieval Latin
In Group: Medieval and Early Modern Charters and Constitutional Statutes, Lead paragraph
Magna Carta (Medieval Latin for "Great Charter"), sometimes spelled Magna Charta, is a royal charter of rights sealed by King John of England at Runnymede, near Windsor, on 15 June 1215.
View the SourceJohn, King of England (Britannica)
Dissenting Readings (1 dissenting reading)
Description
Modern historians stress that the 1215 charter was a narrow, practical settlement of specific baronial grievances against King John, not a general charter of liberty: most of its 63 clauses addressed feudal incidents, forest law and debts to Jewish moneylenders, and had no lasting relevance within a few decades. Only three clauses of the definitive 1297 text remain in force in England and Wales today: the freedom of the English Church, the ancient liberties of the City of London, and the due-process guarantee descended from clauses 39 and 40. The reading of Magna Carta as a foundational charter of constitutional liberty and due process is largely a 17th-century invention, advanced by Sir Edward Coke against the Stuart kings, later carried into American constitutional thought.
A dissenting reading, from Revisionist Magna Carta historiography (the myth-versus-reality critique)The Contents of Magna Carta (UK Parliament), UK Parliament
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