|
The Magna Carta
[The Great Charter of 1215]
Edited and Annotated by Rev. Paul Michael Raymond
| "No freeman shall
be taken, imprisoned, disseised, outlawed, or in any way destroyed, nor
will we proceed against him or prosecute him, except by the lawful
judgment of his peers, and by the law of the land." |
Magna
Carta 1215 Chapter 39
|
| "No person shall be
held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a
presentment or indictment by a grand jury; Nor shall any person...be
deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of
law." |
|
The Constitution of the
United States Amendment V |
Abuses by King John caused a revolt by nobles who compelled him to execute this recognition of rights for
both noblemen and ordinary Englishmen. It established the principle that no one, including the king or a
lawmaker, is above the law.
COMMENTARY
Rev. Paul Michael Raymond
The
question of the relationship of individuals to one another, and to the governing
authority that presides over them, has been vehemently debated for as long as
civilization has existed. This has been true especially of the Western World.
The struggle for individual rights, and the protection of those rights, came to
a marked climax in 1215, in a grassy meadow at Runnymede, England. It was there
that Magna Carta was signed.
This document was the culmination of a long
and agitated confrontation between John, the King of England, and his
disgruntled land barons. By the autumn of 1214 John had succeeded in making many
enemies throughout his dominion as a result of his greed and lust for power.
Some years before, he had taken control of the throne illegitimately while the
rightful king, Richard; the "Lion Hearted", was fighting in the
Crusades. By 1215 Richard had died leaving John to become rightful king over
England. John’s wasteful spending and insatiable desire for the conquest of
France had depleted the treasury to the point that England was on the verge of
bankruptcy.
Rather than to re-think his policy, and
re-evaluate his direction, John sought to raise taxes to the hilt. He contrived
cleaver schemes for the raising of government revenue, disguising the tax by
giving it another name, or attaching to it a noble explanation. Nevertheless, it
was oppressive and destructive to the people under his rule. History accurately
paints John as ruthless and cruel. He was morally depraved, politically wicked,
adulterous, and murderous.
Yet, by 1215 the barons finally had enough.
They presented John with an ultimatum, that only legitimate taxation could be
imposed through the government of Laws, and by the express consent of
Parliament. This was not so much a declaration of universal liberty, as was the
American Declaration of Independence in 1776, but rather a declaration of
liberties under the rule of the monarch. It was a declaration of liberty under
the rule of Righteous Law, rather than arbitrary whim.
In 1215, the monarchy of England no longer
reigned absolute. There would be a new set of standards. These would be set
under legitimate Law and not by the private dictates of the monarchy.
The reason why Magna Carta is so important is
that it is actually the forerunner of our American Constitution of Liberty.
Chief Justice Berger wrote, "[the Magna Carta’s] particular significance
to America was that in 1776 it gave a solid legal basis for the claim that what
the colonists sought – indeed demanded – were their rights as Englishmen…"
Civil Rights as Englishmen, under the Law, was
not the only basis for freedom which the Magna Carta declared. The foundation for
human liberty was infinitely grander than natural rights alone. Freedom was
something far above man's dominion and power. Freedom was a Divine gift, from a
Divine Sovereign.
A careful reading of the Magna Carta will
prove that much of its basics lay in the principles of God's Word.
Magna Carta #39 states:
| "No freeman shall be taken,
imprisoned, disseized, outlawed, or in any way destroyed; nor will we
prosecute him, except by the lawful judgment of his peers, and by the
law of the land." |
The land barons obviously structured this portion of the
Great Charter in accordance with the declaration of the Mosaic Law of
Deuteronomy 19:15.
| "One witness shall not rise
up against a man for any iniquity, or for any sin, in any sin that he
sinneth: at the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three
witnesses, shall the matter be established." |
We see this principle upheld in both the English Common Law,
and the initial Laws of the American nation as well. We also see that these
principles of Divine Logic, concerning Law and policy, held firm, finding their
way into the Constitution of the United States of 1789-80 in Amendment V.
| "No person shall be held to
answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a
presentment or indictment by a grand jury; nor shall any person...be
deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of
law..." |
While it may seem obvious that there has been
significant adjustments between the two statues, nevertheless they both are fundamentally
based upon Divine principles.
I will agree however, that while the Magna
Carta follows more carefully the Will of God, in dealing with every
offence, the U.S. Constitution is more exact, focusing upon capital or infamous
crimes. The U.S. statement follows more closely with Deuteronomy 17:6 and
not Deuteronomy 19:15.
Observing the notion of "Due Process of
Law", a potential problem arises. According to the original intent of this
phrase, the Law was a fixed, non-changing entity. Under the non-changing Law of
Justice and Equity, the destruction of life, oppression of liberty and theft of
property is always a punishable offense. Yet, whenever Law is re-defined by
man's idea, and not God's idea, due process of law can, and often does, legalize
oppression and plunder. America faces this problem today.
Another comment which should be made,
concerning the whole of the document, is the clear concern over the general well-being
of those living in the realm of the Monarch. Among others, one particular
concern was placed upon the protection of families, and their inheritances from tyrannical
plunder.
All true documents of liberty, focus upon the
freedom to live and prosper under the Law of God, in defiance to the oppressive
rule of men. The Apostle Paul admonishes God's people to pray for all those in
authority, in order so that they may lead a quite and peaceable life, fulfilling
their Covenant Commission under God. When tyrants rule, the saints cannot freely
advance the kingdom of Heaven on earth. Their work is hindered.
The citing of the Magna Carta was common among
the Founders of America. Equality under God's righteous law, and the protection
of the individual, is the essential component of a proper Government and a
healthy culture. It was this end that the Founders sought.
John Adams stated,
|
"Where the public interest
governs, it is a government of law, and not of men; the interest of a
king, or of a party, is another thing - it is a private interest; and
where private interest governs, it is a government of men, and not of
laws.
If, in England, there has ever been
such a thing as a government of laws, was it not magna carta? And have
not our kings broken magna carta thirty times?
Did not the law govern when the law
was broken? or was that a government of men? On the contrary, hath not
magna carta been as often repaired by the people? And the law being so
restored, was it not a government of laws, and not of men?" |
|
John Adams 1779 |
Note:
For further study read Fredrick Bastiat's "The Law"
available from the ITR Bookstore.
The Document
of the Magna Carta
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The Magna Carta
Preamble
John, by the grace of God, king
of England, lord of Ireland, duke of Normandy and Aquitaine, and count of Anjou,
to the archbishop, bishops, abbots, earls, barons, justiciaries, foresters,
sheriffs, stewards, servants, and to all his bailiffs and liege subjects,
greetings. Know that, having regard to God and for the salvation of our soul,
and those of all our ancestors and heirs, and unto the honor of God and the
advancement of his holy Church and for the rectifying of our realm, we have
granted as underwritten by advice of our venerable fathers, Stephen, archbishop
of Canterbury, primate of all England and cardinal of the holy Roman Church,
Henry, archbishop of Dublin, William of London, Peter of Winchester, Jocelyn of
Bath and Glastonbury, Hugh of Lincoln, Walter of Worcester, William of Coventry,
Benedict of Rochester, bishops; of Master Pandulf, subdeacon and member of the
household of our lord the Pope, of brother Aymeric (master of the Knights of the
Temple in England), and of the illustrious men William Marshal, earl of
Pembroke, William, earl of Salisbury, William, earl of Warenne, William, earl of
Arundel, Alan of Galloway (constable of Scotland), Waren Fitz Gerold, Peter Fitz
Herbert, Hubert De Burgh (seneschal of Poitou), Hugh de Neville, Matthew Fitz
Herbert, Thomas Basset, Alan Basset, Philip d'Aubigny, Robert of Roppesley, John
Marshal, John Fitz Hugh, and others, our liegemen.
1. In the first place we have granted to God, and by this our present charter confirmed for us and our
heirs forever that the English Church shall be free, and shall have her rights entire, and her liberties
inviolate; and we will that it be thus observed; which is apparent from this that the freedom of elections,
which is reckoned most important and very essential to the English Church, we, of our pure and
unconstrained will, did grant, and did by our charter confirm and did obtain the ratification of the same
from our lord, Pope Innocent III, before the quarrel arose between us and our barons: and this we will
observe, and our will is that it be observed in good faith by our heirs forever. We have also granted to all
freemen of our kingdom, for us and our heirs forever, all the underwritten liberties, to be had and held by
them and their heirs, of us and our heirs forever.
2. If any of our earls or barons, or others holding of us in chief by military service shall have died, and at
the time of his death his heir shall be full of age and owe "relief", he shall have his inheritance by the old
relief, to wit, the heir or heirs of an earl, for the whole barony of an earl by £100; the heir or heirs of a
baron, £100 for a whole barony; the heir or heirs of a knight, 100s, at most, and whoever owes less let
him give less, according to the ancient custom of fees.
3. If, however, the heir of any one of the aforesaid has been under age and in wardship, let him have his
inheritance without relief and without fine when he comes of age.
4. The guardian of the land of an heir who is thus under age, shall take from the land of the heir nothing
but reasonable produce, reasonable customs, and reasonable services, and that without destruction or
waste of men or goods; and if we have committed the wardship of the lands of any such minor to the
sheriff, or to any other who is responsible to us for its issues, and he has made destruction or waster of
what he holds in wardship, we will take of him amends, and the land shall be committed to two lawful and
discreet men of that fee, who shall be responsible for the issues to us or to him to whom we shall assign
them; and if we have given or sold the wardship of any such land to anyone and he has therein made
destruction or waste, he shall lose that wardship, and it shall be transferred to two lawful and discreet
men of that fief, who shall be responsible to us in like manner as aforesaid.
5. The guardian, moreover, so long as he has the wardship of the land, shall keep up the houses, parks,
fishponds, stanks, mills, and other things pertaining to the land, out of the issues of the same land; and
he shall restore to the heir, when he has come to full age, all his land, stocked with ploughs and
wainage,
according as the season of husbandry shall require, and the issues of the land can reasonable bear.
6. Heirs shall be married without disparagement, yet so that before the marriage takes place the nearest in
blood to that heir shall have notice.
7. A widow, after the death of her husband, shall forthwith and without difficulty have her marriage portion
and inheritance; nor shall she give anything for her dower, or for her marriage portion, or for the
inheritance which her husband and she held on the day of the death of that husband; and she may remain
in the house of her husband for forty days after his death, within which time her dower shall be assigned
to her.
8. No widow shall be compelled to marry, so long as she prefers to live without a husband; provided
always that she gives security not to marry without our consent, if she holds of us, or without the
consent of the lord of whom she holds, if she holds of another.
9. Neither we nor our bailiffs will seize any land or rent for any debt, as long as the chattels of the debtor
are sufficient to repay the debt; nor shall the sureties of the debtor be distrained so long as the principal
debtor is able to satisfy the debt; and if the principal debtor shall fail to pay the debt, having nothing
wherewith to pay it, then the sureties shall answer for the debt; and let them have the lands and rents of
the debtor, if they desire them, until they are indemnified for the debt which they have paid for him, unless
the principal debtor can show proof that he is discharged thereof as against the said sureties.
10. If one who has borrowed from the Jews any sum, great or small, die before that loan be repaid, the
debt shall not bear interest while the heir is under age, of whomsoever he may hold; and if the debt fall
into our hands, we will not take anything except the principal sum contained in the bond.
11. And if anyone die indebted to the Jews, his wife shall have her dower and pay nothing of that debt;
and if any children of the deceased are left under age, necessaries shall be provided for them in keeping
with the holding of the deceased; and out of the residue the debt shall be paid, reserving, however,
service due to feudal lords; in like manner let it be done touching debts due to others than Jews.
12. No scutage not aid shall be imposed on our kingdom, unless by common counsel of our kingdom,
except for ransoming our person, for making our eldest son a knight, and for once marrying our eldest
daughter; and for these there shall not be levied more than a reasonable aid. In like manner it shall be
done concerning aids from the city of London.
13. And the city of London shall have all it ancient liberties and free customs, as well by land as by water;
furthermore, we decree and grant that all other cities, boroughs, towns, and ports shall have all their
liberties and free customs.
14. And for obtaining the common counsel of the kingdom anent the assessing of an aid (except in the
three cases aforesaid) or of a scutage, we will cause to be summoned the archbishops, bishops, abbots,
earls, and greater barons, severally by our letters; and we will move over cause to be summoned generally,
through our sheriffs and bailiffs, and others who hold of us in chief, for a fixed date, namely, after the
expiry of at least forty days, and at a fixed place; and in all letters of such summons we will specify the
reason of the summons. And when the summons has thus been made, the business shall proceed on the
day appointed, according to the counsel of such as are present, although not all who were summoned
have come.
15. We will not for the future grant to anyone license to take an aid from his own free tenants, except to
ransom his person, to make his eldest son a knight, and once to marry his eldest daughter; and on each
of these occasions there shall be levied only a reasonable aid.
16. No one shall be distrained for performance of greater service for a knight's fee, or for any other free
tenement, than is due therefrom.
17. Common pleas shall not follow our court, but shall be held in some fixed place.
18. Inquests of novel disseisin, of mort d'ancestor, and of darrein presentment shall not be held elsewhere
than in their own county courts, and that in manner following; We, or, if we should be out of the realm,
our chief justiciar, will send two justiciaries through every county four times a year, who shall alone with
four knights of the county chosen by the county, hold the said assizes in the county court, on the day
and in the place of meeting of that court.
19. And if any of the said assizes cannot be taken on the day of the county court, let there remain of the
knights and freeholders, who were present at the county court on that day, as many as may be required
for the efficient making of judgments, according as the business be more or less.
20. A freeman shall not be amerced for a slight offense, except in accordance with the degree of the
offense; and for a grave offense he shall be amerced in accordance with the gravity of the offense, yet
saving always his "contentment"; and a merchant in the same way, saving his "merchandise"; and a villein
shall be amerced in the same way, saving his "wainage" if they have fallen into our mercy: and none of the
aforesaid amercements shall be imposed except by the oath of honest men of the neighborhood.
21. Earls and barons shall not be amerced except through their peers, and only in accordance with the
degree of the offense.
22. A clerk shall not be amerced in respect of his lay holding except after the manner of the others
aforesaid; further, he shall not be amerced in accordance with the extent of his ecclesiastical benefice.
23. No village or individual shall be compelled to make bridges at river banks, except those who from of old
were legally bound to do so.
24. No sheriff, constable, coroners, or others of our bailiffs, shall hold pleas of our Crown.
25. All counties, hundred, wapentakes, and trithings (except our demesne manors) shall remain at the old
rents, and without any additional payment.
26. If anyone holding of us a lay fief shall die, and our sheriff or bailiff shall exhibit our letters patent of
summons for a debt which the deceased owed us, it shall be lawful for our sheriff or bailiff to attach and
enroll the chattels of the deceased, found upon the lay fief, to the value of that debt, at the sight of law
worthy men, provided always that nothing whatever be thence removed until the debt which is evident
shall be fully paid to us; and the residue shall be left to the executors to fulfill the will of the deceased; and
if there be nothing due from him to us, all the chattels shall go to the deceased, saving to his wife and
children their reasonable shares.
27. If any freeman shall die intestate, his chattels shall be distributed by the hands of his nearest kinsfolk
and friends, under supervision of the Church, saving to every one the debts which the deceased owed to
him.
28. No constable or other bailiff of ours shall take corn or other provisions from anyone without
immediately tendering money therefor, unless he can have postponement thereof by permission of the
seller.
29. No constable shall compel any knight to give money in lieu of castle-guard, when he is willing to
perform it in his own person, or (if he himself cannot do it from any reasonable cause) then by another
responsible man. Further, if we have led or sent him upon military service, he shall be relieved from guard
in proportion to the time during which he has been on service because of us.
30. No sheriff or bailiff of ours, or other person, shall take the horses or carts of any freeman for
transport duty, against the will of the said freeman.
31. Neither we nor our bailiffs shall take, for our castles or for any other work of ours, wood which is not
ours, against the will of the owner of that wood.
32. We will not retain beyond one year and one day, the lands those who have been convicted of felony,
and the lands shall thereafter be handed over to the lords of the fiefs.
33. All kydells for the future shall be removed altogether from Thames and Medway, and throughout all
England, except upon the seashore.
34. The writ which is called praecipe shall not for the future be issued to anyone, regarding any tenement
whereby a freeman may lose his court.
35. Let there be one measure of wine throughout our whole realm; and one measure of ale; and one
measure of corn, to wit, "the London quarter"; and one width of cloth (whether dyed, or russet, or
"halberget"), to wit, two ells within the selvedges; of weights also let it be as of measures.
36. Nothing in future shall be given or taken for a writ of inquisition of life or limbs, but freely it shall be
granted, and never denied.
37. If anyone holds of us by fee-farm, either by socage or by burage, or of any other land by knight's
service, we will not (by reason of that fee-farm, socage, or burgage), have the wardship of the heir, or of
such land of his as if of the fief of that other; nor shall we have wardship of that fee-farm,
socage, or burgage, unless such fee-farm owes knight's service. We will not by reason of any small serjeancy which
anyone may hold of us by the service of rendering to us knives, arrows, or the like, have wardship of his
heir or of the land which he holds of another lord by knight's service.
38. No bailiff for the future shall, upon his own unsupported complaint, put anyone to his "law", without
credible witnesses brought for this purposes.
39. No freemen shall be taken or imprisoned or disseised or exiled or in any way destroyed, nor will we go
upon him nor send upon him, except by the lawful judgment of his peers or by the law of the land.
40. To no one will we sell, to no one will we refuse or delay, right or justice.
41. All merchants shall have safe and secure exit from England, and entry to England, with the right to
tarry there and to move about as well by land as by water, for buying and selling by the ancient and right
customs, quit from all evil tolls, except (in time of war) such merchants as are of the land at war with us.
And if such are found in our land at the beginning of the war, they shall be detained, without injury to
their bodies or goods, until information be received by us, or by our chief justiciar, how the merchants of
our land found in the land at war with us are treated; and if our men are safe there, the others shall be
safe in our land.
42. It shall be lawful in future for anyone (excepting always those imprisoned or outlawed in accordance
with the law of the kingdom, and natives of any country at war with us, and merchants, who shall be
treated as if above provided) to leave our kingdom and to return, safe and secure by land and water,
except for a short period in time of war, on grounds of public policy- reserving always the allegiance due to
us.
43. If anyone holding of some escheat (such as the honor of Wallingford,
Nottingham, Boulogne,
Lancaster, or of other escheats which are in our hands and are baronies) shall die, his heir shall give no
other relief, and perform no other service to us than he would have done to the baron if that barony had
been in the baron's hand; and we shall hold it in the same manner in which the baron held it.
44. Men who dwell without the forest need not henceforth come before our justiciaries of the forest upon
a general summons, unless they are in plea, or sureties of one or more, who are attached for the forest.
45. We will appoint as justices, constables, sheriffs, or bailiffs only such as know the law of the realm and
mean to observe it well.
46. All barons who have founded abbeys, concerning which they hold charters from the kings of England,
or of which they have long continued possession, shall have the wardship of them, when vacant, as they
ought to have.
47. All forests that have been made such in our time shall forthwith be disafforsted; and a similar course
shall be followed with regard to river banks that have been placed "in defense" by us in our time.
48. All evil customs connected with forests and warrens, foresters and warreners, sheriffs and their
officers, river banks and their wardens, shall immediately by inquired into in each county by twelve sworn
knights of the same county chosen by the honest men of the same county, and shall, within forty days of
the said inquest, be utterly abolished, so as never to be restored, provided always that we previously have
intimation thereof, or our justiciar, if we should not be in England.
49. We will immediately restore all hostages and charters delivered to us by Englishmen, as sureties of the
peace of faithful service.
50. We will entirely remove from their bailiwicks, the relations of Gerard of Athee (so that in future they
shall have no bailiwick in England); namely, Engelard of Cigogne, Peter, Guy, and Andrew of
Chanceaux,
Guy of Cigogne, Geoffrey of Martigny with his brothers, Philip Mark with his brothers and his nephew
Geoffrey, and the whole brood of the same.
51. As soon as peace is restored, we will banish from the kingdom all foreign born knights,
crossbowmen, serjeants, and mercenary soldiers who have come with horses and arms to the kingdom's hurt.
52. If anyone has been dispossessed or removed by us, without the legal judgment of his peers, from his
lands, castles, franchises, or from his right, we will immediately restore them to him; and if a dispute arise
over this, then let it be decided by the five and twenty barons of whom mention is made below in the
clause for securing the peace. Moreover, for all those possessions, from which anyone has, without the
lawful judgment of his peers, been disseised or removed, by our father, King
Henry, or by our brother,
King Richard, and which we retain in our hand (or which as possessed by others, to whom we are bound
to warrant them) we shall have respite until the usual term of crusaders; excepting those things about
which a plea has been raised, or an inquest made by our order, before our taking of the cross; but as
soon as we return from the expedition, we will immediately grant full justice therein.
53. We shall have, moreover, the same respite and in the same manner in rendering justice concerning the
disafforestation or retention of those forests which Henry our father and Richard our broter
afforested,
and concerning the wardship of lands which are of the fief of another (namely, such wardships as we have
hitherto had by reason of a fief which anyone held of us by knight's service), and concerning abbeys
founded on other fiefs than our own, in which the lord of the fee claims to have right; and when we have
returned, or if we desist from our expedition, we will immediately grant full justice to all who complain of
such things.
54. No one shall be arrested or imprisoned upon the appeal of a woman, for the death of any other than
her husband.
55. All fines made with us unjustly and against the law of the land, and all amercements, imposed unjustly
and against the law of the land, shall be entirely remitted, or else it shall be done concerning them
according to the decision of the five and twenty barons whom mention is made below in the clause for
securing the pease, or according to the judgment of the majority of the same, along with the aforesaid
Stephen, archbishop of Canterbury, if he can be present, and such others as he may wish to bring with
him for this purpose, and if he cannot be present the business shall nevertheless proceed without him,
provided always that if any one or more of the aforesaid five and twenty barons are in a similar suit, they
shall be removed as far as concerns this particular judgment, others being substituted in their places after
having been selected by the rest of the same five and twenty for this purpose only, and after having been
sworn.
56. If we have disseised or removed Welshmen from lands or liberties, or other things, without the legal
judgment of their peers in England or in Wales, they shall be immediately restored to them; and if a
dispute arise over this, then let it be decided in the marches by the judgment of their peers; for the
tenements in England according to the law of England, for tenements in Wales according to the law of
Wales, and for tenements in the marches according to the law of the marches. Welshmen shall do the
same to us and ours.
57. Further, for all those possessions from which any Welshman has, without the lawful judgment of his
peers, been disseised or removed by King Henry our father, or King Richard our brother, and which we
retain in our hand (or which are possessed by others, and which we ought to warrant), we will have
respite until the usual term of crusaders; excepting those things about which a plea has been raised or an
inquest made by our order before we took the cross; but as soon as we return (or if perchance we desist
from our expedition), we will immediately grant full justice in accordance with the laws of the Welsh and in
relation to the foresaid regions.
58. We will immediately give up the son of Llywelyn and all the hostages of Wales, and the charters
delivered to us as security for the peace.
59. We will do towards Alexander, king of Scots, concerning the return of his sisters and his hostages,
and concerning his franchises, and his right, in the same manner as we shall do towards our owher barons
of England, unless it ought to be otherwise according to the charters which we hold from William his
father, formerly king of Scots; and this shall be according to the judgment of his peers in our court.
60. Moreover, all these aforesaid customs and liberties, the observances of which we have granted in our
kingdom as far as pertains to us towards our men, shall be observed b all of our kingdom, as well clergy
as laymen, as far as pertains to them towards their men.
61. Since, moreover, for God and the amendment of our kingdom and for the better allaying of the
quarrel that has arisen between us and our barons, we have granted all these concessions, desirous that
they should enjoy them in complete and firm endurance forever, we give and grant to them the
underwritten security, namely, that the barons choose five and twenty barons of the kingdom,
whomsoever they will, who shall be bound with all their might, to observe and hold, and cause to be
observed, the peace and liberties we have granted and confirmed to them by this our present Charter, so
that if we, or our justiciar, or our bailiffs or any one of our officers, shall in anything be at fault towards
anyone, or shall have broken any one of the articles of this peace or of this security, and the offense be
notified to four barons of the foresaid five and twenty, the said four barons shall repair to us (or our
justiciar, if we are out of the realm) and, laying the transgression before us, petition to have that
transgression redressed without delay. And if we shall not have corrected the transgression (or, in the
event of our being out of the realm, if our justiciar shall not have corrected it) within forty days, reckoning
from the time it has been intimated to us (or to our justiciar, if we should be out of the realm), the four
barons aforesaid shall refer that matter to the rest of the five and twenty barons, and those five and
twenty barons shall, together with the community of the whole realm, distrain and distress us in all
possible ways, namely, by seizing our castles, lands, possessions, and in any other way they can, until
redress has been obtained as they deem fit, saving harmless our own person, and the persons of our
queen and children; and when redress has been obtained, they shall resume their old relations towards us.
And let whoever in the country desires it, swear to obey the orders of the said five and twenty barons for
the execution of all the aforesaid matters, and along with them, to molest us to the utmost of his power;
and we publicly and freely grant leave to everyone who wishes to swear, and we shall never forbid anyone
to swear. All those, moreover, in the land who of themselves and of their own accord are unwilling to
swear to the twenty five to help them in constraining and molesting us, we shall by our command compel
the same to swear to the effect foresaid. And if any one of the five and twenty barons shall have died or
departed from the land, or be incapacitated in any other manner which would prevent the foresaid
provisions being carried out, those of the said twenty five barons who are left shall choose another in his
place according to their own judgment, and he shall be sworn in the same way as the others.
Further, in
all matters, the execution of which is entrusted, to these twenty five barons, if perchance these twenty five
are present and disagree about anything, or if some of them, after being summoned, are unwilling or
unable to be present, that which the majority of those present ordain or command shall be held as fixed
and established, exactly as if the whole twenty five had concurred in this; and the said twenty five shall
swear that they will faithfully observe all that is aforesaid, and cause it to be observed with all their might.
And we shall procure nothing from anyone, directly or indirectly, whereby any part of these concessions
and liberties might be revoked or diminished; and if any such things has been procured, let it be void and
null, and we shall never use it personally or by another.
62. And all the will, hatreds, and bitterness that have arisen between us and our men, clergy and lay, from
the date of the quarrel, we have completely remitted and pardoned to everyone. Moreover, all trespasses
occasioned by the said quarrel, from Easter in the sixteenth year of our reign till the restoration of peace,
we have fully remitted to all, both clergy and laymen, and completely forgiven, as far as pertains to us.
And on this head, we have caused to be made for them letters testimonial patent of the lord Stephen,
archbishop of Canterbury, of the lord Henry, archbishop of Dublin, of the bishops aforesaid, and of Master
Pandulf as touching this security and the concessions aforesaid.
63. Wherefore we will and firmly order that the English Church be free, and that the men in our kingdom
have and hold all the aforesaid liberties, rights, and concessions, well and peaceably, freely and quietly,
fully and wholly, for themselves and their heirs, of us and our heirs, in all respects and in all places forever,
as is aforesaid. An oath, moreover, has been taken, as well on our part as on the art of the barons, that
all these conditions aforesaid shall be kept in good faith and without evil intent.
Given under our hand - the above named and many others being witnesses - in the meadow which is
called Runnymede, between Windsor and Staines, on the fifteenth day of June, in the seventeenth year of
our reign.
This is but one of three different translations I found of the Magna Carta; it was originally done in Latin,
probably by the Archbishop, Stephen Langton. It was in force for only a few months, when it was violated
by the king. Just over a year later, with no resolution to the war, the king died, being
succeeded by his
9-year old son, Henry III.
The Charter (Carta) was reissued again, with some revisions, in 1216, 1217 and
1225. The version presented here is perhaps the one that preceded all of the others; nearly
all of it's provisions were soon superceded by other laws, and none of it is effective today.
Yet, the Magna Carta remains an important foundation for all future causes of
liberty.
Original manuscript Prepared by Nancy Troutman (The Cleveland Free-Net -
aa345 and the National Public Telecomputing Network). Distributed by the Cybercasting Services
Division of the National Public Telecomputing Network (NPTN). Definitions and
commentary by Reverend Paul Michael Raymond for The Institute for Theonomic
Reformation
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