Magna Carta, a legal document from 1215, influenced the development of England’s legal system and was used as a model by former colonies. It established that the king was not above the law and contained influential clauses for similar charters of rights. King John signed it after pressure from the Church and barons, but later abandoned it, igniting a war. It was reissued in different versions until the final version was published in 1297. It disappeared until the Elizabethan era, when interest in the document was renewed.
Magna Carta is an English legal document written in 1215 CE that had a huge influence on the development of the legal system of England. As the English legal system was used as a model by many former colonies when developing their own legal systems, Magna Carta also impacted many other governments. Many legal historians consider it to be one of the most important documents of all time, and several copies of it are on display around the world for interested parties to examine.
The document’s proper name is Magna Carta Libertatum, the Great Charter of Liberties, although the name is usually abbreviated to Magna Carta, or Great Charter. It could be considered a bill of rights for medieval England, although it was not heavily enforced for several centuries. However, he set a precedent that changed the face of England forever by establishing that the king was not above the law.
King John of England signed Magna Carta after immense pressure from the Church and its barons. The king often lived above the law, breaking both feudal and common law, and was heavily criticized for his foreign policy and his actions in England. The Barons, with the support of the Church, pressed King John to draw up a list of their rights and to guarantee that these rights would be enforced. The barons provided a draft and, after some negotiation, King John put his seal on the charter at Runnymede in June 1215.
Many of the rights in the Charter actually appeared in older documents, such as the Charter of Freedoms published by Henry I. However, Magna Carta also contained several clauses that were influential on the development of similar charters of rights, such as the first 10 Amendments to the Constitution of the United States. Among these were the right to habeas corpus, a clause that protected the freedom of the church, and other clauses that set out the rules for due process.
King John later abandoned the charter, igniting a war that lasted until his death in 1216. His son, Henry III, took the throne and reissued Magna Carta in 1225, albeit in a different version. Several more drafts of the document were produced, reinforcing its place in English society, until the final version was published by Edward I in 1297. Strangely, the charter seemed to disappear until nearly 200 years later, when the Elizabethan era stirred up a new interest in and furore for the document.
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