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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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Magna Carta
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(Latin for the Great Charter)
The imminent danger of finding himself at war with his own rebellious barons persuaded King *John to fix his royal seal (on 15 June 1215 'in the meadow called *Runnymede between Windsor and Staines') to this charter, which limited his own power and which has been considered in English-speaking countries as the first touchstone of individual liberty.
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The document attempted to lay down regulations for a feudal society, and much of it soon became outdated. By the same token the concessions of lasting importance were probably of minor interest to the king and his barons. Chief among these were clauses 39 and 40 (38 and 39 in later versions), which said that no free man would be imprisoned or punished without prior judgement by the law of the land; and that justice would not be denied, delayed or sold. This uncompromising statement of the supremacy of the law has given Magna Carta its lasting and almost magic status (also causing it to be thought of, incorrectly, as the origin of *habeas corpus).
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Four copies of the 1215 Magna Carta survive (two in the cathedrals where they were first deposited, Lincoln and Salisbury, and two in the British Library), but the document was subsequently revised and reissued on several occasions. The version which became established in English law, being frequently reprinted in part or whole, is that issued by *Henry III when he became of age in 1225.
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