Magna Carta Essay ⋆ Political Science Essay Examples ⋆ EssayEmpire

The Magna Carta, or “Great Charter,” consists of a preamble and 62 clauses that English barons extracted from King John (1167?–1216) at Runnymede in 1215 in a fruitless effort to avoid civil war. Later monarchs, including John’s immediate successor, Henry III, reaffirmed this document that lies at the root of both English and American ideas of constitutionalism.

Although many of the barons’ specific concerns are now dated, other legal privileges that they wrested from the king became the basis for the liberties of all English citizens, especially as later jurists like Sir Edward Coke (1552–1634) interpreted them. Provisions 14 and 61, establishing representation of the barons, provided impetus for the development of the English Parliament. During the American Revolution, the English used the Magna Carta to support their claim of parliamentary sovereignty, whereas Americans distilled from it the principle of “no taxation without representation.”

Provisions of the Magna Carta are tied to modern provisions for habeas corpus. For example, Article 39 provided that “No freeman shall be taken, or imprisoned, or disseized, or outlawed, or exiled, or in any way harmed . . . save by the lawful judgment of his peers or by the law of the land.” The latter phrase has long been associated with American ideas of due process and trial by jury. Article 40 further provided that “To none will we sell, to none deny or delay, right or justice.” Long after the demise of King John, the document’s principles remain timeless.

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