Magna Carta - Definition - Law Dictionary Home Dictionary Definition magna-carta

Definition :

Magna Carta, [Latin 'great charter'] The English charter that King John granted to the barons in 1215 and Henry III and Edward I later confirmed. It is generally regarded as one of the great common-law documents and as the foundation of constitution liberties. The other three great charters of English Liberty are the Petition of Right (3 Car. (1628)), the Habeas Corpus Act (31 Car. 2 (1679)), and the Bill of Rights (1 Will. SM. (1689)). Also spelled Magna charta, Black's Law Dictionary, 7th Edn., p. 963.

This Great Charter is based substantially upon the Saxon Common Law, which flourished in this kingdom until the Normaninvasion consolidated the system of feudality, still the great characteristic of the principles of real property. The barons assembled at St.Edmund's Bury, in Suffolk, in the later part of the year 1214, and there solemnly swore upon the high alter to withdraw their allegiance from the Crown, and openly rebel, unless King John confirmed by a formal charter the ancient liberties of England; and they then engaged to demand this of the sovereign in the early part of the ensuing year, arming themselves in the mean time, so as to compel John, if necessary, to confirm those liberties which had been confirmed by the charters of his predecessors, and his own solemn but disregarded oath. As the first step the barons disclaimed all allegiance to him, were formally absolved from their oaths of fidelity, and chose for their general Robert Fitzwalter, with the title of Marshal of the Army of God and of the Holy Church. After the fortess of Bedford had surrendered to them, and they were in possession of the metropolis, by private agreement with the citizens, the king sent a message to them to desire that a place and time of meeting might be fixed for the purpose of his complying with their demands. Accordingly, the famous meadow called Runingmede, or Runemede (from the Saxon word rune, signifying council), situated on the southwest bank of the Thames, between Staines and Windsor, in Surrey, was selected for the interview. The conferences between the king and the armed barons opened on Monday, the 15th of June, and closed on Friday, the 19th of June, 1215, being in the seventeenth year of his reign. After the adjustment of preliminaries, Articles or heads of agreement were drawn up and sealed; these Articles were then reduced to the form of a charter to which the Great Seal of the realm was solemnly affixed, and the instrument was given by the king's hand as a confirmation of his own act, but it was not signed by him, as commonly supposed. This celebrated event in our history took place in a small island, still called Magna Charta Island, situated in the Thames, not far from Aukerwyke, in Buckinghamshire. Many originals of the great Charter were made, for the purpose of depositing one in every diocese. Two of these are extant in the British Museum, and it is said there are two others in existence, one in the cathedral at Salisbury, and the other in that at Lincoln.

Magna Charta was not firmly established as the common law of the realm and the inalienable right of the subject for nearly a century after the conferences at Runningmede, during which period the country was kept in a constant state of alarm and excitement by the struggles of the barons' war, but at length this constitutional barrier against regal encroachments was finally secured to the people by its solemn confirmation by Edward I. No fewer than thirty-two Acts of Parliament were obtained from 1267 to 1416, from the sovereigns of England, for the purpose of fixing the Great Charter as the broad basis of our legislation, and the material guarantee of the freedom of political opinion, and of vindicating the right of publicly discussing and scrutinizing the conduct and measures of the Government of the day.

The Great Charter, as set forth in the statutes at large, is expressed to be made in the ninth year of King Henry III. (that is, in 1225), and confirmed by King Edward I. in the 25th year of his reign (that is, in 1297). The original is written in the Latin language, which, although not of that pure classicality that will be appreciated by the scholar, is nevertheless simple, vigorous, and unmistakable. The original Latin is printed in the statute-book in one column, and an English translation of it in another.

This Great Charter is in fact a collection of statutes in thirty-seven chapters, which are for the most part declaratory of our ancient and cherished customs, supplying, however, many of the deficiencies of the Common Law. 'Codes are not made; they make themselves,' said Pourtales, and this is true also of Magna Charta, of which many of the chapters in substance and detail contain provisions which could not have originated, sua sponte, in the mind of any legislator, however gifted he may have been. The 1st chapter is a confirmation of liberties in these words:-'First, we have granted to God, and by this our present charter have confirmed for us and our heirs for ever, that the Church of England shall be free and shall have her whole rights and liberties inviolable. We have granted also and given to all the freeman of our realm, for us and our heirs for ever, these liberties, underwritten, to have and to hold to them and their heirs, of us and our heirs for ever.'

The 2nd chapter relates to the relief of the Crown's tenants of full age:-'If any of our earls or barons, or any other, which holdeth of us in chief by knight's service, die, and at the time of his death his heir be of full age, and oweth to us relief, he shall have his inheritance by the old relief; that is to say, the heir or heirs of an earl, for a whole earldom, by one hundred pounds; the heir or heirs of a baron, for a whole barony, by one hundred marks; the heir or heirs of a knight, for one whole knight's fee, one hundred shillings at the most, and he that hath less shall give less, according to the old custom of the fees.'

The Great Charter only aimed at modifying the grievances of feudalism, which created the military tenure of knight's service. It was reserved for the vigorous administration of Cornwell to abolish this military tenure, which he did by intermitting the Court of Wards in 1645. So perfectly hopeless was the renewal of this oppressive system at the restoration of the second Charles, that the provision annihilating these feudal tenures, contained in the statute 12 Car. 2, c. 24, simply embodied this wholesome law of the Commonwealth and rendered it perpetual.

The statute of Charles II did away with the effect of the four next chapters of the Great Charter. It will be only necessary, therefore, to mention their subjects:-Chapter three related to the wardship of an infant heir of an earl, baron, or knight; chapter four prohibited the guardian from wasting the lands of his ward, and from destroying his tenants, a plain indication of the wretched condition of the serfs in those days; chapter five compelled such guardians to keep in repair such lands; and chapter six, that such heirs should be married without disparagements--that is, should not be compelled to contract an improper or unequal marriage.

The 7th chapter concerns widows, and enacts that:-'A widow, after the death of her husband, incontinent, and without any difficulty, shall have her marriage, and her inheritance, and shall give nothing for her dower, her marriage, or her inheritance, which her husband and she held the day of the death of her husband, and she shall tarry in the chief house of her husband by forty days after th death of her husband, within which days her dower shall be assigned her if it were not assigned her before, or that if the house be a castle, and if she depart from the castle, then a competent house shall be forthwith provided for her, in which she may honestly dwell, until her dower be to her assigned, as it is aforesaid, and she shall have in the meantime her reasonable estovers of the common; and for her dower shall be assigned unto her the third part of all the lands of her husband which were his during coverture, except she were endowed of less at the church door. No widow shall be distrained to marry while she chooses to live single; nevertheless, she shall find surety that she shall not marry without our license and assent if she hold of us, nor without the assent of the lord, if she hold of another.' See DOWER.

The 8th chapter relates to Crown debts:-'We or our bailiffs shall not seize any land or rent for any debt, as long as the present goods and chattels of the debtor do suffice to pay the debt, and the debtor himself be ready to satisfy there for. Neither shall the pledges of the debtor be distrained, as long as the principal debtor is sufficient for the payment of the debt. And if the principal debtor fail in payment of the debt, having nothing wherewith to pay, or will not pay where he is able, the pledges shall answer for the debt. And if they will, they shall have the lands and rents of the debtor, until they be satisfied of the debt which they before paid for him, except that the debtor can show himself to be acquitted against the said sureties.'

This order of enforcing Crown debts from debtors and their sureties appears to be clear and satisfactory. It is the prerogative of the Crown to claim priority for taxes and penalties before all other creditors, and to recover by a very prompt and efficacious process, because thesaurus regis est pacis vinculum et bellorum nervi (the public revenue is at once the security of peace and the sinews of war).

The 9th chapter perpetuates our right of self-government, the source and bulwork of our constitutional freedom. It enacts that:-'The City of London shall have all the old liberties and customs which it hath been used to have. Moreover, we will and grant that all other cities, boroughs, towns, and the barons of the five ports, and all other ports, shall have all their liberties and free customs.'

The 10th chapter prohibits excessive distress for more service for a knight's fee than was due, all which has been abolished.

The 11th chapter enacts that:-'Common Pleas shall not follow our Court, but shall be holden in some place certain.' See COMMON PLEAS; ROYAL COURTS.

The 12th chapter relates to assizes, and provides that:-'Assizes of novel disseisin and of mortdauncestor shall not be taken but in the shires, and after this manner; if we be out of this realm, our chief, justicers shall send our justices through every county once in the year, which, with the knights of the shires, shall take the said assizes in those counties; and those things that at the coming of our foresaid justicers, being sent to take those assizes in the counties, cannot be determined, shall be ended by them in some other place in their circuit; and those things which for difficulty of some Articles cannot be determined by them, shall be referred to our justicers of the bench, and there shall be ended.'

Assizes or actions of novel disseisin and mort-dauncestor have long been abolished, and more simple remedies established. A novel disseisin was so called to distinguish it from an ancient disseisin, and it arose in this way:-The judges in the olden time, when travelling was perilous and slow, went their circuits but once in seven years; all disseisins then or dispossessings of the lawful owners of lands which took place before the last circuits were ancient, but all disseisins since were novel. Mortancestor was an action brought against a person who had taken possession of property after the death of an ancestor, and before his heir-at-law had entered into their occupancy. This chapter of the Great Charter is interesting as showing that our circuits and the practice of reserving points of law arising on circuit, for the consideration of the Court, are a very old institution of our judicial system.

The 13th chapter relates to assizes of darrein presentment, a now abolished method of trying the right to present a priest to an ecclesiastical benefice.

The 14th chapter is directed against excessive fines, and provides that:-'A freeman shall not be amerced for a small fault, but after the manner of the fault, and for a great fault after the greatness thereof, saving to him his contenement; and a merchant likewise, saving to him his merchandise; and any other's villein than ours shall be likewise amerced, saving his wainage, if he fall into our mercy. And none of the said amerciaments shall be amerced but by their peers, and after the manner of their offence. No man of the church shall be amerced after the quantity of his spiritual benefice, but after his lay-tenement, and after the quantity of his offence.'

A man's contenement is that which is absolutely necessary for his support and maintenance, as his tools and instruments of trade; and wainage is that which is necessary for the labourer and the farmer, for the cultivation of his land, as carts, and implements of husbandry.

The 15th and 16th chapters relate to the making of bridges and defending of river-banks, a subject which now forms part of local law.

The 17th chapter enacts that:-'No sheriff constable, escheator, coroner, nor any other our bailiffs, shall hold pleas of our Crown.'

Pleas of the Crown comprehend the criminal department of the law. It was ever the anxious care of our ancestors that a person accused of crime should be tried by a superior judge and a jury, and not by an inferior magistrate. It has, however, from time to time been necessary and expedient to give to justices and local magistrates jurisdiction to a limited extent in dealing with crimes and quasi criminal matters. This jurisdiction is of two kinds:-(1) Relating to indictable offences; and (2) relating to offence punishable summarily. As to the latter jurisdiction, the proceedings and powers of the justices are regulated (except where otherwise provided by the particular statute) by the (English) Summary Jurisdiction Act, 1848 (11 & 12 Vict. c. 43), and amending Acts. See JUSTICES.

The 18th chapter enacts that:-'If any that holdeth of us lay-fee do die, and our sheriff or bailiff do show our letters-patents of our summons for debt, which the dead man did owe to us, it shall be lawful to our sheriff or bailiff to attach and inroll all the goods and chattels of the dead, being found in the said lay-fee, to the value of the same debt, by the sight of lawful men, so that nothing there of shall be taken away, until we be clearly paid off the debt, and the residue shall remain to the executor to perform the testament of the dead, and if nothing be owing unto us, all the chattels shall go to the use of the dead, saving to his wife and children their reasonable parts.' See REASONABLE PARTS.

Debts owing the Crown take precedence of all other debts, and this appears to be perfectly fair, for it is only by the certain payment of taxes that the government of a country can be carried on. The old law which prohibited a man from willing away all his property from his wife and children has long since been abrogated, and a man can now by a valid will deprive his widow and children of any participation in the property which he may leave.

The subjects of the 19th, 20th, and 21st chapters, relating to purveyance for a castle, doing of castle ward, and taking of horses, carts, and woods for the service of the royal castles, have been rendered obsolete by the abolition of feudalism.

The 22nd chapter declares thus:-'We will not hold the lands of them that be convict of felony but one year and one day, and then those lands shall be delivered to the lords of the fee.'

The addition of the day to the year appears to have been intended to prevent any dispute about whether the year is to be calculated as inclusive or exclusive of its last day. By the (English) Forfeiture Act, 1870 (33 & 34 Vict. c. 23), escheat and forfeiture for treason or felony were abolished.

The 23rd chapter enacts that:-'All wears from henceforth shall be utterly put down by Thames and Medway, and through all England, but only by the sea-coasts.' It is obvious that wears in navigable rivers would be obstructive of free communication. See WEARS.

The 24th chapter relates to the writ called pr'cipe incapite, which has been abolished.

The 25th chapter directs that:-'One measure of wine shall be through our realm, and one measure of ale, and one measure of corn, that is to say, the quarter of London; and one breadth of dyed cloth, russets, and haberjects, that is to say, two yards within the lists, and it shall be of weights as it is of measures.' See WEIGHTS AND MEASURES.

The 26th, 27th, and 28th chapters, relating to the writ of inquisition of life and member, and the old feudal tenures and wager of law, have been superseded by their abolition.

The next chapter (29) is so often quoted that it is better to give it in the original, which is as follows:-

'Nullus liber homo capiatur vel imprisonetur aut disseisiatur de libero tenemento suo vel libertatibus vel liberis consuetudinibus suis, aut utlagetur aut exuletur aut aliquo modo destruatur,nec super eum ibimus nec super eum mittemus nisi perlegale judicium parium suorum, vel per legem terr'. Nulli vendemus, nulli negabimus aut differemus rectum vel justiciam.'

'No freeman shall be taken or imprisoned, or be disseised of his freehold, or liberties or free customs, or be outlawed or exiled, or any otherwise destroyed; nor will we pas upon him, nor condemn him, but by lawful judgment of his peers, or by the law of the land. To no man will we sell, to no man deny, to no man delay, justice or right.'

It is required by our law that the twelve jurors be unanimous in their verdict, the reason for which would appear on criminal trials to be out of compassion to the prisoner, by giving him the benefit of every doubt, in accordance with the benignant quality of mercy. The unanimity required in trials of a civil nature is said to have arisen from the now abolished punishment, to which every juror was liable for returning an improper verdict, and as each juror might have been subjected to a conviction, it was no doubt reasonable that every one should have a power of dissenting, and not be bound by the opinion of the others.

The 30th chapter evinces a liberal treatment of foreigners:-'All merchants if they were not openly prohibited before shall have their safe and sure conduct do depart out of England, to come into England, to tarry in and go through England, as well by land as by water, to buy and sell, without any manner of evil tolts [i.e., extortions], by the old and rightful customs, except in time of war. And if they be of a land making war against us, and be found in our realm at the beginning of the wars, they shall be attached without harm of body or goods, until it be known unto us, or our chief justice, how our merchants be interested there in the land making war against us; and if our merchants be well interested there, theirs shall be likewise with us.' See ALIENS.

The 31st, 32nd, and 33rd chapters, relating to the royal escheat, the lord's services, and the patronage of abbeys, have been entirely superseded; as also has the 34th chapter, which provided that no man should be taken or imprisoned upon the appeal of a woman for the death of any other than her husband.

The 35th chapter, relating to county courts, sheriffs' turns, and leets, has long sine fallen into desuetude by reason of new laws upon these subjects, though the sheriff's county Court still exists for the purpose of parliamentary elections, and the sheriff's turn was not expressly abolished until 1887 by the Sheriffs Act of that year, s. 18.

The 36th chapter enacts that:-'It shall not be lawful from henceforth to any to give his land to any religious house, and to take the same land again to hold of the same house. Nor shall it be lawful to any house of religion to take the lands of any, and to lease the same to him of whom it received them. If any from henceforth give his lands to any religious house, and thereupon be convict, the gift shall be utterly void, and the land shall accrue, to the lord of the fee.' See CHARITABLE USES AND MORTMAIN.

The concluding chapter of Magna Charta sets forth that its establishment was bought from the Crown, like most of our great liberties, with a fifteenth of our movable property, in consideration of which the king grants 'for us and our heirs, that neither we nor our heirs shall attempt to do anything whereby the liberties contained in this charter may be infringed or broken. and if anything should be done to the contrary, it shall beheld of no force or effect.' Consult 2 Hallam's Middle Ages, p. 326; McKechnie's Magna Carta.