Obama follow me - it says it all
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Speech manipulated for political reasons
Speech manipulated for political reasons
One idea of our nation is that of strong, harmonious communities in which each individual is has the opportunity to grow and flourish. The wellness of the community depends on the wellness of every individual within the community, for the whole is a reflection of its parts. Thus, to insure our safety, we know that we must insure the safety of others.
Another idea of our nation is that of a divided nation, full of fearful citizens threatened by a multitude of dangers. In our fear, we follow who ever has the most might, even when it means our bondage. Nowhere is safe, for the danger lies within us and we carry it wherever we go.
We make the world as we perceive it. History has demonstrated time and again that taking on extremist beliefs comes at a high personal and national price. Are we headed there once again, this time led by conservatives and liberals alike?
The world is our classroom. The fundamental truth we come to learn is that we are not separate. We cannot destroy the truth, but we can deny it.
COMMENT
Obviously, extremists of either persuasion will be followed by those who are not willing to study and form their own informed and educated opinion. I prefer to think that those who do care enough to study and participate in our government through citizen leadership are our best guarantee for the future of this country.
One idea of our nation is that of strong, harmonious communities in which each individual is has the opportunity to grow and flourish. The wellness of the community depends on the wellness of every individual within the community, for the whole is a reflection of its parts. Thus, to insure our safety, we know that we must insure the safety of others.
Another idea of our nation is that of a divided nation, full of fearful citizens threatened by a multitude of dangers. In our fear, we follow who ever has the most might, even when it means our bondage. Nowhere is safe, for the danger lies within us and we carry it wherever we go.
We make the world as we perceive it. History has demonstrated time and again that taking on extremist beliefs comes at a high personal and national price. Are we headed there once again, this time led by conservatives and liberals alike?
The world is our classroom. The fundamental truth we come to learn is that we are not separate. We cannot destroy the truth, but we can deny it.
COMMENT
Obviously, extremists of either persuasion will be followed by those who are not willing to study and form their own informed and educated opinion. I prefer to think that those who do care enough to study and participate in our government through citizen leadership are our best guarantee for the future of this country.
Monday, November 28, 2011
"The benchmark of a civilized society is the quality of its justice"
"The benchmark of a civilized society is the quality of its justice"
In addressing the concept of a modern civil justice system, and what its features should be, we determined that we would measure our recommendations against the following criteria, which we see as the legitimizing principles underlying such a system. These benchmarks are:
To meet these benchmarks, in our view, a modern civil justice system for Ontario
In order for the public to have a feeling of confidence in the integrity of their civil justice system they are entitled to:
This is particularly so at a time when the Charter of Rights and Freedoms has placed the Courts at the centre of many controversies which in former days were the sole preserve of the Legislatures and Parliament. At the same time, new and proliferating legislation in areas such as family law, consumer protection law, environmental law, class actions and tax and corporate-commercial law -- to name only a few -- is placing the civil justice system in the public eye on a daily basis.
As a result, the public is demanding more of a say about what goes on in the justice system, and the ability to participate in a meaningful way in affecting what happens. As the public member of the Review put it, there is presently
Draiman YJ
In addressing the concept of a modern civil justice system, and what its features should be, we determined that we would measure our recommendations against the following criteria, which we see as the legitimizing principles underlying such a system. These benchmarks are:
- Fairness
- Affordability
- Accessibility
- Timeliness
- Efficiency and Cost-Effectiveness
- Accountability, and
- A Streamlined Process and Administration
Characteristics of the Modern Civil Justice System
- It must have the confidence of the public, and the public must have a legitimate and meaningful involvement in the way the system works.
- It must be properly and adequately funded and resourced.
- It must focus on "dispute resolution" as a whole, and make available to the public, on an institutional basis, both the traditional court adjudication processes and the whole panoply of alternative dispute resolution ("ADR";) techniques which enable parties to work out their disputes on their own or with the assistance of a third party.
- Its courts must be presided over by an impartial and completely independent judiciary, the members of which must be of the highest caliber and character and who must be representative of the society they are being entrusted to judge. As the civil justice system evolves, judges, we believe, will be called upon to bring skills as case managers and general dispute resolvers to their role as well.
- Its administration must likewise be staffed by qualified and trained personnel at all levels.
- It must feature a unified management, administration and budgetary model for the administration of the justice system, featuring clearly defined lines of responsibility.
- It must be equipped with modern computer and electronic technology to enable the participants in the system to work effectively as an integrated whole.
- It must operate under the model of case flow management, a time and event managing system which facilitates early resolution of cases, reduces delay and backlogs, and lowers the cost of litigation. Case flow management shifts the overall management of cases through the time parameters from the Bar -- where it has traditionally been -- to the judiciary, streamlines the process, permits the introduction of ADR techniques, and creates an environment where judges, administrators and quasi-judicial officials can work together to integrate the various elements of the system into a co-coordinated whole.
1.2 PUBLIC CONFIDENCE AND PARTICIPATION
- timely and affordable civil justice
- be able to understand the system which provides that justice, at least in its fundamental elements if not in its procedural complexities and,
- basic, straightforward, information to assist it when it comes into contact with the system.
"The Court's authority, consisting of neither the purse nor the sword, rests ultimately on substantial public confidence in its moral sanction"
Like most other institutions in to-day's society, the Courts are the subject of increasing scrutiny by the public and the media. This scrutiny makes it ever more apparent that the Court be worthy of the public confidence which is the ultimate basis for societies willingness to accept its decisions.This is particularly so at a time when the Charter of Rights and Freedoms has placed the Courts at the centre of many controversies which in former days were the sole preserve of the Legislatures and Parliament. At the same time, new and proliferating legislation in areas such as family law, consumer protection law, environmental law, class actions and tax and corporate-commercial law -- to name only a few -- is placing the civil justice system in the public eye on a daily basis.
As a result, the public is demanding more of a say about what goes on in the justice system, and the ability to participate in a meaningful way in affecting what happens. As the public member of the Review put it, there is presently
"No meaningful and substantive role for the citizen in the justice system. Citizens are less willing today to place blind faith and trust in institutions, in professionals and in elected officials. They are more demanding of accountability, more insistent on openness and more determined to be involved in actively shaping our institutions.
The Civil Justice Review agrees that the public must be given a more participatory role in the civil justice system, and we have elaborated on this view in the Chapter called "Changing Attitudes, Roles and Responsibilities.
Draiman YJ
DISPUTE RESOLUTION AS A WHOLE: THE COURTS AND ADR, or, THE "MULTI-DOOR" APPROACH
DISPUTE RESOLUTION AS A WHOLE: THE COURTS AND ADR, or, THE "MULTI-DOOR" APPROACH
Civil justice is a foundational institution in our society. We believe that the State has an obligation to make available to its members the means by which their disputes may be resolved, peacefully, through the medium of independent, objective and fair third party intervention.
This involves more, in our times, than simply the presence of courts as we have traditionally known them, albeit, the adjudicative role of an independent judiciary will remain a central and indispensable aspect of any civil justice system. Experience in our own and most other jurisdictions show us that the vast majority of all cases settle before trial. We need to focus our attention on the process for disposition of this great majority of cases, as well as continuing to concentrate on those that do go to trial.
In a broader sense, then, "the Court" should become a "dispute resolution centre" -- a place where people go to have their differences resolved in a fashion which is most appropriate to their particular situation. This may involve resort to one or another of the wide panoply of "alternative dispute resolution" ("ADR") techniques that are available or it may involve resort to the traditional litigation path towards court adjudication. In either case the State, in our opinion, has an obligation to ensure that these options are available to the members of the public. This is what is meant by the "multi-door" concept of dispute resolution. There are a variety of "doors" through which disputants may go, in order to find the best method of resolving their differences.
ADR is not a panacea, but among its strengths is the veritable smorgasbord of techniques which it makes available to enable the parties to create procedures and solutions that are tailor-made for their circumstances. The public should have access, within the rubric of its civil justice system, to these alternative mechanisms for finding a resolution to their own disputes themselves, either on their own or with the assistance of a third party.
At the same time, it remains essential -- indeed, fundamental -- that the civil justice system provide an impartial and fair tribunal to determine the parties' disputes in a binding fashion, when they cannot do so themselves. This tribunal we know traditionally as a "Court".
Draiman
Civil justice is a foundational institution in our society. We believe that the State has an obligation to make available to its members the means by which their disputes may be resolved, peacefully, through the medium of independent, objective and fair third party intervention.
This involves more, in our times, than simply the presence of courts as we have traditionally known them, albeit, the adjudicative role of an independent judiciary will remain a central and indispensable aspect of any civil justice system. Experience in our own and most other jurisdictions show us that the vast majority of all cases settle before trial. We need to focus our attention on the process for disposition of this great majority of cases, as well as continuing to concentrate on those that do go to trial.
In a broader sense, then, "the Court" should become a "dispute resolution centre" -- a place where people go to have their differences resolved in a fashion which is most appropriate to their particular situation. This may involve resort to one or another of the wide panoply of "alternative dispute resolution" ("ADR") techniques that are available or it may involve resort to the traditional litigation path towards court adjudication. In either case the State, in our opinion, has an obligation to ensure that these options are available to the members of the public. This is what is meant by the "multi-door" concept of dispute resolution. There are a variety of "doors" through which disputants may go, in order to find the best method of resolving their differences.
ADR is not a panacea, but among its strengths is the veritable smorgasbord of techniques which it makes available to enable the parties to create procedures and solutions that are tailor-made for their circumstances. The public should have access, within the rubric of its civil justice system, to these alternative mechanisms for finding a resolution to their own disputes themselves, either on their own or with the assistance of a third party.
At the same time, it remains essential -- indeed, fundamental -- that the civil justice system provide an impartial and fair tribunal to determine the parties' disputes in a binding fashion, when they cannot do so themselves. This tribunal we know traditionally as a "Court".
Draiman
Monday, November 14, 2011
The Articles of Confederation
The Articles of Confederation
Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union... Printed by Alexander Purdie [1777]. Rare Book and Special Collections Division. |
The Continental Congress adopted the Articles of Confederation, the first constitution of the
Library of Congress Web Site | External Web Sites | Selected Bibliography
A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation
The Journals of the Continental Congress contain the first draft of the Articles of Confederation as presented to the Continental Congress on July 12, 1776. It would take more than a year of debate before Congress adopted the Articles of Confederation on November 15, 1777. Two days later the Articles were submitted to the states with a request for immediate action. However, it was not until
The Letters of Delegates to Congress contains drafts of the Articles of Confederation by Josiah Bartlett and John Dickinson from late June 1776. Both Bartlett and Dickinson were members of the committee responsible for writing the draft of the Articles of Confederation. This publication also includes a few notes on the plan of Confederation written by
Elliot's Debates provides a summary of the ratification process for the Articles of Confederation, a transcript of Thomas Jefferson's notes of debate on confederation, and another copy of the Articles.
Search this collection during the years 1776 to 1789 using the word "confederation" or phrase "Articles of Confederation" to locate additional information on this topic.
Documents from the Continental Congress and the Constitutional Convention, 1774-1789
Includes the special presentation To Form a More Perfect Union: The Work of the Continental Congress and the Constitutional Convention, which provides background information on the weaknesses in the Articles of Confederation and the call for a new Constitution. Also contains an incomplete copy of the Articles of Confederation printed in 1777.
The James Madison Papers
James Madison's "Vices of the Political System of the U. States" outlined the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation.
Search Madison's papers using the word "confederation" to locate additional documents related to the Articles of Confederation and the Confederation Government.
The Nineteenth Century in Print: Periodicals
Includes an article from The Atlantic Monthly that examined the weaknesses of the
Conduct a full-text search in this collection to find more articles from the nineteenth century that discuss the Articles of Confederation.
The Thomas Jefferson Papers at the Library of Congress
Includes Jefferson's notes on debates in the Continental Congress related to the Articles of Confederation. Also contains Jefferson's printed proposals for the Articles of Confederation.
Search this collection to find additional documents that mention the Articles of Confederation.
Exhibitions
Creating the United StatesThis online exhibition offers insights into how the nation’s founding documents were forged and the role that imagination and vision played in the unprecedented creative act of forming a self–governing country. The section of the exhibition Road to the Constitution contains a number of documents related to the Articles of Confederation.
The Teachers Page
American Memory Timeline: Policies and Problems of the Confederation GovernmentProvides an overview of the Confederation Government and links to related documents.
Today in History
November 15, 1777On November 15, 1777, the second Continental Congress adopted the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union.
September 17, 1787
Members of the Constitutional Convention signed the final draft of the Constitution on September 17, 1787.
Articles of Confederation, Avalon Project at
Charters of Freedom, Articles of Confederation, National Archives and Records Administration
Our Documents, Articles of Confederation, National Archives and Records Administration
Selected Bibliography
Hoffert, Robert W. A Politics of Tensions: The Articles of Confederation and American Political Ideas. Niwot: University Press of
Jensen, Merrill. The Articles of Confederation: An Interpretation of the Social-Constitutional History of the American Revolution 1774-1781.
-----. The New Nation: A History of the
Wood, Gordon S. The Creation of the
Younger Readers
Callahan, Kerry P. The Articles of Confederation: A Primary Source Investigation into the Document that Preceded the Feinberg, Barbara Silberdick. The Articles of Confederation: The First Constitution of the
Price Hossell, Karen. The Articles of Confederation.
Roza, Greg. Evaluating the Articles of Confederation: Determining the Validity of Information and Arguments.
The Magna Carta
The Magna Carta
Why was the Magna Carta written? What was the purpose of the Magna Carta? To acknowledge that the King and all other government officials were subject to a higher law that even they must obey."...here is a law which is above the King and which even he must not break. This reaffirmation of a
supreme law and its expression in a general charter is the great work of Magna Carta; and this alone
justifies the respect in which men have held it."
supreme law and its expression in a general charter is the great work of Magna Carta; and this alone
justifies the respect in which men have held it."
Winston Churchill
King John of England agreed in 1215 to the demands of his barons and authorized that handwritten copies of Magna Carta be prepared on parchment, affixed with his seal, and publicly read throughout the realm. Thus he bound not only himself but his "heirs, for ever" to grant "to all freemen of our kingdom" the rights and liberties the great charter described. With Magna Carta, King John placed himself and When Englishmen left their homeland to establish colonies in the New World , they brought with them charters guaranteeing that they and their heirs would "have and enjoy all liberties and immunities of free and natural subjects." Scant generations later, when these American colonists raised arms against their mother country, they were fighting not for new freedoms but to preserve liberties that dated to the 13th century.
When representatives of the young republic of the United States
This heritage is most clearly apparent in our Bill of Rights. The fifth amendment guarantees:
No person shall...be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law
No person shall...be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law
Written 575 years earlier, Magna Carta declares:
No freeman shall be taken, imprisoned,...or in any other way destroyed...except by the lawful judgment of his peers, or by the law of the land. To no one will we sell, to none will we deny or delay, right or justice.
No freeman shall be taken, imprisoned,...or in any other way destroyed...except by the lawful judgment of his peers, or by the law of the land. To no one will we sell, to none will we deny or delay, right or justice.
The importance of the Magna Carta cannot be overstated. In 1957 the American Bar Association acknowledged the debt American law and constitutionalism had to Magna Carta and English common law by erecting a monument at Runnymede . Yet, as close as Magna Carta and American concepts of liberty are, they remain distinct. Magna Carta is a charter of ancient liberties guaranteed by a king to his subjects; the Constitution of the United States
"Magna Carta and Its American Legacy" provides a more in-depth look at the history of Magna Carta and the influence it had on American constitutionalism.
MAGNA CARTA
OR
THE GREAT CHARTER OF KING JOHN,
OR
THE GREAT CHARTER OF KING JOHN,
GRANTED JUNE 15, A.D., 1215.
JOHN, by the Grace of God, King of England, Lord of Ireland, Duke of Normandy, Aquitaine, and Count of Anjou, to his Archbishops, Bishops, Abbots, Earls, Barons, Justiciaries, Foresters, Sheriffs, Governors, Officers, and to all Bailiffs, and his faithful subjects, greeting. Know ye, that we, in the presence of God, and for the salvation of our soul, and the souls of all our ancestors and heirs, and unto the honour of God and the advancement of Holy Church, and amendment of our Realm, 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; Jocelin, of bath and Glastonbury; Hugh, of Lincoln; Walter, of Worcester; William, of Coventry; Benedict, of Rochester—Bishops: of Master Pandulph, Sub-Deacon and Familiar of our Lord the Pope; Brother Aymeric, Master of the Knights-Templars in England; and of the noble Persons, William Marescall, Earl of Pembroke; William, Earl of Salisbury; William, Earl of Warren; William, Earl of Arundel; Alan de Galloway, Constable of Scotland; Warin FitzGerald, Peter FitzHerbert, and Hubert de Burgh, Seneschal of Poitou; Hugh de Neville, Matthew FitzHerbert, Thomas Basset, Alan Basset, Philip of Albiney, Robert de Roppell, John Mareschal, John FitzHugh, and others, our liegemen, have, in the first place, granted to God, and by this our present Charter confirmed, for us and our heirs for ever:—1. That the Church of England shall be free, and have her whole rights, and her liberties inviolable; and we will have them so observed, that it may appear thence that the freedom of elections, which is reckoned chief and indispensable to the English Church, and which we granted and confirmed by our Charter, and obtained the confirmation of the same from our Lord the Pope Innocent III, before the discord between us and our barons, was granted of mere free will; which Charter we shall observe, and we do will it to be faithfully observed by our heirs for ever.
2. We also have granted to all the freemen of our kingdom, for us and for our heirs for ever, all the underwritten liberties, to be had and holden by them and their heirs, of us and our heirs for ever: If any of our earls, or barons, or others, who hold of us in chief by military service, shall die, and at the time of his death his heir shall be of full age, and owe a relief, he shall have his inheritance by the ancient relief—that is to say, the heir or heirs of an earl, for a whole earldom, by a hundred pounds; the heir or heirs of a baron, for a whole barony, by a hundred pounds; the heir or heirs of a knight, for a whole knight's free, by a hundred shillings at most; and whoever oweth less shall give less, according to the ancient custom of fees.
3. But if the heir of any such shall be under age, and shall be in ward, when he comes of age he shall have his inheritance without relief and without fine.
4. The keeper of the land of such an heir being under age, shall take of the land of the heir none but reasonable issues, reasonable customs, and reasonable services, and that without destruction and waste of his men and his goods; and if we commit the custody of any such lands to the sheriff, or any other who is answerable to us for the issues of the land, and he shall make destruction and waste of the lands which he hath in custody, we will take of him amends, and the land shall be committed to two lawful and discreet men of that fee, who shall answer for the issued to us, or to him to whom we shall assign them; and if we sell or give to any one the custody of any such lands, and he therein make destruction or waste, he shall lose the same custody, which shall be committed to two lawful and discreet men of that fee, who shall in like manner answer to us as aforesaid.
5. But the keeper, so long as he shall have the custody of the land, shall keep up the houses, parks, warrens, ponds, mills, and other things pertaining to the land, out of the issues of the same land; and shall deliver to the heir, when he comes of full age, his whole land, stocked with ploughs and carriages, according as the time of wainage shall require, and the issues of the land can reasonably bear.
6. Heirs shall be married with disparagement, and so that before matrimony shall be contracted, those who are near in blood to the heir shall have notice.
7. A widow, after the death of her husband, shall forthwith and without difficulty have her marriage and inheritance; nor shall she give anything for her dower, or her marriage, or her inheritance, which her husband and she held at the day of his death; and she may remain in the mansion house of her husband forty days after his death, within which time her dower shall be assigned.
8. No widow shall be distrained to marry herself, so long as she has a mind to live without a husband; but yet she shall give security that she will not marry without our assent, if she hold of us; or without the consent of the lord of whom she holds, if she hold of another.
9. Neither we nor our bailiffs shall seize any land or rent for any debt so long as the chattels of the debtor are sufficient to pay the debt; nor shall the sureties of the debtor be distrained so long as the principal debtor has sufficient to pay the debt; and if the principal debtor shall fail in the payment of the debt, not having wherewithal to pay it, then the sureties shall answer the debt; and if they will they shall have the lands and rents of the debtor, until they shall be satisfied for the debt which they paid for him, unless the principal debtor can show himself acquitted thereof against the said sureties.
10. If any one have borrowed anything of the Jews, more or less, and die before the debt be satisfied, there shall be no interest paid for that debt, so long as the heir is under ages, of whomsoever he may hold; and if the debt falls into our hands, we will only take the chattel mentioned in the deed.
11. And if any one shall die indebted to the Jews, his wife shall have her dower and pay nothing of that debt; and if the deceased left children under age, they shall have necessaries provided for them, according to the tenement of the deceased; and out of the residue the debt shall be paid, saving, however, the service due to the lords, and in like manner shall it be done touching debts due to other than the Jews.
12. NO SCUTAGE OR AID SHALL BE IMPOSED IN OUR KINGDOM, UNLESS BY THE GENERAL COUNCIL OF OUR KINGDOM; except for ransoming our person, making our eldest son a knight and once for marrying our eldest daughter; and for these there shall be paid no more than a reasonable aid. In like manner it shall be concerning the aids of the City of
13. And the City of
14. AND FOR HOLDING THE GENERAL COUNCIL OF THE KINGDOM CONCERNING THE ASSESSMENT OF AIDS, EXCEPTS IN THE THREE CASES AFORESAID, AND FOR THE ASSESSING OF SCUTAGES, WE SHALL CAUSE TO BE SUMMONED THE ARCHBISHOPS, BISHOPS, ABBOTS, EARLS, AND GREATER BARONS OF THE REALM, SINGLY BY OUR LETTERS. AND FURTHERMORE, WE SHALL CAUSE TO BE SUMMONED GENERALLY, BY OUR SHERIFFS AND BAILIFFS, ALL OTHERS WHO HOLD OF US IN CHIEF, FOR A CERTAIN DAY, THAT IS TO SAY, FORTY DAYS BEFORE THEIR MEETING AT LEAST, AND TO A CERTAIN PLACE; AND IN ALL LETTERS OF SUCH SUMMONS WE WILL DECLARE THE CAUSE OF SUCH SUMMONS. AND SUMMONS BEING THUS MADE, THE BUSINESS SHALL PROCEED ON THE DAY APPOINTED, ACCORDING TO THE ADVICE OF SUCH AS SHALL BE PRESENT, ALTHOUGH ALL THAT WERE SUMMONED COME NOT.
15. We will not for the future grant to any one that he may take aid of his own free tenants, unless to ransom his body, and to make his eldest son a knight, and once to marry his eldest daughter; and for this there shall be only paid a reasonable aid.
16. No man shall be distrained to perform more service for a knight's fee, or other free tenement, than is due from thence.
17. Common pleas shall not follow our court, but shall be holden in some place certain.
18. Trials upon the Writs of Novel Disseisin, and of Mort d'ancestor, and of Darrein Presentment, shall not be taken but in their proper counties, and after this manner: We, or if we should be out of the realm, our chief justiciary, will send two justiciaries through every county four times a year, who, with four knights of each county, chosen by the county, shall hold the said assizes in the county, on the day, and at the place appointed.
19. And if any matters cannot be determined on the day appointed for holding the assizes in each county, so many of the knights and freeholders as have been at the assizes aforesaid shall stay to decide them as is necessary, according as there is more or less business.
20. A freeman shall not be amerced for a small offence, but only according to the degree of the offense; and for a great crime according to the heinousness of it, saving to him his contenement; and after the same manner a merchant, saving to him his merchandise. And a villein shall be amerced after the same manner, saving to him his wainage, if he falls under our mercy; and none of the aforesaid amerciaments shall be assessed but by the oath of honest men in the neighbourhood.
21. Earls and barons shall not be amerced but by their peers, and after the degree of the offense.
22. No ecclesiastical person shall be amerced for his lay tenement, but according to the proportion of the others aforesaid, and not according to the value of his ecclesiastical benefice.
23. Neither a town nor any tenant shall be distrained to make bridges or embankments, unless that anciently and of right they are bound to do it.
24. No sheriff, constable, coroner, or other our bailiffs, shall hold "Pleas of the Crown."
25. All counties, hundreds, wapentakes, and trethings, shall stand at the old rents, without any increase, except in our demesne manors.
26. If nay one holding of us a lay fee die, and the sheriff, or our bailiffs, show our letters patent of summons for debt which the dead man die owe to us, it shall be lawful for the sheriff or our bailiff to attach and register the chattels of the dead, found upon his lay fee, to the amount of the debt, by the view of lawful men, so as nothing be removed until our whole clear debt be paid; and the rest shall be left to the executors to fulfil the testament of the dead; and if there be nothing due from his to us, all the chattels shall go to the use of the dead, saving to his wife and children their reasonable shares.
27. If any freemen shall die intestate, his chattels shall be distributed by the hands of his nearest relations and friends, by view of the Church, saving to every one his debts which the deceased owed to him.
28. No constable or bailiff of ours shall take corn or other chattels of any man unless he presently give him money for it, or hath respite of payment by the good-will of the seller.
29. No constable shall distrain any knight to give money for castle-guard, if he himself will do it in his person, or by another able man, in case he cannot do it through any reasonable cause. And if we have carried or sent him into the army, he shall be free from such guard for the time he shall be in the army by our command.
30. No sheriff or bailiff of ours, or any other, shall take horses or carts of any freeman for carriage, without the assent of the said freeman.
31. Neither shall we nor our bailiffs take any man's timber for our castles or other uses, unless by the consent of the owner of the timber.
32. We will retain the lands of those convicted of felony only one year and a day, and then they shall be delivered to the lord of the fee.
33. All kydells (wears) for the time to come shall be put down the rivers of Thames and Medway, and throughout all
34. The writ which is called praecipe, for the future, shall not be made out to any one, of any tenement, whereby a freeman may lose his court.
35. There shall be one measure of wine and one of ale through our whole realm; and one measure of corn, that is to say, the
36. NOTHING FROM HENCEFORTH SHALL BE GIVEN OR TAKEN FOR A WRIT OF INQUISITION OF LIFE OR LIMB, BUT IT SHALL BE GRANTED FREELY, AND NOT DENIED.
37. If any do hold of us by fee-farm, or by socage, or by burgage, and he hold also lands of any other by knight's service, we will not have the custody of the heir of land, which is holden of another man's fee by reason of the fee-farm, socage, or burgage; neither will we have the custody of the fee-farm, or socage, or burgage, unless a knight's service was due to us out of the same fee-farm. We will not have the custody of an heir, nor of any land which he holds of another by knight's service, by reason of any petty serjeanty by which he holds of us, by the service of paying a knife, an arrow, or the like.
38. No bailiff from henceforth shall put any man to his law upon his own bare saying, without credible witnesses to prove it.
39. NO FREEMAN SHALL BE TAKEN OR IMPRISONED, OR DISSEISED, OR OUTLAWED, OR BANISHED, OR ANY WAYS DESTROYED, NOR WILL WE PASS UPON HIM, NOR WILL WE SEND UPON HIM, UNLESS BY THE LAWFUL JUDGMENT OF HIS PEERS, OR BY THE LAW OF THE LAND.
40. WE WILL SELL TO NO MAN, WE WILL NOT DENY TO ANY MAN, EITHER JUSTICE OR RIGHT.
41. All merchants shall have safe and secure conduct, to go out of, and to come into England, and to stay there and to pass as well by land as by water, for buying and selling by the ancient and allowed customs, without any unjust tolls; except in time of war, or when they are of any nation at war with us. And if there be found any such in our land, in the beginning of the war, they shall be attached, without damage to their bodies or goods, until it be known unto us, or our chief justiciary, how our merchants be treated in the nation at war with us; and if ours be safe there, the others shall be safe in our dominions.
42. It shall be lawful, for the time to come, for any one to go out of our kingdom, and return safely and securely by land or by water, saving his allegiance to us; unless in time of war, by some short space, for the common benefit of the realm, except prisoners and outlaws, according to the law of the land, and people in war with us, and merchants who shall be treated as is above mentioned.
43. If any man hold of any escheat, as of the honour of Wallingford, Nottingham, Boulogne, Lancaster, or of other escheats which be in our hands, and are baronies, and die, his heir shall give no other relief, and perform no other service to us than he would to the baron, if it were in the baron's hand; and we will hold it after the same manner as the baron held it.
44. Those men who dwell without the forest from henceforth shall not come before our justiciaries of the forest, upon common summons, but such as are impleaded, or are sureties for any that are attached for something concerning the forest.
45. We will not make any justices, constables, sheriffs, or bailiffs, but of such as know the law of the realm and mean duly to observe it.
46. All barons who have founded abbeys, which they hold by charter from the kings of
47. All forests that have been made forests in our time shall forthwith be disforested; and the same shall be done with the water-banks that have been fenced in by us in our time.
48. All evil customs concerning forests, warrens, foresters, and warreners, sheriffs and their officers, water-banks and their keepers, shall forthwith be inquired into in each county, by twelve sworn knights of the same county, chosen by creditable persons of the same county; and within forty days after the said inquest be utterly abolished, so as never to be restored: so as we are first acquainted therewith, or our justiciary, if we should not be in England.
49. We will immediately give up all hostages and charters delivered unto us by our English subjects, as securities for their keeping the peace, and yielding us faithful service.
50. We will entirely remove from their bailiwicks the relations of Gerard de Atheyes, so that for the future they shall have no bailiwick in England; we will also remove Engelard de Cygony, Andrew, Peter, and Gyon, from the Chancery; Gyon de Cygony, Geoffrey de Martyn, and his brothers; Philip Mark, and his brothers, and his nephew, Geoffrey, and their whole retinue.
51. As soon as peace is restored, we will send out of the kingdom all foreign knights, cross-bowmen, and stipendiaries, who are come with horses and arms to the molestation of our people.
52. If any one has been dispossessed or deprived by us, without the lawful judgment of his peers, of his lands, castles, liberties, or right, we will forthwith restore them to him; and if any dispute arise upon this head, let the matter be decided by the five-and-twenty barons hereafter mentioned, for the preservation of the peace. And for all those things of which any person has, without the lawful judgment of his peers, been dispossessed or deprived, either by our father King Henry, or our brother King Richard, and which we have in our hands, or are possessed by others, and we are bound to warrant and make good, we shall have a respite till the term usually allowed the crusaders; excepting those things about which there is a plea depending, or whereof an inquest hat been made, by our order before we undertook the crusade; but as soon as we return from our expedition, or if perchance we tarry at home and do not make our expedition, we will immediately cause full justice to be administered therein.
53. The same respite we shall have, and in the same manner, about administering justice, disafforesting or letting continue the forests, which Henry our father, and our brother Richard, have afforested; and the same concerning the wardship of the lands which are in another's fee, but the wardship of which we have hitherto had, by reason of a fee held of us by knight's service; and for the abbeys founded in any other fee than our own, in which the lord of the fee says he has a right; and when we return from our expedition, or if we tarry at home, and do not make our expedition, we will immediately do full justice to all the complainants in this behalf.
54. No man shall be taken or imprisoned upon the appeal of a woman, for the death of any other than her husband.
55. All unjust and illegal fines made by us, and all amerciaments imposed unjustly and contrary to the law of the land, shall be entirely given up, or else be left to the decision of the five-and-twenty barons hereafter mentioned for the preservation of the peace, or of the major part of them, together with the aforesaid Stephen, Archbishop of Canterbury, if he can be present, and others whom he shall think fit to invite; and if he cannot be present, the business shall notwithstanding go on without him; but so that if one or more of the aforesaid five-and-twenty barons be plaintiffs in the same cause, they shall be set aside as to what concerns this particular affair, and others be chosen in their room, out of the said five-and-twenty, and sworn by the rest to decide the matter.
56. If we have disseised or dispossessed the Welsh of any lands, liberties, or other things, without the legal judgment of their peers, either in England or in Wales, they shall be immediately restored to them; and if any dispute arise upon this head, the matter shall be determined in the Marches by the judgment of their peers; for tenements in Wales according to the law of England, for tenements in Wales according to the law of Wales, for tenements of the Marches according to the law of the Marches: the same shall the Welsh do to us and our subjects.
57. As for all those things of which a Welshman hath, without the lawful judgment of his peers, been disseised or deprived of by King Henry our father, or our brother King Richard, and which we either have in our hands or others are possessed of, and we are obliged to warrant it, we shall have a respite till the time generally allowed the crusaders; excepting those things about which a suit is depending, or whereof an inquest has been made by our order, before we undertook the crusade; but when we return, or if we stay at home without performing our expedition, we will immediately do them full justice, according to the laws of the Welsh and of the parts before mentioned.
58. We will without delay dismiss the son of Llewellin, and all the Welsh hostages, and release them from the engagements they have entered into with us for the preservation of the peace.
59. We will treat with Alexander, King of Scots, concerning the restoring his sisters and hostages, and his right and liberties, in the same form and manner as we shall do the rest of our barons of England; unless by the charters which we have from his father, William, late King of Scots, it ought to be otherwise; and this shall be left to the determination of his peers in our court.
60. All the aforesaid customs and liberties, which we have granted to be holden in our kingdom, as much as it belongs to us, all people of our kingdom, as well clergy as laity, shall observe, as far as they are concerned, towards their dependents.
61. And whereas, for the honour of God and the amendment of our kingdom, and for the better quieting the discord that has arisen between us and our barons, we have granted all these things aforesaid; willing to render them firm and lasting, we do give and grant our subjects the underwritten security, namely that the barons may choose five-and-twenty barons of the kingdom, whom they think convenient; who shall take care, with all their might, to hold and observe, and cause to be observed, the peace and liberties we have granted them, and by this our present Charter confirmed in this manner; that is to say, that if we, our justiciary, our bailiffs, or any of our officers, shall in any circumstance have failed in the performance of them towards any person, or shall have broken through any of theses articles of peace and security, and the offense be notified to four barons chosen out of the five-and-twenty before mentioned, the said four barons shall repair to us, or our justiciary, if we are out of the realm, and, laying open the grievance, shall petition to have it redressed without delay: and if it be not redressed by us, or if we should chance to be out of the realm, if it should not be redressed by our justiciary within forty days, reckoning from the time it has been notified to us, or to our justiciary (if we should be out of the realm), the four barons aforesaid shall lay the cause before the rest of the five-and-twenty barons; and the said five-and-twenty barons, together with the community of the whole kingdom, shall distrain and distress us in all the ways in which they shall be able, by seizing our castles, lands, possessions, and in any other manner they can, till the grievance is redressed, according to their pleasure; saving harmless our own persona, and the persons or our Queen and children; and when it is redressed, they shall behave to us as before. And any person whatsoever in the kingdom may swear that he will obey the orders of the five-and-twenty barons aforesaid in the execution of the premises, and will distress us, jointly with them, to the utmost of his power; and we give public and free liberty to any one that shall please to swear to this, and never will hinder any person from taking the same oath.
62. As for all those of our subjects who will not, of their own accord, swear to join the five-and-twenty barons in distraining and distressing us, we will issue orders to make them take the same oath as aforesaid. And if any one of the five-and-twenty barons dies, or goes out of the kingdom, or is hindered any other way from carrying the things aforesaid into execution, the rest of the said five-and-twenty barons may choose another in his room, at their discretion, who shall be sworn in like manner as the rest. In all things that are committed to the execution of these five-and-twenty barons, if, when they are all assembled together, they should happen to disagree about any matter, and some of them, when summoned, will not or cannot come, whatever is agreed upon, or enjoined, by the major part of those that are present shall be reputed as firm and valid as if all the five-and-twenty had given their consent; and the aforesaid five-and-twenty shall swear that all the premises they shall faithfully observe, and cause with all their power to be observed. And we will procure nothing from any one, by ourselves nor by another, whereby any of these concessions and liberties may be revoked or lessened; and if any such thing shall have been obtained, let it be null and void; neither will we ever make use of it either by ourselves of any other. And all the ill-will, indignations, and rancours that have arisen between us and our subjects, of the clergy and laity, from the first breaking out of the dissensions between us, we do fully remit and forgive: moreover, all trespasses occasioned by the said dissensions, from Easter in the sixteenth year of our reign till the restoration of peace and tranquillity, we hereby entirely remit to all, both clergy and laity, and as far as in us lies do fully forgive. We have, moreover, cause to be made for them the letters patent testimonial of Stephen, Lord Archbishop of
63. Wherefore we will and firmly enjoin, that the Church of England be free, and that all men in our kingdom have and hold all the aforesaid liberties, rights, and concessions, truly and peaceably, freely and quietly, fully and wholly to themselves and their heirs, of us and our heirs, in all things and places, for ever, as is aforesaid. It is also sworn, as well on our part as on the part of the barons, that all the things aforesaid shall be observed in good faith, and without evil subtilty. Given under our hand, in the presence of the witnesses above named, and many others, in the meadow called Runingmede, between
The Magna Carta
The Magna Carta
Why was the Magna Carta written? What was the purpose of the Magna Carta? To acknowledge that the King and all other government officials were subject to a higher law that even they must obey."...here is a law which is above the King and which even he must not break. This reaffirmation of a
supreme law and its expression in a general charter is the great work of Magna Carta; and this alone
justifies the respect in which men have held it."
supreme law and its expression in a general charter is the great work of Magna Carta; and this alone
justifies the respect in which men have held it."
Winston Churchill
King John of England agreed in 1215 to the demands of his barons and authorized that handwritten copies of Magna Carta be prepared on parchment, affixed with his seal, and publicly read throughout the realm. Thus he bound not only himself but his "heirs, for ever" to grant "to all freemen of our kingdom" the rights and liberties the great charter described. With Magna Carta, King John placed himself and When Englishmen left their homeland to establish colonies in the New World , they brought with them charters guaranteeing that they and their heirs would "have and enjoy all liberties and immunities of free and natural subjects." Scant generations later, when these American colonists raised arms against their mother country, they were fighting not for new freedoms but to preserve liberties that dated to the 13th century.
When representatives of the young republic of the United States
This heritage is most clearly apparent in our Bill of Rights. The fifth amendment guarantees:
No person shall...be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law
No person shall...be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law
Written 575 years earlier, Magna Carta declares:
No freeman shall be taken, imprisoned,...or in any other way destroyed...except by the lawful judgment of his peers, or by the law of the land. To no one will we sell, to none will we deny or delay, right or justice.
No freeman shall be taken, imprisoned,...or in any other way destroyed...except by the lawful judgment of his peers, or by the law of the land. To no one will we sell, to none will we deny or delay, right or justice.
The importance of the Magna Carta cannot be overstated. In 1957 the American Bar Association acknowledged the debt American law and constitutionalism had to Magna Carta and English common law by erecting a monument at Runnymede . Yet, as close as Magna Carta and American concepts of liberty are, they remain distinct. Magna Carta is a charter of ancient liberties guaranteed by a king to his subjects; the Constitution of the United States
"Magna Carta and Its American Legacy" provides a more in-depth look at the history of Magna Carta and the influence it had on American constitutionalism.
MAGNA CARTA
OR
THE GREAT CHARTER OF KING JOHN,
OR
THE GREAT CHARTER OF KING JOHN,
GRANTED JUNE 15, A.D., 1215.
JOHN, by the Grace of God, King of England, Lord of Ireland, Duke of Normandy, Aquitaine, and Count of Anjou, to his Archbishops, Bishops, Abbots, Earls, Barons, Justiciaries, Foresters, Sheriffs, Governors, Officers, and to all Bailiffs, and his faithful subjects, greeting. Know ye, that we, in the presence of God, and for the salvation of our soul, and the souls of all our ancestors and heirs, and unto the honour of God and the advancement of Holy Church, and amendment of our Realm, 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; Jocelin, of bath and Glastonbury; Hugh, of Lincoln; Walter, of Worcester; William, of Coventry; Benedict, of Rochester—Bishops: of Master Pandulph, Sub-Deacon and Familiar of our Lord the Pope; Brother Aymeric, Master of the Knights-Templars in England; and of the noble Persons, William Marescall, Earl of Pembroke; William, Earl of Salisbury; William, Earl of Warren; William, Earl of Arundel; Alan de Galloway, Constable of Scotland; Warin FitzGerald, Peter FitzHerbert, and Hubert de Burgh, Seneschal of Poitou; Hugh de Neville, Matthew FitzHerbert, Thomas Basset, Alan Basset, Philip of Albiney, Robert de Roppell, John Mareschal, John FitzHugh, and others, our liegemen, have, in the first place, granted to God, and by this our present Charter confirmed, for us and our heirs for ever:—1. That the Church of England shall be free, and have her whole rights, and her liberties inviolable; and we will have them so observed, that it may appear thence that the freedom of elections, which is reckoned chief and indispensable to the English Church, and which we granted and confirmed by our Charter, and obtained the confirmation of the same from our Lord the Pope Innocent III, before the discord between us and our barons, was granted of mere free will; which Charter we shall observe, and we do will it to be faithfully observed by our heirs for ever.
2. We also have granted to all the freemen of our kingdom, for us and for our heirs for ever, all the underwritten liberties, to be had and holden by them and their heirs, of us and our heirs for ever: If any of our earls, or barons, or others, who hold of us in chief by military service, shall die, and at the time of his death his heir shall be of full age, and owe a relief, he shall have his inheritance by the ancient relief—that is to say, the heir or heirs of an earl, for a whole earldom, by a hundred pounds; the heir or heirs of a baron, for a whole barony, by a hundred pounds; the heir or heirs of a knight, for a whole knight's free, by a hundred shillings at most; and whoever oweth less shall give less, according to the ancient custom of fees.
3. But if the heir of any such shall be under age, and shall be in ward, when he comes of age he shall have his inheritance without relief and without fine.
4. The keeper of the land of such an heir being under age, shall take of the land of the heir none but reasonable issues, reasonable customs, and reasonable services, and that without destruction and waste of his men and his goods; and if we commit the custody of any such lands to the sheriff, or any other who is answerable to us for the issues of the land, and he shall make destruction and waste of the lands which he hath in custody, we will take of him amends, and the land shall be committed to two lawful and discreet men of that fee, who shall answer for the issued to us, or to him to whom we shall assign them; and if we sell or give to any one the custody of any such lands, and he therein make destruction or waste, he shall lose the same custody, which shall be committed to two lawful and discreet men of that fee, who shall in like manner answer to us as aforesaid.
5. But the keeper, so long as he shall have the custody of the land, shall keep up the houses, parks, warrens, ponds, mills, and other things pertaining to the land, out of the issues of the same land; and shall deliver to the heir, when he comes of full age, his whole land, stocked with ploughs and carriages, according as the time of wainage shall require, and the issues of the land can reasonably bear.
6. Heirs shall be married with disparagement, and so that before matrimony shall be contracted, those who are near in blood to the heir shall have notice.
7. A widow, after the death of her husband, shall forthwith and without difficulty have her marriage and inheritance; nor shall she give anything for her dower, or her marriage, or her inheritance, which her husband and she held at the day of his death; and she may remain in the mansion house of her husband forty days after his death, within which time her dower shall be assigned.
8. No widow shall be distrained to marry herself, so long as she has a mind to live without a husband; but yet she shall give security that she will not marry without our assent, if she hold of us; or without the consent of the lord of whom she holds, if she hold of another.
9. Neither we nor our bailiffs shall seize any land or rent for any debt so long as the chattels of the debtor are sufficient to pay the debt; nor shall the sureties of the debtor be distrained so long as the principal debtor has sufficient to pay the debt; and if the principal debtor shall fail in the payment of the debt, not having wherewithal to pay it, then the sureties shall answer the debt; and if they will they shall have the lands and rents of the debtor, until they shall be satisfied for the debt which they paid for him, unless the principal debtor can show himself acquitted thereof against the said sureties.
10. If any one have borrowed anything of the Jews, more or less, and die before the debt be satisfied, there shall be no interest paid for that debt, so long as the heir is under ages, of whomsoever he may hold; and if the debt falls into our hands, we will only take the chattel mentioned in the deed.
11. And if any one shall die indebted to the Jews, his wife shall have her dower and pay nothing of that debt; and if the deceased left children under age, they shall have necessaries provided for them, according to the tenement of the deceased; and out of the residue the debt shall be paid, saving, however, the service due to the lords, and in like manner shall it be done touching debts due to other than the Jews.
12. NO SCUTAGE OR AID SHALL BE IMPOSED IN OUR KINGDOM, UNLESS BY THE GENERAL COUNCIL OF OUR KINGDOM; except for ransoming our person, making our eldest son a knight and once for marrying our eldest daughter; and for these there shall be paid no more than a reasonable aid. In like manner it shall be concerning the aids of the City of
13. And the City of
14. AND FOR HOLDING THE GENERAL COUNCIL OF THE KINGDOM CONCERNING THE ASSESSMENT OF AIDS, EXCEPTS IN THE THREE CASES AFORESAID, AND FOR THE ASSESSING OF SCUTAGES, WE SHALL CAUSE TO BE SUMMONED THE ARCHBISHOPS, BISHOPS, ABBOTS, EARLS, AND GREATER BARONS OF THE REALM, SINGLY BY OUR LETTERS. AND FURTHERMORE, WE SHALL CAUSE TO BE SUMMONED GENERALLY, BY OUR SHERIFFS AND BAILIFFS, ALL OTHERS WHO HOLD OF US IN CHIEF, FOR A CERTAIN DAY, THAT IS TO SAY, FORTY DAYS BEFORE THEIR MEETING AT LEAST, AND TO A CERTAIN PLACE; AND IN ALL LETTERS OF SUCH SUMMONS WE WILL DECLARE THE CAUSE OF SUCH SUMMONS. AND SUMMONS BEING THUS MADE, THE BUSINESS SHALL PROCEED ON THE DAY APPOINTED, ACCORDING TO THE ADVICE OF SUCH AS SHALL BE PRESENT, ALTHOUGH ALL THAT WERE SUMMONED COME NOT.
15. We will not for the future grant to any one that he may take aid of his own free tenants, unless to ransom his body, and to make his eldest son a knight, and once to marry his eldest daughter; and for this there shall be only paid a reasonable aid.
16. No man shall be distrained to perform more service for a knight's fee, or other free tenement, than is due from thence.
17. Common pleas shall not follow our court, but shall be holden in some place certain.
18. Trials upon the Writs of Novel Disseisin, and of Mort d'ancestor, and of Darrein Presentment, shall not be taken but in their proper counties, and after this manner: We, or if we should be out of the realm, our chief justiciary, will send two justiciaries through every county four times a year, who, with four knights of each county, chosen by the county, shall hold the said assizes in the county, on the day, and at the place appointed.
19. And if any matters cannot be determined on the day appointed for holding the assizes in each county, so many of the knights and freeholders as have been at the assizes aforesaid shall stay to decide them as is necessary, according as there is more or less business.
20. A freeman shall not be amerced for a small offence, but only according to the degree of the offense; and for a great crime according to the heinousness of it, saving to him his contenement; and after the same manner a merchant, saving to him his merchandise. And a villein shall be amerced after the same manner, saving to him his wainage, if he falls under our mercy; and none of the aforesaid amerciaments shall be assessed but by the oath of honest men in the neighbourhood.
21. Earls and barons shall not be amerced but by their peers, and after the degree of the offense.
22. No ecclesiastical person shall be amerced for his lay tenement, but according to the proportion of the others aforesaid, and not according to the value of his ecclesiastical benefice.
23. Neither a town nor any tenant shall be distrained to make bridges or embankments, unless that anciently and of right they are bound to do it.
24. No sheriff, constable, coroner, or other our bailiffs, shall hold "Pleas of the Crown."
25. All counties, hundreds, wapentakes, and trethings, shall stand at the old rents, without any increase, except in our demesne manors.
26. If nay one holding of us a lay fee die, and the sheriff, or our bailiffs, show our letters patent of summons for debt which the dead man die owe to us, it shall be lawful for the sheriff or our bailiff to attach and register the chattels of the dead, found upon his lay fee, to the amount of the debt, by the view of lawful men, so as nothing be removed until our whole clear debt be paid; and the rest shall be left to the executors to fulfil the testament of the dead; and if there be nothing due from his to us, all the chattels shall go to the use of the dead, saving to his wife and children their reasonable shares.
27. If any freemen shall die intestate, his chattels shall be distributed by the hands of his nearest relations and friends, by view of the Church, saving to every one his debts which the deceased owed to him.
28. No constable or bailiff of ours shall take corn or other chattels of any man unless he presently give him money for it, or hath respite of payment by the good-will of the seller.
29. No constable shall distrain any knight to give money for castle-guard, if he himself will do it in his person, or by another able man, in case he cannot do it through any reasonable cause. And if we have carried or sent him into the army, he shall be free from such guard for the time he shall be in the army by our command.
30. No sheriff or bailiff of ours, or any other, shall take horses or carts of any freeman for carriage, without the assent of the said freeman.
31. Neither shall we nor our bailiffs take any man's timber for our castles or other uses, unless by the consent of the owner of the timber.
32. We will retain the lands of those convicted of felony only one year and a day, and then they shall be delivered to the lord of the fee.
33. All kydells (wears) for the time to come shall be put down the rivers of Thames and Medway, and throughout all
34. The writ which is called praecipe, for the future, shall not be made out to any one, of any tenement, whereby a freeman may lose his court.
35. There shall be one measure of wine and one of ale through our whole realm; and one measure of corn, that is to say, the
36. NOTHING FROM HENCEFORTH SHALL BE GIVEN OR TAKEN FOR A WRIT OF INQUISITION OF LIFE OR LIMB, BUT IT SHALL BE GRANTED FREELY, AND NOT DENIED.
37. If any do hold of us by fee-farm, or by socage, or by burgage, and he hold also lands of any other by knight's service, we will not have the custody of the heir of land, which is holden of another man's fee by reason of the fee-farm, socage, or burgage; neither will we have the custody of the fee-farm, or socage, or burgage, unless a knight's service was due to us out of the same fee-farm. We will not have the custody of an heir, nor of any land which he holds of another by knight's service, by reason of any petty serjeanty by which he holds of us, by the service of paying a knife, an arrow, or the like.
38. No bailiff from henceforth shall put any man to his law upon his own bare saying, without credible witnesses to prove it.
39. NO FREEMAN SHALL BE TAKEN OR IMPRISONED, OR DISSEISED, OR OUTLAWED, OR BANISHED, OR ANY WAYS DESTROYED, NOR WILL WE PASS UPON HIM, NOR WILL WE SEND UPON HIM, UNLESS BY THE LAWFUL JUDGMENT OF HIS PEERS, OR BY THE LAW OF THE LAND.
40. WE WILL SELL TO NO MAN, WE WILL NOT DENY TO ANY MAN, EITHER JUSTICE OR RIGHT.
41. All merchants shall have safe and secure conduct, to go out of, and to come into England, and to stay there and to pass as well by land as by water, for buying and selling by the ancient and allowed customs, without any unjust tolls; except in time of war, or when they are of any nation at war with us. And if there be found any such in our land, in the beginning of the war, they shall be attached, without damage to their bodies or goods, until it be known unto us, or our chief justiciary, how our merchants be treated in the nation at war with us; and if ours be safe there, the others shall be safe in our dominions.
42. It shall be lawful, for the time to come, for any one to go out of our kingdom, and return safely and securely by land or by water, saving his allegiance to us; unless in time of war, by some short space, for the common benefit of the realm, except prisoners and outlaws, according to the law of the land, and people in war with us, and merchants who shall be treated as is above mentioned.
43. If any man hold of any escheat, as of the honour of Wallingford, Nottingham, Boulogne, Lancaster, or of other escheats which be in our hands, and are baronies, and die, his heir shall give no other relief, and perform no other service to us than he would to the baron, if it were in the baron's hand; and we will hold it after the same manner as the baron held it.
44. Those men who dwell without the forest from henceforth shall not come before our justiciaries of the forest, upon common summons, but such as are impleaded, or are sureties for any that are attached for something concerning the forest.
45. We will not make any justices, constables, sheriffs, or bailiffs, but of such as know the law of the realm and mean duly to observe it.
46. All barons who have founded abbeys, which they hold by charter from the kings of
47. All forests that have been made forests in our time shall forthwith be disforested; and the same shall be done with the water-banks that have been fenced in by us in our time.
48. All evil customs concerning forests, warrens, foresters, and warreners, sheriffs and their officers, water-banks and their keepers, shall forthwith be inquired into in each county, by twelve sworn knights of the same county, chosen by creditable persons of the same county; and within forty days after the said inquest be utterly abolished, so as never to be restored: so as we are first acquainted therewith, or our justiciary, if we should not be in England.
49. We will immediately give up all hostages and charters delivered unto us by our English subjects, as securities for their keeping the peace, and yielding us faithful service.
50. We will entirely remove from their bailiwicks the relations of Gerard de Atheyes, so that for the future they shall have no bailiwick in England; we will also remove Engelard de Cygony, Andrew, Peter, and Gyon, from the Chancery; Gyon de Cygony, Geoffrey de Martyn, and his brothers; Philip Mark, and his brothers, and his nephew, Geoffrey, and their whole retinue.
51. As soon as peace is restored, we will send out of the kingdom all foreign knights, cross-bowmen, and stipendiaries, who are come with horses and arms to the molestation of our people.
52. If any one has been dispossessed or deprived by us, without the lawful judgment of his peers, of his lands, castles, liberties, or right, we will forthwith restore them to him; and if any dispute arise upon this head, let the matter be decided by the five-and-twenty barons hereafter mentioned, for the preservation of the peace. And for all those things of which any person has, without the lawful judgment of his peers, been dispossessed or deprived, either by our father King Henry, or our brother King Richard, and which we have in our hands, or are possessed by others, and we are bound to warrant and make good, we shall have a respite till the term usually allowed the crusaders; excepting those things about which there is a plea depending, or whereof an inquest hat been made, by our order before we undertook the crusade; but as soon as we return from our expedition, or if perchance we tarry at home and do not make our expedition, we will immediately cause full justice to be administered therein.
53. The same respite we shall have, and in the same manner, about administering justice, disafforesting or letting continue the forests, which Henry our father, and our brother Richard, have afforested; and the same concerning the wardship of the lands which are in another's fee, but the wardship of which we have hitherto had, by reason of a fee held of us by knight's service; and for the abbeys founded in any other fee than our own, in which the lord of the fee says he has a right; and when we return from our expedition, or if we tarry at home, and do not make our expedition, we will immediately do full justice to all the complainants in this behalf.
54. No man shall be taken or imprisoned upon the appeal of a woman, for the death of any other than her husband.
55. All unjust and illegal fines made by us, and all amerciaments imposed unjustly and contrary to the law of the land, shall be entirely given up, or else be left to the decision of the five-and-twenty barons hereafter mentioned for the preservation of the peace, or of the major part of them, together with the aforesaid Stephen, Archbishop of Canterbury, if he can be present, and others whom he shall think fit to invite; and if he cannot be present, the business shall notwithstanding go on without him; but so that if one or more of the aforesaid five-and-twenty barons be plaintiffs in the same cause, they shall be set aside as to what concerns this particular affair, and others be chosen in their room, out of the said five-and-twenty, and sworn by the rest to decide the matter.
56. If we have disseised or dispossessed the Welsh of any lands, liberties, or other things, without the legal judgment of their peers, either in England or in Wales, they shall be immediately restored to them; and if any dispute arise upon this head, the matter shall be determined in the Marches by the judgment of their peers; for tenements in Wales according to the law of England, for tenements in Wales according to the law of Wales, for tenements of the Marches according to the law of the Marches: the same shall the Welsh do to us and our subjects.
57. As for all those things of which a Welshman hath, without the lawful judgment of his peers, been disseised or deprived of by King Henry our father, or our brother King Richard, and which we either have in our hands or others are possessed of, and we are obliged to warrant it, we shall have a respite till the time generally allowed the crusaders; excepting those things about which a suit is depending, or whereof an inquest has been made by our order, before we undertook the crusade; but when we return, or if we stay at home without performing our expedition, we will immediately do them full justice, according to the laws of the Welsh and of the parts before mentioned.
58. We will without delay dismiss the son of Llewellin, and all the Welsh hostages, and release them from the engagements they have entered into with us for the preservation of the peace.
59. We will treat with Alexander, King of Scots, concerning the restoring his sisters and hostages, and his right and liberties, in the same form and manner as we shall do the rest of our barons of England; unless by the charters which we have from his father, William, late King of Scots, it ought to be otherwise; and this shall be left to the determination of his peers in our court.
60. All the aforesaid customs and liberties, which we have granted to be holden in our kingdom, as much as it belongs to us, all people of our kingdom, as well clergy as laity, shall observe, as far as they are concerned, towards their dependents.
61. And whereas, for the honour of God and the amendment of our kingdom, and for the better quieting the discord that has arisen between us and our barons, we have granted all these things aforesaid; willing to render them firm and lasting, we do give and grant our subjects the underwritten security, namely that the barons may choose five-and-twenty barons of the kingdom, whom they think convenient; who shall take care, with all their might, to hold and observe, and cause to be observed, the peace and liberties we have granted them, and by this our present Charter confirmed in this manner; that is to say, that if we, our justiciary, our bailiffs, or any of our officers, shall in any circumstance have failed in the performance of them towards any person, or shall have broken through any of theses articles of peace and security, and the offense be notified to four barons chosen out of the five-and-twenty before mentioned, the said four barons shall repair to us, or our justiciary, if we are out of the realm, and, laying open the grievance, shall petition to have it redressed without delay: and if it be not redressed by us, or if we should chance to be out of the realm, if it should not be redressed by our justiciary within forty days, reckoning from the time it has been notified to us, or to our justiciary (if we should be out of the realm), the four barons aforesaid shall lay the cause before the rest of the five-and-twenty barons; and the said five-and-twenty barons, together with the community of the whole kingdom, shall distrain and distress us in all the ways in which they shall be able, by seizing our castles, lands, possessions, and in any other manner they can, till the grievance is redressed, according to their pleasure; saving harmless our own persona, and the persons or our Queen and children; and when it is redressed, they shall behave to us as before. And any person whatsoever in the kingdom may swear that he will obey the orders of the five-and-twenty barons aforesaid in the execution of the premises, and will distress us, jointly with them, to the utmost of his power; and we give public and free liberty to any one that shall please to swear to this, and never will hinder any person from taking the same oath.
62. As for all those of our subjects who will not, of their own accord, swear to join the five-and-twenty barons in distraining and distressing us, we will issue orders to make them take the same oath as aforesaid. And if any one of the five-and-twenty barons dies, or goes out of the kingdom, or is hindered any other way from carrying the things aforesaid into execution, the rest of the said five-and-twenty barons may choose another in his room, at their discretion, who shall be sworn in like manner as the rest. In all things that are committed to the execution of these five-and-twenty barons, if, when they are all assembled together, they should happen to disagree about any matter, and some of them, when summoned, will not or cannot come, whatever is agreed upon, or enjoined, by the major part of those that are present shall be reputed as firm and valid as if all the five-and-twenty had given their consent; and the aforesaid five-and-twenty shall swear that all the premises they shall faithfully observe, and cause with all their power to be observed. And we will procure nothing from any one, by ourselves nor by another, whereby any of these concessions and liberties may be revoked or lessened; and if any such thing shall have been obtained, let it be null and void; neither will we ever make use of it either by ourselves of any other. And all the ill-will, indignations, and rancours that have arisen between us and our subjects, of the clergy and laity, from the first breaking out of the dissensions between us, we do fully remit and forgive: moreover, all trespasses occasioned by the said dissensions, from Easter in the sixteenth year of our reign till the restoration of peace and tranquillity, we hereby entirely remit to all, both clergy and laity, and as far as in us lies do fully forgive. We have, moreover, cause to be made for them the letters patent testimonial of Stephen, Lord Archbishop of
63. Wherefore we will and firmly enjoin, that the Church of England be free, and that all men in our kingdom have and hold all the aforesaid liberties, rights, and concessions, truly and peaceably, freely and quietly, fully and wholly to themselves and their heirs, of us and our heirs, in all things and places, for ever, as is aforesaid. It is also sworn, as well on our part as on the part of the barons, that all the things aforesaid shall be observed in good faith, and without evil subtilty. Given under our hand, in the presence of the witnesses above named, and many others, in the meadow called Runingmede, between
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