MAGNA CHARTA, 1215.

The Great Charter of English Liberties, which, for nearly seven centuries, has been the foundation of the free institutions we now enjoy, may appropriately be given the place of honor among historic documents intended to enable foreigners to acquire information concerning the principles which underlie and regulate the government of the United States. Many books have been written on Magna Charta, and it has been a fruitful source of speculation and discussion, and the occasion of the most profound study and research. It has engaged the attention of great jurists like Blackstone and Coke, and of statesmen, historians, and essayists almost without number. It possesses a fascinating interest which cannot fail to arouse the enthusiasm of every thoughtful student of political and social institutions. It is not my purpose to present here a history of Magna Charta, but it seems proper to refer to a few facts which may be of interest to the reader as a prelude to the document itself.

It is a matter of common knowledge that the Charter was granted by King John as the result of a long controversy between himself and the barons of England, involving royal encroachments on one side, and on the other numerous and comprehensive demands for a larger measure of popular liberty. While these demands were presented and enforced by the barons, they were sustained by the people themselves, and the barons were only the instruments or agents of the people in procuring the liberties guaranteed by the Charter. Without going into detail concerning the protracted negotiations between the King and the barons, it is sufficient to say here that soon after Easter, in the year 1215, the barons presented to the King their demands in the form of articles, to which they

required the King's assent. These Articles are given below, preceding the Charter. While they were in complete form, they were apparently intended only as a rough draft or as heads for a charter. The King rejected the Articles, and refused to accede to the demands made by the barons. The barons thereupon declared war, and marched upon London, arriving there May 24, 1215. Events hastened rapidly, and on the 5th of June, 1215, the King by appointment met the barons at Runnymede (council meadow), a large tract of meadow land between Staines and Windsor, and here, on the 15th, granted the Great Charter which had been prepared by the barons and was there presented to the King. It amplified and stated in more elaborate language the demands contained in the Articles. The Articles and the Charter are preserved in the British Museum in London.

It seems that several copies or drafts of the Charter were made at or about the time it was granted, and there appear to be some differences in these copies. The English Record Commission, which was charged, among other things, with the duty of examining early English documents and records, in the appendix to its report submitted to Parliament June 2, 1812, gives an interesting account of its researches in connection with the great charters of England, and it is there stated that a subcommission visited every place where it appeared that any of the ancient records were preserved. The commissioners say that they have published all the charters, and that the collection thus presented is as complete as the most careful examination could produce, and much more complete than any other which had then been published, not excepting Sir William Blackstone's collection, which the commissioners say was imperfect in several particulars. The commissioners express the opinion that the charter

found in Lincoln Cathedral is the most authentic. I quote from the report:

"In Lincoln Cathedral, an original of the Great Charter of Liberties, granted by King John, in the seventeenth year of his reign, is preserved in a perfect state. This Charter appears to be of superior authority to either of the two Charters of the same date, preserved in the British Museum. From the contemporary indorsement and the word Lincolnia on the folds of the Charter, this may be presumed to be the Charter transmitted by the hands of Hugh, the then Bishop of Lincoln, who is one of the Bishops named in the introductory clause; it is observable that several words and sentences are inserted in the body of this Charter, which, in both the Charters preserved in the British Museum, are added by way of notes for amendment, at the bottom of the Instrument."

Mr. Richard Thomson, an eminent English antiquary, who published an exhaustive work on Magna Charta in 1829 under the patronage of the Earl of Spencer, follows the Commission. On these authorities, including the opinion of the Record Commission, which is official, I am justified, I think, in using the Lincoln draft in this work, and have therefore adopted Mr. Thomson's translation of the Articles and of the Charter.

TRANSLATION OF THE ARTICLES

OF THE

GREAT CHARTER OF LIBERTIES,

UNDER THE

SEAL OF KING JOHN.

[The Roman numerals which are placed against each of the following articles divide them into forty-nine distinct heads, for the convenience of reference. The Arabic figures, which are also placed at the commencement of each article, refer to that chapter of King John's Great Charter in which the contents of every division are to be found. The same rule is also to be observed in the numbers of reference, from the Charter back to the original Articles.]

These are the particulars of what the Barons petition, and our Lord the King grants.

I. (2) After the death of an Ancestor, the Heir of full age shall have his inheritance by the ancient Relief, as expressed in the Charter.

II. (3) An Heir who is under age, and who is in guardianship, when he comes to age shall have his inheritance without Relief or Fine.

III. (4) The Keeper of an Heir's land shall take only reasonable issues, customs, and services, without destruction or waste of the men or goods; and if the Keeper of such land shall make destruction or waste, he shall be dismissed from that guardianship; (5) and the Keeper shall maintain the houses, parks, fish-ponds, mills, and other things which belong to the land, or to the rents thereof; (6) and that Heirs shall be married without disparagement, so that it be by the advice of them that are nearest of kin.

IV. (7) No Widow shall give any thing for her Dower or Marriage, after the decease of her husband: but she may remain within his house for forty days after

his death; and within that term they shall be assigned her, and she shall have in the same place her Dower, and her Marriage-portion, and her Inheritance.

V. (9) The King nor his Bailiffs shall not seize upon any land for debt while there are sufficient goods of the Debtor's; nor shall the Securities of a Debtor be distressed, so long as the principal Debtor be solvent: but if the principal Debtor fail in payment, the Securities, if they be willing, shall have the lands of the Debtor until they shall be repaid; unless the principal Debtor can show himself to be acquitted thereof from the Securities.

VI. (15) The King shall not grant to any of his Barons, that he shall take aid of his Free-men, unless it be for the redeeming of his own body, for the making of his eldest son a Knight, and once for marrying his eldest daughter; and this shall be done by a reasonable aid.

VII. (16) No one shall do more service for a Knight's-fee than that which is due from thence.

VIII. (17, 18) That Common Pleas shall not follow the Court of our Lord the King, but shall be assigned to any certain place; and that recognitions shall be taken in their same Counties in this manner: that the King shall send two Justiciaries four times in the year, who, with four Knights of the same County, elected by the people thereof, shall hold Assizes of Novel Disseisin, Morte d'Ancestre, and Last Presentation; nor shall any be summoned for this, unless they be Jurors, or of the two parties.

IX. (20) That a Free-man shall be amerced for a small fault according to the degree of the fault; and for a greater crime according to it's magnitude, saving to him his Contenement; a Villian also shall be amerced in the same manner, saving his Wainage; and a Merchant