Magna Carta and Natural Justice

Lincoln

NOTHING SPECIFIC ON:

Democracy

Parliament

Trial by Jury

Presumption of Innocence

‘Habeas Corpus’

‘Liberty’ (in the sense of ‘Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness’)

ALARMING ON

Women, Jews, Foreigners, Peasants

1. We have first of all granted to God, and by this

our present charter confirmed, for ourselves and

our heirs in perpetuity, that the English Church is

to be free, and to have its full rights and its

liberties intact

13. The city of London is to have all its ancient liberties and free customs, both on land and water. Moreover we wish and grant that all other cities, boroughs, towns and ports are to have all their liberties and free customs

50 We will remove entirely the kinsmen of Gerard d’Athée from their bailiwicks, so that in future they may hold no bailiwick in England, [namely] Engelard de Cigogné, Peter, Guy and Andrew de Chanceaux, Guy de Cigogné, Geoffrey de Martigny and his brothers, Philip Marc, his brothers, and Geoffrey his nephew, and the whole of their brood.

51 And immediately after the restoration of peace we will remove from the kingdom all foreign knights, crossbowmen, serjeants and mercenaries, who have come with horses and arms to the detriment of the kingdom.

The Exchequer

27 July 1214

Lincoln

39. No free man will be taken or imprisoned or

disseised (i.e. deprived of property) or outlawed

or exiled or in any way ruined, nor shall we go or

send against him, save by the lawful judgement

of his peers and by the law of the land.

40. To no one shall we sell, to no one shall we

deny or delay right or justice.

33 All fish-weirs are in future to be entirely

removed from the Thames and the Medway, and

throughout the whole of England, except on the

sea-coast.

47 All the forests which have been afforested during our reign are to be disafforested immediately, and the same is to be done with regard to rivers which have been fenced off by us in our time.

Forest Charter 1217 (1225)

Peter Linebaugh, The Magna Carta Manifesto

(University of California Press, 2008)

[11] Any archbishop, bishop, earl or baron whatever who passes

through our forest shall be allowed to take one or two beasts

under the supervision of the forester, if he is to hand; but if not,

let him have the horn blown, lest he seem to be doing it furtively.

[12] Every free man may henceforth without being prosecuted

make in his wood or in land he has in the forest a mill, a preserve,

a pond, a marl-pit, a ditch, or arable outside the covert in arable

land, on condition that it does not harm any neighbour.

[13] Every free man shall have the eyries of hawks,

sparrowhawks, falcons, eagles and herons in his woods, and

likewise honey found in his woods.

20. A free man is not to be amerced for a small offence

except in proportion to the nature of the offence, and for

a great offence he is to be amerced in accordance with

its magnitude, saving to him his livelihood, and a

merchant in the same manner, saving to him his stock

in trade, and a villein is to be amerced in the same

manner, saving to him his growing crops, if they fall

into our mercy. And none of the aforesaid amercements

is to be imposed except by the oath of trustworthy men

of the vicinity.

40. To no one shall we sell, to no one

shall we deny or delay right or justice.