MAGNA CHARTA, klietet, or GREAT CHAR TER. The famous document granted by King John of England to the barons in 1215, and viewed by after ages as the basis of English liberties. The oppressions and exactions of a tyranni cal sovereign called into existence a confed eracy of the barons, or tenants-in-chief, of the Crown, who took up arms for the re dress of their grievances. Their demands were based on the charter voluntarily granted by HenrY I. at his accession in 1100, but added to this was a long list of demands for the re moval of royal abuses or exactions which had come into existence since that time, or which had not been mentioned in that document. Atter several interchanges of messages a conference between the sovereign and the barons was held at Runnymede, near Windsor. King and barons encamped opposite each other; and after several days' debate John signed and sealed the charter with great solemnity on June 15, 1215. See. ENGLAND; JOHN.
The Great Charter reared up a barrier against the abuse of the royal by a series of provisions for the protection of the rights and obligations of the feudal proprietor. It redressed a variety of grievances connected with feudal tenures, some of them HOW so long ob solete as to be with difficulty intelligible. There are minute provisions regarding the relief of heirs, wardship and marriage of heirs and heir esses, and marriage of the widows of tenants in-chief. No scutage or aid is to be imposed without the authority of the common council of the Kingdom, except on the three great feudal occasions, of the King's captivity, the knighting of his eldest son, and the marriage of his eldest daughter. The liberties of the city of London and of other towns, boroughs, and ports are de dared inviolable. Freedom of commerce is guar anteed to foreign merchants. Justice is no longer to be sold, denied, or delayed. The Court of Common Pleas, instead of, as formerly. follow ing the King's person in all his progresses. is to he permanently fixed at Westminster; assizes are to be held in the several counties, and annual circuits are established. Reffulations are made for the efficiency of the inferior courts of jus tice. The protection of life, liberty, and prop erty from arbitrary spoliations is the most im portant feature of the charter. "No freeman shall be taken or imprisoned. or be disseized of his freehold. or liberties or free customs. or he otherwise damaged, nor will we pass upon him nor send upon him, but by lawful judgment of his peers, or by the law of the land"—a pro vision which recognized a popular tribunal as a cheek on the official judges. and may be looked
on as the foundation of the writ of habeas corpus. No one is to be indicted on rumors or suspicion, but only on the evidence of witnesses. Protection is afforded against excessive amerce meats, illegal distresses, and various processes for debts and services due to the Crown. The fines imposed are in all cases to be proportioned to the magnitude of the offense, and even the villein or rustic is not to be deprived of his necessary chattels. There are provisions regard ing the forfeiture of lands for felony. Abuses connected with the royal forests were abolished by several provisions which were of so great importance as to lead to an incorrect statement by contemporary writers that a separate forest charter was granted. The independence of the Church is also provided for.
These are the most important features of that charter which occupies so conspicuous a place in history, and which establishes the supremacy of the law of England over the will of the monarch. From a distinctly constitutional point of view, however, the great importance of Magna Charta lay in its preserving the feudal idea of a con tract between lord and vassals, between king and subjects, through the period of personal monarchy which was then already superseding the earlier Norman feudal monarchy, and thus making the development of the later parlia mentary restrictions easy and natural.
The terms dictated by the barons to John included the surrender of London to their charge, and the Tower to the custody of the primate till August 15th following, or till the execution of the several articles of the Great Charter. Twenty five barons, as conservators of the public lib erties, were invested with extraordinary au thority which empowered them to make war against the sovereign in ease of his violation of the charter. Several solemn ratifications were required by the barons from Henry IlT. and later rulers, and a copy of the Great Charter was sent to every cathedral and ordered to be read pub licly twice a year. The copy preserved in Lin coln Cathedral is regarded as the most accurate and complete. The Great Charter and charter of the forests as issued in the reign of Henry III. are printed with English translations. and prefixed to the edition of the statutes of the realm published by the Record Commission. Con sult; Thomson, An Historirat Essay on the Magna Charta of King John (London. 1829) ; II6mont, Chartes des libertes anglaiscs, 1100. (Paris, 1892) : fitubbs, Constitutional His tory of England, vol. i.. fith ed. (Oxford, 1S97), and vol. ii., 4th ed. (ISM).