1.5.1

The Magna Carta

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Terms of the Magna Carta

The Magna Carta limited King John’s power. It had 63 clauses. This included:

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The importance of the law

  • The Magna Carta established that everyone, including the monarch, was subject to English law.
  • This meant that the King did not have unlimited power.
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Clauses dealing with grievances

  • The majority of the Magna Carta’s clauses dealt with the grievances held by the barons.
  • This mostly concerned land ownership, taxation and the justice system.
  • These clauses included:
    • A limit on the amount of tax barons needed to pay when they inherited lands.
    • The reduction of royal forests.
    • Nobody could be arrested following a woman’s accusation.
  • The majority of these clauses are no longer relevant and not used in English law.
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Clause 39

  • Some of the Magna Carta’s clauses had serious implications for the English constitution.
  • Perhaps the clause with the most far reaching implication was clause 39.
    • This stated that all ‘free men’ had the right to a fair trial.
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Limitations of Clause 39

  • Unlike today, not everyone was ‘free’. Instead, many peasants were ‘villeins’ and belonged to their lords. As such they did not automatically have the right to justice.
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Other clauses still in force

  • The two other clauses which remain in force today are clause one and clause 13.
    • Clause one defends the liberties of the Church.
    • Clause 13 defends the liberties of English towns.

Jump to other topics

1The Medieval World: 450-1450 AD

1.1Anglo-Saxon England

1.2The Contest for the English Throne

1.3Conquering the Holy Land, 10-96-1396 AD

1.4King John

1.5The Magna Carta & Parliament

1.6The Black Death

2Worldviews

3The Empire of Mali

4The Renaissance & Reformations, 1500-1598 AD

5The British Empire, 1583-1960 AD

6The Peasants' Revolt

7Religion in the Middle Ages

8Slavery, 1619-1833 AD

9The English Civil War, 1642-1660

10The Industrial Revolution, 1750-1840

11US Independence, 1775-1783

12The French Revolution, 1789-1815

13The British Empire, 1857–1930

14Suffrage

15World War 1, 1914-1918

16The Inter-War Years, 1919-1939

17World War 2, 1939-1945

18The Cold War, 1947-1962

19Civil Rights in the USA, 1954-1975

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