MAGNA CARTA

‘I Fought the Law and the Law Won’

As much as we like to complain nowadays, we’ve actually got things pretty good - from a legal standpoint at least. Our human rights are backed to the hilt with constitutions, statutes, legislation and most importantly of all, our wonderful, wonderful lawyers. But exactly how did we get to this point of protection from happy-go-lucky tyrants with a penchant for crushing civil liberties?

A major stepping stone of this process occurred around 800 years ago, when bad King John was busy making an enemy of everyone and their mums. Lacking the charisma and leadership skills of previous kings, John made repeated mistakes in matters of war (ceding almost all of his territory in France) and unwisely taxed his nobles when they couldn’t cough up the knights he demanded from them. Needless to say, the King’s belligerence was starting to grate and the English Barons valiantly stepped in to defend the common man (or rather just themselves). In their attempts to make the King stop acting like a jackass to all and sundry, the Barons required him to acknowledge the Coronation Charter of Henry I (son of William the Conqueror). This essentially read that any behaviour that leads to England being oppressed should be comprehensively given the boot. But John being John decided this was unreasonable (???).

So the Baron’s collectively decided to give the King the middle finger and take London hostage. Realising that the nobles were actually being quite serious, the King finally agreed to meet with the rebels to discuss terms (given that there wasn’t much else he could do). The result of their grievances was handed over to John in the form of the Magna Carta, which if given the King’s seal would be enough to earn him their renewed oaths of allegiance. John, to his credit, went along with the proceedings at Runnymede and fully committed himself to the concept of ‘no taxes without the general consent of the realm’ – for approximately 20 minutes.

Enraged that he had been forced to submit to the terms of rebel barons, John appealed to the Pope. And considering that England had been placed under a papal interdict only 7 years previously, this may not have seemed like the best idea. Yet the Pope was surprisingly onboard, seeing this matter as an affront to Church endorsed royalty and was quick to denounce the new Charter as ‘null and void for ever’ (slightly dramatic) thus giving John the ultimate excuse to raise an army. In retaliation, the Barons simply sought a new King, a more amenable King from somewhere, anywhere else – and they didn’t have to look far. Waiting just over the channel was a promising candidate from France, the young Prince Louis. But before this history altering move could really get traction, John resolved the situation by conveniently dying from dysentery. The Charter therefore became a little less pressing for all parties involved and wouldn’t resurface for several years.

When it did return however (with several rewrites and revisions) the Magna Carta made some rather stirring sentiments. The wording of the document established the importance of justice and a fair trial for all free men, while the monarch’s power to raise taxes without consent was greatly curtailed. Arguably this was more effective in the long term rather than the short term, but its ever growing association with the idea of liberty would make it incredibly influential in the creation of future legal documents (e.g. the Bill of Rights).