England UK

Note: In view of the assault on our fundamental liberties I thought
the text of Magna Carta would be a useful reminder of how ancient are
our liberties. RH


Magna Carta

THE CHARTER OF LIBERTIES OF 1215
John, by the grace of God, king of England, lord of Ireland, duke of
Normandy and Aquitaine, and count of Anjou, to the archbishops,
bishops, abbots, earls, barons, justiciars, foresters, sheriffs,
stewards, servants, and to all his bailiffs and faithful subjects,
greeting. Know that we, out of reverence for God and for the salvation
of our soul and those of all our ancestors and heirs, for the honour
of God and the advancement of holy Church, and for the reform of our
realm, on the advice of our venerable fathers, Stephen, archbishop of
Canterbury, primate of all England and cardinal of tile holy Roman
Church, Henry archbishop of Dublin, William of London, Peter of
Winchester, Jocelyn of Bath and Glastonbury, Hugh of Lincoln, Walter of
Worcester, William of Coventry and Benedict of Rochester, bishop, of
Master Pandulf , subdeacon and member of the household of the lord
pope, of brother Aymeric, master of the Knights of the Temple in
England, and of the noble men William Marshal earl of Pembroke, William
earl of Salisbury, William earl Warenne, William earl of Arundel, Alan
of Galloway constable of Scotland, Warin son of Gerold, Peter son of
Herbert, Hubert de Burgh seneschal of Poitou, Hugh de Neville, Matthew
son of Herbert, Thomas Basset, Alan Basset, Philip d'Aubigny, Robert of
Ropsley, John Marshal, John son of Hugh, and others, our faithful
subjects:

[i] In the first place have granted to God, and by this our present
charter confirmed for us and our heirs for ever, that the English
church shall be free, and shall have its rights undiminished and its
liberties unimpaired; and it is our will that it be thus observed;
which is evident from the fact that, before the quarrel between us and
our barons began, we, willingly and spontaneously granted and by our
charter confirmed the freedom of elections which is reckoned most
important and very essential to the English church, and obtained
confirmation of it from the lord pope Innocent III; the which we will
observe and we wish our heirs to observe it in good faith for ever. X
We have also granted to all freemen of our kingdom, for ourselves and
Our heirs for ever, all the liberties written below, to be had and
held by them and their heirs of us and our heirs.

[2] If any of our earls or barons or others holding of us in chief by
knight services dies, and at his death his heir be of age and owe
relief he shall have his inheritance on payment of the old relief,
namely the heir or heirs of an earl œ100 for a whole earl's barony,
f a baron ~Ioo for ~., ~ume earl s Oarony, 4 the heir
or heirs a whole barony; the heir or heirs of a knight at most, for a
swhole kniffht's fees. ann ~. ~ . i oos.,
, ,,u .e WhO owes less let h~m give less
according to the ancient custom of fiefi.

[3] If, however, the heir of any such be under age and a ward,
shall have his inheritance when he comes of age without paying relief
and without making a fine.

[4-] The guardian of the land of such an heir who is under age shah
take from the land of the heir no more than reasonable sums,
reasonable customary dues and reasonable services, and that without
destruction and waste of men or goods; and if we commit the wardship
of the land of any such to a sheriff, or to any other who is answerable
to us for its revenues, and he destroys or wastes what he has wardship
of, we will take compensation from him and the land shall be committed
to two lawful and discreet men of that fief, who shall be responsible
for the revenues to us or to him to whom we shall assign them; and if
we give or sell to anyone the wardship of any such land and he causes
destruction or waste therein, he shall lose that wardship, and it shall
be transferred to two lawful and discreet men of that fief, who shall
similarly be responsible to us as is aforesaid.

[5] Moreover, so long as he has the wardship of the land, the guardian
shall keep in repair the houses, parks, preserves, ponds, mills and
other things pertaining to the land out of the revenues from it; and he
shall restore to the heir when he comes of age his land fully [totam]
stocked with ploughs and the means of husbandry [waynagus] according to
what the season of husbandry requires, and what the revenues of the
land can reasonably bear.

[6] Heirs shall be married without disparagement,t yet so that before
the marriage is contracted those nearest in blood to the heir shall
have notice.

[7] A widow shall have her marriage portion and inheritance forthwith
and without difficulty after the death of her husband; nor shall she
pay anything to have her dower or her marriage portion or the
inheritance which she and her husband held on the day of her husband's
death; and she may remain in her husband's house for forty days after
his death, within which time her dower shall be assigned to her.

[8] No widow shall be forced to marry so long as she wishes to live
without a husband, provided that she gives security not to marry
without our consent if she holds of us , or without the consent of the
lord of whom she holds, if she holds of another.

[9] Neither we nor Our bailiffs will seize for any debt any land or
rent, so long as the chattels of the debtor are sufficient to repay the
debt; nor will those who have gone surety for the debtor be distrained
so long as the principal debtor is himself able to pay the debt; and if
the principal debtor fails to pay the debt, having nothing wherewith to
pay it, then shall the Sureties answer for the debt; and they shall, if
they wish, have the lands and rents of the debtor until they are
reimbursed for the debt which they have paid for him, unless the
principal debtor can show that he has discharged his obligation in the
matter to the said Sureties.
[10] If anyone o has borrowed from the Jews any sum, great or small,
dies before w.h it is repara, the debt h~n --., t or heir is Under
s...., ,,,,t near mterest while the age, whosoever tenant he may be;
and if the debt falls into our hands, we will not take in the bond. X
anything except the principal mentioned [I IJ And ifanyone dies
indebted to the Jews, his wife shall have her dower and pay nothing of
that debt; and if the dead man leaves children who are under age, they
shall be provided with necessaries befitting the holding of the
deceased; and the debt shall be paid out of the residue, reserving,
however, service due to lords of the land; debts owing to others than
Jews shall be dealt with in like manner.

[12] No scutage or aida shall be imposed in Our kingdom unless by
COmmon COunsel of our kingdom except for ransoming Our person, for
making Our eldest Son a knight, and for once marrying our eldest
daughter; and for these only a reasonable aid shall be levied. Be it
done in like manner concerning aids from the city of London.

[13] And the city of London shall have all its ancient liberties and
free customs as well by land as by water. Furthermore, we will and
grant that all other cities, boroughs, towns and ports shall have all
their llbertles and free customs.

[14] And to obtain the COmmon assessing of an aid (except counsel of
the kingdom about the in the three cases aforesaid) or of a scutage, we
will cause to be summoned the archbishops, bishops, abbots, earls aSú ú
and greater barons, individually by our letters - and, in addition, we
will cause to be summoned generally through our sheriffs and bailiffs
all those holding of us in chief - for a fixed date, namely, after the
expiry of at least forty days, and to a fixed place; and in all
letters of such summons we will specify the reason for the summons. And
when the summons has thus been made, the business shall proceed on the
day appointed, according to the counsel of those present, although not
all have come who were summoned.

[15] We will not in future grant anyone the right to take an aid from
his own freemen, except for ransoming his person, for making his
eldest son a knight and for once marrying his eldest daughter; and for
these only a reasonable aid shall be levied.

[16] No one shall be compelled to do greater service for a knight's fee
or for any other free holding than is due from it.

[17] Common pleas shall not follow our court, but shall be held in some
fixed place,l

[I8] Inquests of novel disseisin, of mort d'ancestor, and of darrein
present-ment,a shall not be held elsewhere than in the court of the
county to which they relate [in suis tomitatibas] and in this manner -
we, or, ff we should be out of the realm, our chief justiciar, will
send two justices through each county four times a year, who, with four
knights ofeach county chosen by the county, shall hold the said
inquests [ass/sas] in the county court, on the day and in the place of
meeting of the county court.

[I9] And if fall] the said inquests [asyisas] cannot be held on the day
of the county court, there shall stay behind as many of the knights
and freeholders who were present at the county court on that day as are
necessary for the sufficient making of judgements, according to the
amount of the business.
[20] A freeman shall not be amerceds for a slight offence except in l m
accordance with the degree of the offence, and for a grave offence he
shall be amerced in accordance with its gravity, yet saving his way of
living [contenementum]; and a merchant in the same way, saving his
stock-in-trade [mercandisa]; and a villein shall be amerced in the
same way, saving his means of livelihood [waynagium] - if they have
fallen in-to our mercy: and none of the aforesaid amercements shall be
imposed except by the oath of upright men of the neighbourhood.

[21] Earls and barons shall not be amerced except by their peers, and
only in accordance with the degree of the offence.

[22] No clerk shall be amerced in respect of his lay holding except
after the manner of the others aforesaid and not in accordance with
the amount of his ecclesiastical benefice.

[23] No community or individual [nec villa nec homo] shall be compelled
to make bridges at river banks, except those who from of old are
legally bound to do so.

[24] No sheriff, constable, coroners, or other of our bailiffs, shall
try [tencant] pleas of our CrowmX

[25] All counties, hundreds, wapentakes and trithings shall be at the
old rents without any additional payment, except our demesne manors.

[26] If any one holding a lay fief of us dies and our sheriff or
bailiff shows our letters patent of summons for a debt that the
deceased owed us, it shall be lawful for our sheriff or bailiff to
attach and inventory chattels of the deceased found upon the lay fief
to the value of that debt under the supervision of law-worthy men,
provided that none of the chattels shall be removed until the debt
which is manifest [clarum] has been paid to us in full; and the residue
shall be left to the executors for carrying out the will of the
deceased. And if nothing is owing to us from him, all the chattels
shall go to the deceased, saving to his wife and children their
reasonable shares.

[27] If any freeman dies without leaving a will, his chattels shall be
distributed by his nearest kinsfolk and friends under the supervision
of the church, saving to every one of the debts which the deceased owed
him.

[28] No constable or other bailiffof ours shall take anyone's corn or
other chattels unless he pays spot cash for them or can delay payment
by arrangement with the seller.

[29] No cortstabl~ shall compel any knight to give money instead of
castle-guard if he is willing to do tile guard himself or through
another good man, if for some good reason he cannot do it himself; and
if we lead or send him on military service, he shall be exempt from
guard in proportion to the time that because of us he has been on
service.

[30] No sheriff or bailiff of ours, or anyone else [aliquis alius],
shall take the horses or carts of any freeman for transport work save
with the agreement of that freeman.

[3I] Neither we nor our bailiffs will take other people's timber for
castles or other works of ours except with the agreement of him whose
timber it is.

[32] We will not hold for more than a year and a day the lands of those
convicted of felony, and then the lands shall be handed over to the
lords of the fiefs.

[33] Henceforth all fishtraps shall be cleared completely from the
Thames and the Medway and throughout all England, except along the sea
coast.

[34] The writ called Praecipe shall not in future be issued to anyone
in respect of any holding whereby a freeman may lose his court,x

[35] Let there be one measure for wine throughout our kingdom, and one
measure for ale, and one measure for corn, namely 'the London
quarter'; and one width for cloths whether dyed, russet or halberget,
namely two ells within the selvedges. Let it he the same with weights
as with measures.

[36] Nothing shall be given or taken in future for the writ of inquiry
concerning life or limbs, but it shall be granted free of charge and
not withheld.2

[37] If anyone holds of us by fee-farm, by socage, or by burgage,s and
holds land of another by knight service, we will not, by reason of
that fee-farm, socage, or burgage, have the wardship of his heir or of
his land that is of the fief of the other; nor will we have wardship
0fthe fee-farm, mcage, or burgage, unless such fee-farm owes knight
service. We will not have the wardship of anyone's heir or land which
he holds of another by knight service by reason of any petty serjeanty
which he holds of us by the service of rendering to us knives or
arrows or the like. X

[38] No bailiff shall in future put anyone to trial upon his own
un-supported testimony, without reliable witnesses brought for this
pur-pose.

[39] No freeman shall be arrested or imprisoned or disseised or
outlawed or exiled or in any way destroyed, neither will we set forth
against him or send against him, except by the lawful judgement of his
peers and [vel] by the law of the land.2

[40] To no one will we sell, to no one will we refuse or delay right or
justice.

[4I] All merchants shall have safe and secure exit from, and entry into
England, ancl dwelling and travel in England as well by land as by
water, for buying and selling by the ancient and right customs, free of
all evil tolls, except in time of war and if they are of the land that
is at war with us. And if such are found in our lands at the beginning
of a war, they shall be taken and kept in custody [attachientur],
without injury to their persons or goods, until we, or our chief
justiciar, know how merchants of our land are treated who were found
in the land at war with us when war broke out [tunc], and if ours are
safe there, the others shall be safe in our land.

[42] Without prejudicing the allegiance due to us, it shall be lawful
in future for any one to leave our kingdom and return safely and
se-curely by land and water, save, in the public interest, for a short
period in time of war - except for those imprisoned or outlawed in
accordance with the law of the kingdom and natives of a land that is at
war with us and merchants (who shall be treated as aforesaid).

[43] If anyone who holds of some escheats such as the honor of
Wallingford, Nottingham, Boulogne, Lancaster, or of other escheats
which are in our hands and are baronies dies, his heir shall give no
other relief and do no other service to us than he would have done to
the baron, if that barony had been in the baron's hands; and we will
hold it in the same manner in which the baron held it.

[44] Men who llve outside the forestx need not henceforth come be-fore
our justices of the forest upon a general summons, unless they are
impleaded or are sureties for any person or persons who are attached
for forest offences.

[45] We will not make justices, constables, sheriffs or bailiffs save
of such as know the law of the kingdom and mean to observe it well.

[46] All barons who have founded abbeys, in respect of which they have
charters of the kings of England or of which they have had long
tenure, shall have custody of them in a vacancy, as they ought to have.

[47] All forests that have been made forest in our time shall be
immediately disafforested; and so be it done with river-banks that
have been made preservess by us in our time.

[48] All evil customs connected with forests and warrens, foresters and
warreners, sheriffs and their officials, river-banks and their wardens
shall immediately be inquired into in each county by twelve sworn
knights of the same county who are to he chosen by good men of the
same county, and within forty days of the completion of the inquiry
shall be utterly abolished so as never to be restored, provided that
we, or our justiciar if we are not in England, have previous intimation
thereof.

[49] We will immediately return all hostages and charters given to us
by Englishmen, as security for peace or faithful service.

[50] We will entirely remove from their bailiwicks the relations of
Gerard d'Ath~e so that in future they shall have no bailiwick in
Eng-land, namely Engelard de Cigognd, Peter and Guy and Andrew de
Chanceaux, Guy de Cigogn6, Geoffrey de Martigny and his brothers,
Philip Marc and his brothers and his nephew Geoffrey, and all their
following,s

[51] As soon as peace is restored, we will remove from the kingdom all
foreign knights, cross-bowmen, serjeants, and mercenaries, who have
come with horses and arms to the detriment of the kingdom.

[52] If any one has been dispossessed or removed by us without the
legal judgement of his peers from his lands, castles, franchises or
his right, we will immediately restore them to him; and if a dispute
arises over this, then let it be decided by the judgement of the
twenty-five barons who are mentioned below in the clause [6I] for
securing the peace: for all the things, however, from which any one
has been dis-possessed or removed without the lawful judgement of his
peers by King Henry, our father, or by King Richard, our brother,
which we have in our hand or are held by others, to whom we are bound
to warrant them, we will have the usual period of respite of crusaders,
excepting those things about which a plea was started or an inquest
made by our command before we took the crossl; when however we return
from our pilgrimage, or if by any chance we do not go on it we will at
once do full justice therein.

[53] We will have the same respite, and in the same manner, in the
doing of justice in the matter of the deafforestation or retention of
the forests which Henry our father or Richard our brother afrorested
[cf. clause 47], and in the matter of the wardship of lands which are
of the fief of another, wardships of which sort we have hitherto had by
reason of a fief which anyone held of us by knight service [cf. clause
37], and in the matter of abbeys founded on the fief of another, not on
a fief of our own, in which the lord of the fief claims he has a right
[cf. clause 46]; and when we have returned, or ffwe do not set out on
our pilgrimage, we will at once do full justice to all who complain of
these things.

[54] No one shall be arrested or imprisoned upon the appeal of a woman,
for the death of anyone except her husband.

[55] All fines made with ns unjustly and against the law of the land,
and all amereements imposed unjustly and against the law of the land,
shall be entirely remitted, or else let them be settled by the
judgement of the twenty-five barons who are mentioned below in the
clause [6z] for securing the peace, or by the judgement of the majority
of the same, along with the aforesaid Stephen, archbishop of
Canterbury, if he can be present, and such others as he may wish to
associate with himself for this purpose, and if he cannot be present
the business shall nevertheless proceed without him, provided that if
any one or more of the aforesaid twenty-five barons are in a like
suit, they shall be removed from the judgement of the case in question,
and others chosen, sworn and put in their place by the rest of the
same twenty-five for this case only.

[56] If we have dispossessed or removed Welshmens from lands or
liberties or other things without the legal judgement of their peers
in England or in Wales, they shall be immediately restored to them; and
if a dispute arises over this, then let it be decided in the March by
the judgement of their peers - for holdings in England according to the
law of England, for holdings in Wales according to the law of Wales,
and for holdings~in the March according to the law of the March.
Welshmen shall do the same to us and ours.

[57] For all the th/ngs, however, from which any Welshman has been
dispossessed or removed without the lawful judgement of his peers by
King Henry, our father, or Richard, our brothers which we have in our
hand or which are held by others, to whom we are bound to warrant
them, we will have the usual period of respite of.crusaders, excepting
those things about which a plea was started or an inquest made by our
command before we took the cross; when however we return, or if by
chance we do not set out on our pilgrimage, we will at once do full
justice in accordance with the laws of the Welsh and the foresaid
regions.

[58] We will give up at once the son of Llywelyn and all the hostag, es
from Wales and the charters that were handed over to us as security
for peace.

[59] We will act towards Alexander, King of the Scots, concerning the
return of his sisters and hostages and concerning his franchises and
his right in the same manner in which we act towards our other barons
of England, unless it ought to be otherwise according to the charters
which we have from William his father, formerly King of the Scots, and
this shall be according to the judgement of his peers in our court.
[60] Moreover, all these aforesaid customs and liberties which we have
granted shall be observed in our kingdom as far as it pertains to us
towards our men, all of our kingdom, clerks as well as laymen, shall
observe as far as it pertalus to them towards their men.

[61] Since,a moreover, for God and the amendment of our king-dom and
for the better allaying of the discord that has arisen between us and
our barons we have granted all these things aforesaid, wishing them to
enjoy the use of them unimpaired and unshaken for ever, we give and
grant them the under-written security, namely, that the barons shall
choose any twenty-five barons of the kingdom they wish, who must with
all their might observe, hold and cause to be observed, the peace and
liberties which we have granted and confirmed to them by this present
charter of ours, so that if we, or our justiciar, or our bailiffs or
any one of our servants offend in any way against any one or
trans-gress any of the articles of the peace or the security and the
offence be notified to four of the aforesaid twenty-five barons, those
four barons shall come to us, or to our justiciar if we are out of the
kingdom, and, laying the transgression before us, shall petition us to
have that trans-gression corrected without delay. And if we do not
correct the traus-gression, or if we are out of the kingdom, if our
justiciar does not correct it, within forty days, reckoning from the
time it was brought to our notice or to that of our justiciar if we
were out of the kingdom, the afore-said four barons shall refer that
case to the rest of the twenty-five barons and those twenty-five barons
together with the Community of the whole land shall distrain and
distress us in every way they can, namely, by seizing castles, lands,
possessions, and in such other ways as they can, saving our persoft and
the persons of our queen and our children, until, in their opinion,
amends have been made; and when amends have been made, they shall obey
us as they did before. And let anyone in the country who wishes to do
so take an oath to obey the orders of the said twenty-five barons for
the execution of ali the afore-said matters, and with them to distress
us as much as he can, and we publicly and freely give anyone leave to
take the oath who wishes to take it and we will never prohibit anyone
from taking it. Indeed, all those in the land who are unwilling of
themselves and of their own accord to take an oath to the twenty-five
barons to help them to dis-train and distress us, we will make them
take the oath as aforesaid at our command. And if any of the
twenty-five barons dies or leaves the country or is in any other way
prevented from carrying out the thinfrs aforesaid, the remainder of
the aforesaid twenty-five barons shall choose as they think fit another
one in his place, and he shall take the oath like the rest. In all
matters the execution of which is committed to these twenty-five
barons, if it should happen that these twenty-five are pres-ent yet
disagree among themselves about anything, or ifsorae of those summoned
will not or cannot be present, that shall be held as fixed and
established which the majority of those present ordained or com.
raanded, exactly as if all the twenty-five had consented to it; and the
said twenty-five shall swear that they will faithfully observe all the
things aforesaid and will do all they can to get them observed. And we
will procure nothing from anyone, either personally or through any one
else, whereby any of tilese concessions and liberties might be revoked
or diminished; and if any such thing be procured let it be void and
null, and we will never use it either personally or through another,t
And we have fully remitted and pardoned to everyone all the ili-wili,
anger and rancour that have arisen between us and our men, clergy and
laity, from the time of the quarrel. Furthermore, we have fully
remitted to all, clergy and laity, and as far as pertains to us have
completely forgiven all trespasses occasioned by the same quarrel
between Easter in the sixteenth year of our reign and the restoration
of peace. And, besides, we have caused to be made for them letten
testimonial patent of the lord Stephen archbishop of Canterbury, d the
lord Henry archbishop of Dublin and of the aforementioned bishops

:ht to our the afore-venty-five tnunity of they can, ther ways 1 and
our md when .'. And let obey the the afore-1, and we wishes to adeed,
all heir own m to dis-~resaid at eaves the he things fil choose oath
like to these are pres-of those as fixed [ or eom-; and the e all the
~ed. And ~ugh any night be let it be through ryone all our men, we have
) us have quarrel ~ration of tn letters rbury, of d bishops and of
Master Pandulf about this security and the aforementioned concessions)
Wherefore we wish and firmly enjoin that the English church shall be
free, and that the men in our kingdom shall have and hold all the
aforesaid liberties, rights and concessions well and peace-fully,
freely and quietly, fully and'completely for themselves and their heirs
from us and our heirs, in all matters and in all places for ever, as
is aforesaid. An oath, moreover, has been taken, as well on our part as
on the part of the barons, that all these things aforesaid shall be
observed in good faith and without evil disposition. Witness the
above-mentioned and many others. Given by our hand in the meadow which
is called Runnymede between Windsor and Staines on the fifteenth day of
June, in the seventeenth year of our reign.


[6I] le majority of the of Canterbury, if to associate with t the
business shall any one or more of ~.y shall be removed hers chosen,
sworn ty-five for this case

sens from lands or sent of their peers ! restored to them; fided in the
March ~gland according to ding to the law of

accusation of felony or ~repared to support the tppellant, however, was
aitation$ imposed by this

the law of the land, he law of the land, by the judgement in the clause





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--
Robert Henderson
philip@anywhere.demon.co.uk
Blair Scandal web site at http://www.geocities.com/blairscandal/
Personal web site at http://www.anywhere.demon.co.uk