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Only those Articles pertaining to today’s constitutional guarantees under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, 1867 to 1997, the Constitution of the United States of America and other relevant statutes are reproduced herein Ed.

that the English Church shall be free,3 a

"The democratic aspiration is no mere recent phase in human history . . . It was written in Magna Carta." --Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 1941 Inaugural addres

On June 15, 1215, in a field at Runnymede, King John affixed his seal to Magna Carta. Confronted by 40 rebellious barons, he consented to their demands in order to avert civil war.

Magna Carta was written by a group of 13th-century barons to protect their rights and property against a tyrannical king. It is concerned with many practical matters and specific grievances relevant to the feudal system under which they lived. T

The Declaration of Independence asserts that governments “deriv[e] their just powers from the consent of the governed,” distilling concepts invoked by Locke and earlier English political reformers. For the English-speaking world, however, the germ of that concept can be found in Magna Carta. At the time, feudal barons could be required to provide what was known as “scutage,” essentially a fee in lieu of personal service typically used to hire mercenaries to fight the king’s wars. Other aid levies were also common. King John, however, was perceived as abusing the system, imposing unusually high levies and doing so even in the absence of war. Magna Carta introduced a revolutionary innovation: the idea that the power to tax was in some way limited by general consent. Still, it being the year 1215, there were some loopholes: No scutage not aid shall be imposed on our kingdom, unless by common counsel [alt. "general consent"] 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 there shall not be levied more than a reasonable aid…

Thousands of the crusaders, returning broken in spirits and in health, sought an asylum in cloistral retreats

crusades was on commerce

They created a constant demand for the transportation of men and supplies, encouraged ship-building, and extended the market for eastern wares in Europe

or safety and for defense, people in the Middle Ages formed small communities around a central lord or master. Most people lived on a manor, which consisted of the castle, the church, the village, and the surrounding farm land. These manors were isolated, with occasional visits from peddlers, pilgrims on their way to the Crusades, or soldiers from other fiefdoms.

n this "feudal" system, the king awarded land grants or "fiefs" to his most important nobles, his barons, and his bishops, in return for their contribution of soldiers for the king's armies. At the lowest echelon of society were the peasants, also called "serfs" or "villeins." In exchange for living and working on his land, known as the "demesne," the lord offered his peasants protection.

The purpose of this chapter was to prevent King John from personally ordering the arrest and punishment of a free man without lawful judgment. According to Magna Carta, "lawful judgment" could only be made by judges ruled by "the law of the land," or by one's peers in a trial by combat.

For people today the most significant part of Magna Carta is Chapter 39: No free man shall be arrested or imprisoned or disseised [property taken] or outlawed or exiled or in any way victimized, neither will we attack him or send anyone to attack him, except by the lawful judgment of his peers or by the law of the land. Some have interpreted this provision to mean that Magna Carta guaranteed to free men the right to a trial by jury. However, the idea of a jury trial as we would recognize it today had not yet developed by 1215.

Other parts of Magna Carta corrected King John's abuses of power against the barons, Church officials, merchants and other "free men" who together made up about 25% of England's population. Magna Carta virtually ignored the remaining 75% of the population.

constitutional text and one of the most important documents on the path to democracy.

was that the Founding Fathers used many of the principles first codified in the Magna Carta.

it was also a system of local justice.

right of jurisdiction gave judicial power to the nobles and lords in cases arising in their domains and had no appeal but the King himself.

Knights, barons, and dukes had their separate courts, and the king had his court above all.

prisoner of war, his life was saved by his nobility, and his ransom had practically to be raised by the "villains" of his domains.

The Feudal System Right of Hunting

privileges dearest to and most valued by the nobles.