https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/may-15-2025-thursday
"Perhaps in frustration, this season’s writers of the saga of American history
are making their symbolism increasingly obvious.
Today the story broke that a long-neglected document held by Harvard University
Law School, believed to be a cheap copy of the
Magna Carta, is in fact the
real document. More than 700 years ago, the
Magna Carta, or Great Charter,
established the concept that kings must answer to the law.
King John of England and a group of rebel barons agreed to the terms of the
document on June 15, 1215, at Runnymede, a meadow a little less than an hour
from London near the River Thames. After the king had raised taxes, barons
rebelled, insisting that he was violating established custom. There were rumors
of a plot to murder the king, and the barons armed themselves.
Those two armed camps met at Runnymede, where negotiators for the king and the
barons hammered out a document with 63 clauses, mostly relating to feudal
customs and the way the justice system would operate. But the document also
began to articulate the principles central to modern democracies. The
Magna
Carta established the writ of habeas corpus—a prohibition on unlawful
imprisonment—and the concept of the right to trial by jury.
Famously, it put into writing that: “No free man shall be seized, imprisoned,
dispossessed, outlawed, exiled or ruined in any way, nor in any way proceeded
against, except by the lawful judgement of his peers and the law of the land.”
It also provided that “To no one will we sell, to no one will we deny or delay
right or justice.”
The
Magna Carta placed limits on the king’s ability to tax his subjects and
established the law as an authority apart from the king. Anticipating the idea
of checks and balances, it set up a council of barons to make sure the king
obeyed the charter. If he did not, they could seize his lands and castles until
he made amends.
The original charter did not last. King John convinced the pope to declare the
document illegal because it circumscribed the power of the monarch, and in
reaction, barons fought for the rights outlined in the
Magna Carta. After the
death of King John in 1216, the
Magna Carta was confirmed and reissued,
becoming an accepted part of the understanding of British rights. In 1297, and
then again in 1300, King Edward I reissued the
Magna Carta and confirmed that
it was part of England’s law.
The copy in Harvard’s possession is from 1300. Harvard bought the document
after World War II for $27.50, about $500 today. It is one of seven original
copies of the 1300
Magna Carta, and in the United States of America in 2025,
it is priceless."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
