Those four surviving copies of the Magna Carta have been brought together for the first time today in what the British Library is calling a “unification event” where they will be on display for three days before being taken to the House of Lords for one day. Then, two copies will be returned to the British Library and the others returned to the Lincoln and Salisbury Cathedrals where they are kept.
In October of 2014, over 43,000 people from 20 countries, this writer included, entered a public ballot for an opportunity to see the priceless documents this week. The lucky 1,125 people whose names were chosen will be able to view the documents on Tuesday. They are expected to be just a small number of the many visitors to the library, including scholars and medieval manuscript experts who have been waiting for the chance to view them.
“It’s a real moment in history,” said Julian Harrison, the library’s curator of medieval manuscripts. “Magna Carta has significance not just in England but worldwide. Many people regard it as the foundation of the rule of law. It established key principles which have resonated worldwide.”
One of the world’s most influential documents
Of the 63 original clauses in the 1215 Magna Carta, only three are valid and still in use today. One guarantees the liberties of the English Church while the second one confirms the privileges of the City of London and other towns. But the third clause is without a doubt the most important. It is a clause that has inspired people all over the world. The third clause states that “no free man shall be imprisoned without the lawful judgement of his equals.”
The Great Charter was the inspiration needed when Thomas Jefferson penned the Declaration of Independence in America, as well as the writers of the first French constitution in 1791. The importance of the clause that implied that no one, not even the ruler, was above the law was a singular step in the creation of governments that went on to establish parliamentary democracies.
In Nelson Mandela’s speech from the docket of the Supreme Court of South Africa on April 20, 1964, at the start of his trial for sabotage, he made reference to the foundations of the Magna Carta in his defense, maintaining the laws of the land applied to everyone, and not just the powerful.
After the end of World War II, the principles of the Magna Carta could be seen very clearly in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, accepted by the United Nations in 1948. The declaration represents the first worldwide expression of basic rights to which all humans are entitled. After years of added covenants, the Declaration was ratified in 1976, taking on the force of international law.
Events leading up to the Magna Carta
The Magna Carta was created as a peace treaty between King John and his barons after they rebelled and stormed London in 1215. The rebels captured London but found the king is a political mess of his own making, and a quick solution was needed. After prolonged negotiations, King John agreed to the treaty known as the Magna Carta. At the time it was put in place, though, there was no talk of justice or liberty as we know and accept them today.
The Magna Carta was first put into law in June, 1215 at Runnymede, on the River Thames, near Windsor. While many depictions of the “signing” of the charter show King John using a quill to sign the document, kings in the Middle Ages didn’t put their names on anything. John used his Great Seal to authorize the document. As an interesting aside to this story, the Royal Mint has been criticized for issuing a £2 coin showing the king holding a quill.
King John agreed to the Great Charter but was bitter when its terms were forced upon him. Ye wrote to the Pope, complaining, wanting it annulled. The pope agreed, saying, the charter was “illegal, unjust, harmful to royal rights and shameful to the English people.” He then declared the charter to be “null and void of all validity forever.” This act of nullifying the Magna Carta resulted in a civil war that lasted until King John’s death from illness in 1216.
