The concept of liberty is quite difficult to grasp. It’s vague and has often been debated by notable figures, such as John Locke, Montesquieu, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and many more.
However, today, most historians, legal scholars, and political philosophers agree that the Magna Carta played an undeniably crucial role in shaping the modern meaning of liberty or freedom. So, now that we have started with the conclusion, let us move forward to the question that’s probably on your mind: What exactly is the Magna Carta?
The Magna Carta (“Great Charter” in English) is a historic document and royal charter of rights sealed by King John Lackland on June 15, 1215, in Runnymede.
To better understand the context of this uncommon acceptance of terms that would have startled all the other European kings at the time, we must take a look at the context of John Lackland’s rule and better understand his quarrel with his barons and the Church.
John was the successor of Richard I, most commonly known as Richard the Lionheart, who left England in major debt by constantly fighting the French and going on Crusades. He was the definition of an absent king. This financial instability was a key factor in John Lackland’s seemingly unsuccessful reign: he had to deal with major religious, military, and political issues without the finances he needed to manage them.
The tensions between him and the Pope indirectly led to the writing of the Magna Carta. John was unsatisfied with the high religious officials the Pope delegated to England, and so he refused to let Steven Langton, the proclaimed Archbishop of Canterbury (the highest religious position in England), enter the country. The Pope coerced John Lackland into allowing Steven Langton to come to England. However, the Kings’s disdain towards Langton was not forgotten: the Archibishop started working with barons on the Magna Carta.
So why did the barrons so quickly rally to Langton’s side? That’s because of their lack of trust in the King. He raised the taxes in order to support his wars in France, and yet he lost territory and wasn’t able to regain it, bringing a lot of criticism from the barons.
Along with their armies, the barons met the King outside London and forced him to sign the Magna Carta in May 1215.
And now, let’s talk about the innovative character of the document and the impact it had on the constitutional and legal systems today. It set rules concerning ownership, taxes, and people’s legal rights and introduced key aspects of today’s world such as the rule of law (people should be ruled by the law and obey it, and the law should be such that people will be able to be guided by it), protection of property (individuals had rights to their property and that the government's actions should be constrained by law), due process (individuals could not be deprived of life, liberty or property without a fair and lawful procedure), habeas corpus (protecting people from unlawful imprisonment by asking authorities to justify detentions in court), limited government (established the idea that even monarchs responded to the law) and taxation by consent (asserted that certain taxes could only be imposed with the consent of the council of barons and providing a basis for today's representative governments).
Magna Carta still remains an early symbol of social, political, economic, and military freedom and proves itself to be a cornerstone in the shaping of constitutional development. It would go on and influence history as the basis for iconic documents such as the Bill of Rights, the Petition of Right, the US Constitution, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
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