“The Magna Carta”
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THE MAGNA CARTA (The Great Charter):

Preamble:

John, by the grace of God, king of England, lord of Ireland, duke of Normandy and Aquitaine, and count of Anjou, to the archbishop, bishops, abbots, earls, barons, justiciaries, foresters, sheriffs, stewards, servants, and to all his bailiffs and liege subjects, greetings.

Know that, having regard to God and for the salvation of our soul, and those of all our ancestors and heirs, and unto the honor of God and the advancement of his holy Church and for the rectifying of our realm, we have granted as underwritten by advice of our venerable fathers, Stephen, archbishop of Canterbury, primate of all England and cardinal of the 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, Benedict of Rochester, bishops; of Master Pandulf, subdeacon and member of the household of our lord the Pope, of brother Aymeric (master of the Knights of the Temple in England), and of the illustrious men William Marshal, earl of Pembroke, William, earl of Salisbury, William, earl of Warenne, William, earl of Arundel, Alan of Galloway (constable of Scotland), Waren Fitz Gerold, Peter Fitz Herbert, Hubert De Burgh (seneschal of Poitou), Hugh de Neville, Matthew Fitz Herbert, Thomas Basset, Alan Basset, Philip d'Aubigny, Robert of Roppesley, John Marshal, John Fitz Hugh, and others, our liegemen.

1. In the first place we have granted to God, and by this our present charter confirmed for us and our heirs forever that the English Church shall be free, and shall have her rights entire, and her liberties inviolate; and we will that it be thus observed; whichis apparent from this that the freedom of elections,which is reckoned most important and very essential to the English Church, we, of our pure andunconstrained will, did grant, and did by our charter confirm and did obtain the ratification of the same from our lord, Pope Innocent III, before the quarrelarose between us and our barons: and this we will observe, and our will is that it be observed in good faith by our heirs forever.

We have also granted to all freemen of our kingdom, for us and our heirs forever, all the underwritten liberties, to be had and held by them and their heirs, of us and our heirsforever.

2. If any of our earls or barons, or others holding of us in chief by military service shall havedied, and at the time of his death his heir shall be full of age and owe "relief", he shall have his inheritance by the old relief, to wit, the heir or heirs of an earl, for the whole baroncy of an earl by L100; the heir or heirs of a baron, L100 for a whole barony; the heir or heirs of a knight, 100s, at most, and whoever owes less let him give less, according to the ancient custom of fees.

3. If, however, the heir of any one of the aforesaid has been under age and in wardship, let him have his inheritance without relief and without fine when he comes of age.

4. The guardian of the land of an heir who is thusunder age, shall take from the land of the heir nothingbut reasonable produce, reasonable customs, and reasonable services, and that without destruction or waste of men or goods; and if we have committed the wardship of the lands of any such minor to the sheriff,or to any other who is responsible to us for its issues, and he has made destruction or waster of what he holds in wardship, we will take of him amends, and the land shall be committed to two lawful and discreetmen of that fee, who shall be responsible for the issues to us or to him to whom we shall assign them;and if we have given or sold the wardship of any such land to anyone and he has therein made destruction or waste, he shall lose that wardship, and it shall be transferred to two lawful and discreet men of that fief, who shall be responsible to us in like manner as aforesaid.

5. The guardian, moreover, so long as he has the wardship of the land, shall keep up the houses, parks, fishponds, stanks, mills, and other things pertainingto the land, out of the issues of the same land; and he shall restore to the heir, when he has come to fullage, all his land, stocked with ploughs and wainage,according as the season of husbandry shall require,and the issues of the land can reasonable bear.

6. Heirs shall be married without disparagement,yet so that before the marriage takes place the nearestin blood to that heir shall have notice.

7. A widow, after the death of her husband, shallforthwith and without difficulty have her marriage portion and inheritance; nor shall she give anythingfor her dower, or for her marriage portion, or for theinheritance which her husband and she held on the day of the death of that husband; and she may remain inthe house of her husband for forty days after his death, within which time her dower shall be assignedto her.

8. No widow shall be compelled to marry, so longas she prefers to live without a husband; provided always that she gives security not to marry withoutour consent, if she holds of us, or without theconsent of the lord of whom she holds, if she holds of another.

9. Neither we nor our bailiffs will seize any land or rent for any debt, as long as the chattels of the debtor are sufficient to repay the debt; nor shallthe sureties of the debtor be distrained so long as theprincipal debtor is able to satisfy the debt; and if the principal debtor shall fail to pay the debt, havingnothing wherewith to pay it, then the sureties shall answer for the debt; and let them have the lands and rents of the debtor, if they desire them, until they are indemnified for the debt which they have paid forhim, unless the principal debtor can show proof that he is discharged thereof as against the said sureties.

10. If one who has borrowed from the Jews any sum,great or small, die before that loan be repaid, the debt shall not bear interest while the heir is under age, of whomsoever he may hold; and if the debt fall into our hands, we will not take anything except the principal sum contained in the bond.

11. And if anyone die indebted to the Jews, his wife shall have her dower and pay nothing of that debt;and if any children of the deceased are left under age, necessaries shall be provided for them in keepingwith the holding of the deceased; and out of the residue the debt shall be paid, reserving, however, service due to feudal lords; in like manner let it bedone touching debts due to others than Jews.

12. No scutage not aid shall be imposed on our kingdom, unless by common counsel of our kingdom, except for ransoming our person, for making our eldestson a knight, and for once marrying our eldest daughter; and for these there shall not be levied morethan a reasonable aid. In like manner it shall be done concerning aids from the city of London.

13. And the city of London shall have all it ancient liberties and free customs, as well by land as by water; furthermore, we decree and grant that allother cities, boroughs, towns, and ports shall have all their liberties and free customs.

14. And for obtaining the common counsel of thekingdom anent the assessing of an aid (except in thethree cases aforesaid) or of a scutage, we will causeto be summoned the archbishops, bishops, abbots, earls, and greater barons, severally by our letters; and we will moveover cause to be summoned generally,through our sheriffs and bailiffs, and others who holdof us in chief, for a fixed date, namely, after the expiry of at least forty days, and at a fixed place;and in all letters of such summons we will specify the reason of the summons.

And when the summons hasthus been made, the business shall proceed on the dayappointed, according to the counsel of such as arepresent, although not all who were summoned have come.

15. We will not for the future grant to anyone license to take an aid from his own free tenants, except to ransom his person, to make his eldest son a knight, and once to marry his eldest daughter; and oneach of these occasions there shall be levied only areasonable aid.

16. No one shall be distrained for performance of greater service for a knight's fee, or for any other free tenement, than is due therefrom.

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

18. Inquests of novel disseisin, of mort d'ancestor, and of darrein presentment shall not be held elsewhere than in their own county courts, and that in manner following; We, or, if we should be outof the realm, our chief justiciar, will send two justiciaries through every county four times a year, who shall alone with four knights of the county chosen by the county, hold the said assizes in the county court, on the day and in the place of meeting of that court.

19. And if any of the said assizes cannot be taken on the day of the county court, let there remainof the knights and freeholders, who were present at thecounty court on that day, as many as may be required for the efficient making of judgments, according as thebusiness be more or less.

20. A freeman shall not be amerced for a slightoffense, except in accordance with the degree of the offense; and for a grave offense he shall be amerced in accordance with the gravity of the offense, yet saving always his "contentment"; and a merchant in thesame way, saving his "merchandise"; and a villein shallbe amerced in the same way, saving his "wainage" if they have fallen into our mercy: and none of the aforesaid amercements shall be imposed except by the oath of honest men of the neighborhood.

21. Earls and barons shall not be amerced exceptthrough their peers, and only in accordance with the degree of the offense.

22. A clerk shall not be amerced in respect of his lay holding except after the manner of the othersaforesaid; further, he shall not be amerced in accordance with the extent of his ecclesiasticalbenefice.

23. No village or individual shall be compelled to make bridges at river banks, except those who from of old were legally bound to do so.

24. No sheriff, constable, coroners, or others ofour bailiffs, shall hold pleas of our Crown.

25. All counties, hundred, wapentakes, and trithings (except our demesne manors) shall remain at the old rents, and without any additional payment.

26. If anyone holding of us a lay fief shall die, and our sheriff or bailiff shall exhibit our letters patent of summons for a debt which the deceased owedus, it shall be lawful for our sheriff or bailiff to attach and enroll the chattels of the deceased, found upon the lay fief, to the value of that debt, at the sight of law worthy men, provided always that nothing whateverbe thence removed until the debt which is evident shall be fully paid to us; and the residue shall be left to the executors to fulfill the will of the deceased; and if there be nothing due from him to us,all the chattels shall go to the deceased, saving to his wife and children their reasonable shares.

27. If any freeman shall die intestate, his chattels shall be distributed by the hands of hisnearest kinsfolk and friends, under supervision of theChurch, saving to every one the debts which the deceased owed to him.

28. No constable or other bailiff of ours shall take corn or other provisions from anyone without immediately tendering money therefor, unless he can have postponement thereof by permission of the seller.

29. No constable shall compel any knight to give money in lieu of castle-guard, when he is willing to perform it in his own person, or (if he himself cannot do it from any reasonable cause) then by another responsible man. Further, if we have led or sent himupon military service, he shall be relieved from guardin proportion to the time during which he has been onservice because of us.

30. No sheriff or bailiff of ours, or other person, shall take the horses or carts of any freemanfor transport duty, against the will of the said freeman.

31. Neither we nor our bailiffs shall take, for our castles or for any other work of ours, wood whichis not ours, against the will of the owner of that wood.

32. We will not retain beyond one year and oneday, the lands those who have been convicted of felony,and the lands shall thereafter be handed over to the lords of the fiefs.

33. All kydells for the future shall be removedaltogether from Thames and Medway, and throughout allEngland, except upon the seashore.

34. The writ which is called praecipe shall notfor the future be issued to anyone, regarding any tenement whereby a freeman may lose his court.

35. Let there be one measure of wine throughout our whole realm; and one measure of ale; and one measure of corn, to wit, "the London quarter"; and onewidth of cloth (whether dyed, or russet, or "halberget"), to wit, two ells within the selvedges; of weights also let it be as of measures.

36. Nothing in future shall be given or taken for a writ of inquisition of life or limbs, but freely itshall be granted, and never denied.

37. If anyone holds of us by fee-farm, either by socage or by burage, or of any other land by knight's service, we will not (by reason of that fee-farm, socage, or burgage), have the wardship of theheir, or of such land of his as if of the fief of thatother; nor shall we have wardship of that fee-farm, socage, or burgage, unless such fee-farm owes knight'sservice.

We will not by reason of any small serjeancywhich anyone may hold of us by the service ofrendering to us knives, arrows, or the like, have wardship of his heir or of the land which he holdsof another lord by knight's service.

38. No bailiff for the future shall, upon his own unsupported complaint, put anyone to his "law", without credible witnesses brought for this purposes.

39. No freemen shall be taken or imprisonedor disseised or exiled or in any way destroyed, nor will we go upon him nor send upon him, except by thelawful judgment of his peers or by the law of the land.

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

41. All merchants shall have safe and secure exitfrom England, and entry to England, with the right totarry there and to move about as well by land as bywater, for buying and selling by the ancient and rightcustoms, quit from all evil tolls, except (in time of war) such merchants as are of the land at war with us.And if such are found in our land at the beginning of the war, they shall be detained, without injury to their bodies or goods, until information be received byus, or by our chief justiciar, how the merchants of ourland found in the land at war with us are treated; and if our men are safe there, the others shall be safe inour land.

42. It shall be lawful in future for anyone(excepting always those imprisoned or outlawed inaccordance with the law of the kingdom, and natives ofany country at war with us, and merchants, who shall betreated as if above provided) to leave our kingdom andto return, safe and secure by land and water, except for a short period in time of war, on grounds of publicpolicy- reserving always the allegiance due to us.

43. If anyone holding of some escheat (such as thehonor of Wallingford, Nottingham, Boulogne, Lancaster,or of other escheats which are in our hands and arebaronies) shall die, his heir shall give no otherrelief, and perform no other service to us than he would have done to the baron if that barony had beenin the baron's hand; and we shall hold it in the samemanner in which the baron held it.

44. Men who dwell without the forest need not henceforth come before our justiciaries of the forestupon a general summons, unless they are in plea, orsureties of one or more, who are attached for the forest.

45. We will appoint as justices, constables, sheriffs, or bailiffs only such as know the law of therealm and mean to observe it well.

46. All barons who have founded abbeys, concerningwhich they hold charters from the kings of England, or of which they have long continued possession, shallhave the wardship of them, when vacant, as they ought to have.

47. All forests that have been made such in our time shall forthwith be disafforsted; and a similar course shall be followed with regard to river banks that have been placed "in defense" by us in our time.

48. All evil customs connected with forests andwarrens, foresters and warreners, sheriffs and theirofficers, river banks and their wardens, shall immediately by inquired into in each county by twelvesworn knights of the same county chosen by the honest men of the same county, and shall, within forty days ofthe said inquest, be utterly abolished, so as never tobe restored, provided always that we previously have intimation thereof, or our justiciar, if we should not be in England.

49. We will immediately restore all hostages and charters delivered to us by Englishmen, as sureties of the peace of faithful service.

50. We will entirely remove from their bailiwicks, the relations of Gerard of Athee (so thatin future they shall have no bailiwick in England); namely, Engelard of Cigogne, Peter, Guy, and Andrew ofChanceaux, Guy of Cigogne, Geoffrey of Martigny with his brothers, Philip Mark with his brothers and his nephew Geoffrey, and the whole brood of the same.

51. As soon as peace is restored, we will banish from the kingdom all foreign born knights, crossbowmen,serjeants, and mercenary soldiers who have come with horses and arms to the kingdom's hurt.

52. If anyone has been dispossessed or removed byus, without the legal judgment of his peers, from his lands, castles, franchises, or from his right, we willimmediately restore them to him; and if a dispute ariseover this, then let it be decided by the five and twenty barons of whom mention is made below in theclause for securing the peace.

Moreover, for all those possessions, from which anyone has, without the lawful judgment of his peers, been disseised or removed, by our father, King Henry, or by our brother,King Richard, and which we retain in our hand (or whichas possessed by others, to whom we are bound to warrantthem) we shall have respite until the usual term of crusaders; excepting those things about which a plea has been raised, or an inquest made by our order, before our taking of the cross; but as soon as we return from the expedition, we will immediately grant full justice therein.

53. We shall have, moreover, the same respite andin the same manner in rendering justice concerning thedisafforestation or retention of those forests whichHenry our father and Richard our brother afforested, and concerning the wardship of lands which are of thefief of another (namely, such wardships as we havehitherto had by reason of a fief which anyone held ofus by knight's service), and concerning abbeys foundedon other fiefs than our own, in which the lord of thefee claims to have right; and when we have returned, or if we desist from our expedition, we will immediately grant full justice to all who complain ofsuch things.

54. No one shall be arrested or imprisoned upon the appeal of a woman, for the death of any other thanher husband.

55. All fines made with us unjustly and against the law of the land, and all amercements, imposed unjustly and against the law of the land, shall be entirely remitted, or else it shall be done concerningthem according to the decision of the five and twenty barons whom mention is made below in the clause forsecuring the pease, or according to the judgment 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 bring withhim for this purpose, and if he cannot be present thebusiness shall nevertheless proceed without him, provided always that if any one or more of the aforesaid five and twenty barons are in a similar suit, they shall be removed as far as concerns thisparticular judgment, others being substituted in their places after having been selected by the rest of the same five and twenty for this purpose only, andafter having been sworn.

56. If we have disseised or removed Welshmen fromlands or liberties, or other things, without the legal judgment of their peers in England or in Wales, they shall be immediately restored to them; and if a dispute arise over this, then let it be decided in themarches by the judgment of their peers; for the tenements in England according to the law of England,for tenements in Wales according to the law of Wales,and for tenements in the marches according to the lawof the marches. Welshmen shall do the same to us and ours.

57. Further, for all those possessions from whichany Welshman has, without the lawful judgment of his peers, been disseised or removed by King Henry our father, or King Richard our brother, and which we retain in our hand (or which are possessed by others, and which we ought to warrant), we will have respite until the usual term of crusaders; excepting those things about which a plea has been raised or aninquest made by our order before we took the cross; butas soon as we return (or if perchance we desist from our expedition), we will immediately grant full justice in accordance with the laws of the Welsh and inrelation to the foresaid regions.

58. We will immediately give up the son of Llywelyn and all the hostages of Wales, and the charters delivered to us as security for the peace.

59. We will do towards Alexander, king of Scots, concerning the return of his sisters and his hostages,and concerning his franchises, and his right, in the same manner as we shall do towards our owher barons ofEngland, unless it ought to be otherwise according tothe charters which we hold from William his father, formerly king of Scots; and this shall be according tothe judgment of his peers in our court.

60. Moreover, all these aforesaid customs and liberties, the observances of which we have granted in our kingdom as far as pertains to us towards ourmen, shall be observed b all of our kingdom, as wellclergy as laymen, as far as pertains to them towardstheir men.

61. Since, moveover, for God and the amendmentof our kingdom and for the better allaying of the quarrel that has arisen between us and our barons,we have granted all these concessions, desirous that they should enjoy them in complete and firm enduranceforever, we give and grant to them the underwritten security, namely, that the barons choose five and twenty barons of the kingdom, whomsoever they will,who shall be bound with all their might, to observe andhold, and cause to be observed, the peace and libertieswe have granted and confirmed to them by this our present Charter, so that if we, or our justiciar, or our bailiffs or any one of our officers, shall in anything be at fault towards anyone, or shall have broken any one of the articles of this peace or ofthis security, and the offense be notified to four barons of the foresaid five and twenty, the saidfour barons shall repair to us (or our justiciar, if we are out of the realm) and, laying the transgressionbefore us, petition to have that transgression redressed without delay. And if we shall not have corrected the transgression (or, in the event of ourbeing out of the realm, if our justiciar shall not have corrected it) within forty days, reckoning from the time it has been intimated to us (or to our justiciar, if we should be out of the realm), the four barons aforesaid shall refer that matter to the rest of the five and twenty barons, and those five and twenty barons shall, together with the community of the whole realm, distrain and distress us in allpossible ways, namely, by seizing our castles, lands, possessions, and in any other way they can, until redress has been obtained as they deem fit, saving harmless our own person, and the persons of ourqueen and children; and when redress has been obtained,they shall resume their old relations towards us. Andlet whoever in the country desires it, swear to obey the orders of the said five and twenty barons for the execution of all the aforesaid matters, and along withthem, to molest us to the utmost of his power; and we publicly and freely grant leave to everyone who wishes to swear, and we shall never forbid anyone to swear. All those, moveover, in the land who of themselves andof their own accord are unwilling to swear to the twenty five to help them in constraining and molestingus, we shall by our command compel the same to swear tothe effect foresaid. And if any one of the five and twenty barons shall have died or departed from the land, or be incapacitated in any other manner whichwould prevent the foresaid provisions being carriedout, those of the said twenty five barons who are leftshall choose another in his place according to their own judgment, and he shall be sworn in the same way asthe others.

Further, in all matters, the execution ofwhich is entrusted,to these twenty five barons, if perchance these twenty five are present and disagree about anything, or if some of them, after being summoned, are unwilling or unable to be present, that which the majority of those present ordain or commandshall be held as fixed and established, exactly as ifthe whole twenty five had concurred in this; and the said twenty five shall swear that they will faithfullyobserve all that is aforesaid, and cause it to be observed with all their might. And we shall procurenothing from anyone, directly or indirectly, whereby anypart of these concessions and liberties might be revoked or diminished; and if any such things has beenprocured, let it be void and null, and we shall never use it personally or by another.

62. And all the will, hatreds, and bitterness thathave arisen between us and our men, clergy and lay, from the date of the quarrel, we have completely remitted and pardoned to everyone.

Moreover, all trespasses occasioned by the said quarrel, from Easterin the sixteenth year of our reign till the restorationof peace, we have fully remitted to all, both clergyand laymen, and completely forgiven, as far as pertains to us.

And on this head, we have caused tobe made for them letters testimonial patent of the lord Stephen, archbishop of Canterbury, of the lord Henry, archbishop of Dublin, of the bishops aforesaid,and of Master Pandulf as touching this security and the concessions aforesaid.

63. Wherefore we will and firmly order that the English Church be free, and that the men in our kingdom have and hold all the aforesaid liberties, rights, and concessions, well and peaceably, freely and quietly, fully and wholly, for themselves and theirheirs, of us and our heirs, in all respects and in allplaces forever, as is aforesaid.

An oath, moreover, has been taken, as well on our part as on the art of the barons, that all these conditions aforesaid shallbe kept in good faith and without evil intent.

Givenunder our hand - the above named and many others beingwitnesses - in the meadow which is called Runnymede,between Windsor and Staines, on the fifteenth day ofJune, in the seventeenth year of our reign.

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