Magna
Carta
or
The Great Charter
of King John
Granted June 15th,
A.D. 1215,
In the Seventeenth
Year of His Reign
John, by the Grace of God, King of England, Lord of Ireland, Duke of
Normandy and Aquitaine, and Earl of Anjou, to his Archbishops, Bishops,
Abbots, Earls, Barons, Justiciaries, Foresters, Sheriffs, Governors, Officers,
and to all Bailiffs, and his faithful subjects, - Greeting.
Know ye, that We, in the presence of God, and for the salvation of our
own soul, and of the souls of all our ancestors, and of our heirs, to the
honor of God, and the exaltation of the Holy Church and amendment of our
Kingdom, by the counsel 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, Joceline
of Bath and Glastonbury, Hugh of Lincoln, Walter of Worcester, William
of Coventry, and Benedict of Rochester, Bishops; Master Pandulph our Lord
the Pope’s Subdeacon and familiar, Brother Almeric, Master of the Knights-Templars
in England, and of these noble persons, William Mareschal Earl of Pembroke,
William Earl of Salisbury, William Earl of Warren, William Earl of Arundel,
Alan de Galloway Constable of Scotland, Warin Fitz-Gerald, Hubert de Burgh
Seneschal of Poictou, Peter Fitz-Herbert, Hugh de Nevil, Matthew Fitz-Herbert,
Thomas Basset, Alan Basset, Philip de Albiniac, Robert de Roppel, John
Mareschal, John Fitz-Hugh, and others our liegemen; have in the First place
granted to God, and by this our present Charter, have confirmed, for us
and our heirs for ever:
(1) That the English Church shall be free, and shall have her
whole rights and her liberties inviolable; and we will this to be observed
in such a manner, that it may appear from thence, that the freedom of elections,
which was reputed most requisite to the English Church, which we granted,
and by our Charter confirmed, and obtained the Confirmation of the same,
from our Lord Pope Innocent the Third, before the rupture between us and
our Barons, was of our own free will: which Charter we shall observe, and
we will it to be observed with good faith, by our heirs for ever.
We have also granted to all the Freemen of our Kingdom, for us and our
heirs for ever, all the underwritten Liberties, to be enjoyed and held
by them and by their heirs, from us and from our heirs.
(2) If any of our Earls or Barons, or others who hold of us in
chief by military service, shall die, and at his death his heir shall be
of full age, and shall owe a relief, he shall have his inheritance by the
ancient relief; that is to say, the heir or heirs of an Earl, a whole Earl’s
Barony for one hundred pounds: the heir or heirs of a Baron for a whole
Barony, by one hundred pounds; the heir or heirs of a Knight, for a whole
Knight’s Fee, by one hundred shillings at most: and he who owes less, shall
give less, according to the ancient custom of fees.
(3) But if the heir of any such be under age, and in wardship,
when he comes to age he shall have his inheritance without relief and without
fine.
(4) The warden of the land of such heir who shall be under age,
shall not take from the lands of the heir any but reasonable issues, and
reasonable customs, and reasonable services, and the without destruction
and waste of the men or goods, and if we commit the custody of any such
lands to a Sheriff, or any other person who is bound to us for the issues
of them and he shall make destruction or waste upon the ward- lands we
will recover damages from him and the lands shall be committed to two lawful
and discreet men of that fee, who shall answer for the issues to us, or
to him to whom we have assigned them. And if we shall give or sell to any
one the custody of any such lands, and he shall make destruction or waste
upon them, he shall lose the custody; and it shall be committed to two
lawful and discreet men of that fee, who shall answer to us in like manner
as it is said before.
(5) But the warden, as long as he hath the custody of the lands,
shall keep up and maintain the houses, parks, warrens, ponds, mills, and
other things belonging to them, our of their issues; and shall restore
to the heir when he comes of full age, his whole estate, provided with
ploughs and other implements of husbandry, according as the time of Wainage
shall require, and the issues of the lands can reasonably afford.
(6) Heirs shall be married without disparagement, so that before
the marriage be contracted, it shall be notified to the relations of the
heir by consanguinity.
(7) A widow, after the death of her husband, shall immediately,
and without difficulty have her marriage and her inheritance; nor shall
she give any thing for her dower, or for her marriage, or for her inheritance,
which her husband and she held at the day of his death: and she may remain
in her husband’s house forty days after his death, within which time her
dower shall be assigned.
(8) No widow shall be compelled to marry herself, while she is
willing to live without a husband; but yet she shall give security that
she will not marry herself without our consent, if she hold of us, or without
the consent of the lord of whom she does hold, if she hold of another.
(9) Neither we nor our Bailiffs, will seize any land or rent
for any debt, while the chattels of the debtor are sufficient for the payment
of the debt; nor shall the sureties of the debtor be compelled, while the
principal debtor is able to pay the debt; and if the principal debtor fail
in payment of the debt, not having wherewith to discharge it, the sureties
shall answer for the debt; and if they be willing, they shall have the
lands and rents of the debtor, until satisfaction be made to them for the
debt which they had before paid for him, unless the principal debtor can
shew himself acquitted thereof against the said sureties.
(10) If any one hath borrowed any thing from the Jews, more or
less, and die before that debt be paid, the debt shall pay no interest
so long as the heir shall be under age, of whomsoever he may hold; and
if that debt shall fall into our hands, we will not take any thing except
the chattel contained in the bond,
(11) And if any one shall die indebted to the Jews, his wife
shall have her dower and shall pay nothing of that debt; and if children
of the deceased shall remain who are under age, necessaries shall be provided
for them, according to the tenement which belonged to the deceased: and
out of the residue the debt shall be paid, saving the rights of the lords
(of whom the lands are held.) In like manner let it be with debts owing
to others than Jews.
(12) No scutage nor aid shall be imposed in our kingdom, unless
by the common council of our kingdom; excepting to redeem our person, to
make our eldest son a knight, and once to marry our eldest daughter, and
not for these, unless a reasonable aid shall be demanded.
(13) In like manner let it be concerning the aids of the City
of London.- And the City of London should have all it’s ancient liberties,
and it’s free customs, as well by land as by water.- Furthermore, we will
and grant that all other Cities, and Burghs, and Towns, and Ports, should
have all their liberties and free customs.
(14) And also to have the common council of the kingdom, to assess
and aid, otherwise than in the three cases aforesaid: and for the assessing
of scutages, we will cause to be summoned the Archbishops, Bishops, Abbots,
Earls, and great Barons, individually, by our letters.- And besides, we
will cause to be summoned in general by our Sheriffs and Bailiffs, all
those who hold of us in chief, at a certain day, that is to say at the
distance of forty days, (before their meeting,) at the least, and to a
certain place; and in all the letters of summons, we will express the cause
of the summons: and the summons being thus made, the business shall proceed
on the day appointed, according to the counsel of those who shall be present,
although all who had been summoned have not come.
(15) We will not give leave to any one, for the future, to take
an aid of his own free-men, except for redeeming his own body, and for
making his eldest son a knight, and for marrying once his eldest daughter;
and not that unless it be a reasonable aid.
(16) None shall be compelled to do more service for a Knight’s-Fee,
nor for any other free tenement, than what is due from thence.
(17) Common Pleas shall not follow our court, but shall be held
in any certain place.
(18) Trials upon the Writs of Novel Disseisin, Of Mort d’Ancestre
(death of the ancestor), and Darrien Presentment (last presentation), shall
not be taken but in their proper counties, and in this manner:- We, or
our Chief Justiciary, if we are out of the kingdom, will send two Justiciaries
into each county, four times in the year, who, with four knights of each
county, chosen by the county, shall hold the aforesaid assizes, within
the county on the day, and at the place appointed.
(19) And if the aforesaid assizes cannot be taken on the day
of the county-court, let as many knights and freeholders, of those who
were present at the county-court remain behind, as shall be sufficient
to do justice, according to the great or less importance of the business.
(20) A free-man shall not be fined for a small offence, but only
according to the degree of the offence; and for a great delinquency, according
to the magnitude of the delinquency, saving his contenement: a Merchant
shall be fined in the same manner, saving his merchandise, and a villain
shall be fined after the same manner, saving to him his Wainage, if he
shall fall into our mercy; and none of the aforesaid fines shall be assessed,
but by the oath of honest men of the vicinage.
(21) Earls and Barons shall not be fined but by their Peers,
and that only according to the degree of their delinquency.
(22) No Clerk shall be fined for his lay-tenement, but according
to the manner of the others as aforesaid, and not according to the quantity
of his ecclesiastical benefice.
(23) Neither a town nor any person shall be compelled to build
bridges or embankments, excepting those which anciently, and of right,
are bound to do it.
(24) No Sheriff, Constable, Coroners, nor other of our Bailiffs,
shall hold pleas of our crown.
(25) All Counties, and Hundreds, Trethings, and Wapontakes, shall
be
at the ancient rent, without any increase, excepting in our Demesne-manors.
(26) If any one holding of us a lay-fee dies, and the Sheriff
or our Bailiff, shall shew our letters- patent of summons concerning the
debt which the defunct owed to us, it shall be lawful for the Sheriff or
our Bailiff to attach and register the chattels of the defunct found on
that lay-fee, to the amount of that debt, by the view of lawful men, so
that nothing shall be removed from thence until our debt be paid to us;
and the rest shall be left to the executors to fulfil the will of the defunct;
and if nothing be owing to us by him, all the chattels shall fall to the
defunct, saving to his wife and children their reasonable shares.
(27) If any free-man shall die intestate, his chattels shall
be distributed by the hands of his nearest relations and friends, by the
view of the Church, saving to every one the debts which the defunct owed.
(28) No Constable nor other Bailiff of ours shall take the corn
or other goods of any one, without instantly paying money for them, unless
he can obtain respite from the free will of the seller.
(29) No Constable (Governor of a Castle) shall compel any Knight
to give money for castle-guard, if he be willing to perform it in his own
person, or by another able man, if he cannot perform it himself, for a
reasonable cause: and if we have carried or sent him into the army, he
shall be excused from castle-guard, according to the time that he shall
be in the army by our command.
(30) No Sheriff nor Bailiff of ours, nor any other person shall
take the horses or carts of any free-man, for the purpose of carriage,
without the consent of the said free-man.
(31) Neither we, nor our Bailiffs, will take another man’s wood,
for our castles or other uses, unless by the consent of him to whom the
wood belongs.
(32) We will not retain the lands of those who have been convicted
of felony, excepting for one year and one day, and then they shall be given
up to the lord of the fee.
(33) All kydells (wears) for the future shall be quite removed
our of the Thames, and the Medway, and through all England, excepting upon
the sea-coast.
(34) The writ which is called Praecipe, for the future shall
not be granted to any one of any tenement, by which a free-man may lose
his court.
(35) There shall be one measure of wine throughout all our kingdom,
and one measure of ale, and one measure of corn, namely the quarter of
London; and one breadth of dyed cloth, and of russets, and of halberjects,
namely, two ells within the lists. Also it shall be the same with weights
as with measures.
(36) Nothing shall be given or taken for the future for the Writ
of Inquisition of life or limb; but it shall be given without charge, and
not denied.
(37) If any hold of us by Fee-Farm or Socage, or Burgage, and
hold land of another by Military Service, we will not have the custody
of the heir, nor of his lands, which are of the fee of another, on account
of that Fee-Farm, or Socage, or Burgage; nor will we have the custody of
the Fee-Farm, Socage or Burgage, unless the Fee-Farm owe Military Service.
We will not have the custody of the heir, nor of the lands of any one,
which he holds of another by Military Service, on account of any Petty-Sergeantry
which he holds of us by the service of giving us daggers, or arrows, or
the like.
(38) No Bailiff, for the future, shall put any man to his law,
upon his own simple affirmation, without credible witnesses produced for
the purpose.
(39) No freeman shall be seized, or imprisoned, or dispossessed,
or outlawed, or in any way destroyed; nor will we condemn him, nor will
we commit him to prison, excepting by the legal judgement of his peers,
or by the laws of the land.
(40) To none will we sell, to none will we deny, to none will
we delay right or justice.
(41) All Merchants shall have safety and security in coming into
England, and going out of England, and in staying and in travelling through
England, as well by lands as by water, to buy and sell, without any unjust
exactions, according to ancient and right customs, excepting the time of
war, and if they be of a country at war against us: and if such are found
in our land at the beginning of a war, they shall be apprehended without
injury of their bodies and goods, until it be known to us, or to our Chief
Justiciary, how the Merchants of our country are treated who are found
in the country at war against us; and if ours be in safety there, the others
shall be in safety in our land.
(42) It shall be lawful to any person, for the future, to go
out of our kingdom, and to return, safely and securely, by land or by water,
saving his allegiance to us, unless it be in time of war, for some short
space, for the common good of the kingdom: excepting prisoners and outlaws,
according to the laws of the land, and of the people of the nation at war
against us, and Merchants who shall be treated as it is said above.
(43) If any hold of any escheat, as of the Honor of Wallingford,
Nottingham, Boulogne, Lancaster, or of other escheats which are in our
hand, and are Baronies, and shall die, his heir shall not give any other
relief, nor do any other service to us, than he should have done to the
Baron, if that Barony had been in the hands of the Baron; and we will hold
it in the same manner that the Baron held it.
(44) Men who dwell without the Forest, shall not come, for the
future, before our Justiciaries of the Forest on a common summons; unless
they be parties in a plea, or sureties for some person or persons who are
attached for the Forest.
(45) We will not make Justiciaries, Constables, Sheriffs, or
Bailiffs, excepting of such as know the laws of the land, and are well
disposed to observe them.
(46) All Barons who have founded Abbies, which they hold by charters
from the Kings of England, or by ancient tenure, shall have the custody
of them when they become vacant, as they ought to have.
(47) All Forests which have been made in our time, shall be immediately
disafforested; and it shall be so done with Water-banks, which have been
taken or fenced in by us during our reign.
(48) All evil customs of Forests and Warrens, and of Foresters
and Warreners, Sheriffs and their officers, Water-banks and their keepers,
shall immediately be inquired into by twelve Knights of the same county,
upon oath, who shall be elected by good men of the same county; and within
forty days after the inquisition is made, they shall be altogether destroyed
by them never to be restored; provided that this be notified to us before
it be done, or to our Justiciary, if we be not in England.
(49) We will immediately restore all hostages and charters, which
have been delivered to us by the English, in security of the peace and
of their faithful service.
(50) We will remove from their bailiwicks the relations of Gerard
de Athyes, so that, for the future they shall have no bailiwick in England;
Engelard de Cygony, Andrew, Peter, and Gyone de Chancell, Gyone de Cygony,
Geoffrey de Martin, and his brothers, Philip Mark, and his brothers, and
Geoffrey his nephew, and all their followers.
(51) And immediately after the conclusion of the peace, we will
remove out of the kingdom all foreign knights, crossbow-men, and stipendiary
soldiers, who have come with horses and arms to the molestation of the
kingdom.
(52) If any have been disseised or dispossessed by us, without
a legal verdict of their peers, of their lands, castles, liberties, or
rights, we will immediately restore these things to them; and if any dispute
shall arise on this head, then it shall be determined by the verdict of
the twenty-five Barons, of whom mention is made below, for the security
of the peace.- Concerning all those things of which any one hath been disseised
or dispossessed, without the legal verdict of his peers by King Henry our
father, or King Richard our brother, which we have in our hand, or others
hold with our warrants, we shall have respite, until the common term of
the Crusaders, excepting those concerning which a plea had been moved,
or an inquisition taken, by our precept, before our taking the Cross; but
as soon as we shall return from our expedition, or if, by chance, we should
not go upon our expedition, we will immediately do complete justice therein.
(53) The same respite will we have, and the same justice shall
be done, concerning the disafforestation of the forests, or the forests
which remain to be disafforested, which Henry our father, or Richard our
brother, have afforested; and the same concerning the wardship of lands
which are in another’s fee, but the wardship of which we have hitherto
had, occasioned by any of our fees held by Military Service; and for Abbies
founded in any other fee than our own, in which the Lord of the fee hath
claimed a right; and when we shall have returned, or if we shall stay from
our expedition, we shall immediately do complete justice in all these pleas.
(54) No man shall be apprehended or imprisoned on the appeal
of a woman, for the death of any other man than her husband.
(55) All fines that have been made by us unjustly, or contrary
to the laws of the land; and all fines that have been imposed unjustly,
or contrary to the laws of the land, shall be wholly remitted, or ordered
by the verdict of the twenty-five Barons, of whom mention is made below,
for the security of the peace, or by the verdict of the greater part of
them, together with the aforesaid Stephen, Archbishop of Canterbury, if
he can be present, and others whom he may think fit to bring with him:
and if he cannot be present, the business shall proceed, notwithstanding,
without him; but so, that if any one or more of the aforesaid twenty-five
Barons have a similar plea, let them be removed from that particular trial,
and others elected and sworn by the residue of the same twenty-five, be
substituted in their room, only for that trial.
(56) If we have disseised or dispossessed any Welshmen of their
lands, or liberties, or other things, without a legal verdict of their
peers, in England or in Wales, they shall be immediately restored to them;
and if any dispute shall arise upon this head then let it be determined
in the Marches by the verdict of their peers: for a tenement of England,
according to the law of England; for a tenement of Wales, according to
the law of Wales; for tenement of the Marches, according to the law of
the Marches. The Welsh shall do the same to us and to our subjects.
(57) Also concerning those things of which any Welshman hath
been disseised or dispossessed without the legal verdict of his peers,
by King Henry our father, or King Richard our brother, which we have in
our hand, or others hold with our warrant, we shall have respite, until
the common term of the Crusaders, excepting for those concerning which
a plea had been moved, or an inquisition made, by our precept, before our
taking the cross. But as soon as we shall return from our expedition, or
if, by chance, we should not go upon our expedition, we shall immediately
do complete justice therein, according to the laws of Wales, and the parts
aforesaid.
(58) We will immediately deliver up the son of Llewelin, and
all the hostages of Wales, and release them from their engagements which
were made with us, for the security of the peace.
(59) We shall do to Alexander King of Scotland, concerning the
restoration of his sisters and hostages, and his liberties and rights,
according to the form in which we act to our other Barons of England, unless
it ought to be otherwise by the charters which we have from his father
William, the late King of Scotland; and this shall be by the verdict of
his peers in our court.
(60) Also all these customs and liberties aforesaid, which we
have granted to be held in our kingdom, for so much of it as belongs to
us, all our subjects, as well clergy as laity, shall observe towards their
tenants as far as concerns them.
(61)But since we have granted all these things
aforesaid, for GOD, and for the amendment of our kingdom, and for the better
extinguishing the discord which has arisen between us and our Barons, we
being desirous that these things should possess entire and unshaken stability
for ever, give and grant to them the security underwritten; namely, that
the Barons may elect twenty-five Barons of the kingdom, whom they please,
who shall with their whole power, observe, keep, and cause to be observed,
the peace and liberties which we have granted to them, and have confirmed
by this our present charter, in this manner: that is to say, if we, or
our Justiciary, or our bailiffs, or any of our officers, shall have injured
any one in any thing, or shall have violated any article of the peace or
security, and the injury shall have been shown to four of the aforesaid
twenty-five Barons, the said four Barons shall come to us, or to our Justiciary
if we be out of the kingdom, and making known to us the excess committed,
petition that we cause that excess to be redressed without delay. And if
we shall not have redressed the excess, or, if we have been out of the
kingdom, our Justiciary shall not have redressed it within the term of
forty days, computing from the time when it shall have been made known
to us, or to our Justiciary if we have been out of the kingdom, the aforesaid
four Barons, shall lay that cause before the residue of the twenty-five
Barons; and they, the twenty-five Barons, with the community of the whole
land, shall distress and harass us by all the ways in which they are able;
that is to say, by the taking of our castles, lands, and possessions, and
by any other means in their power, until the excess shall have been redressed,
according to their verdict; saving harmless our person, and the persons
of our Queen and children; and when it hath been redressed, they shall
behave to us as they have done before.
And whoever of our land pleaseth, may swear, that he will obey the commands
of the aforesaid twenty-five Barons, in accomplishing all the things aforesaid,
and that with them he will harass us to the utmost of his power: and we
publicly and freely give leave to every one to swear who is willing to
swear; and we will never forbid any to swear. But all those of our land,
who, of themselves, and of their own accord, are unwilling to swear to
the twenty-five Barons, to distress and harass us together with them, we
will compel them by our command, to swear as aforesaid.
And if any one of the twenty-five Barons shall die, or remove out of
the land, or in any other way shall be prevented from executing the things
above said, they who remain of the twenty-five Barons shall elect another
in his place, according to their own pleasure, who shall be sworn in the
same manner as the rest.
In all those things which are appointed to be done by these twenty-five
Barons, if it happen that all the twenty-five have been present, and have
differed in their opinions about any thing, or if some of them who had
been summoned, would not, or could not be present, that which the greater
part of those who were present shall have provided and decreed, shall be
held as firm and as valid, as if all the twenty-five had agreed in it:
and the aforesaid twenty-five shall swear, that they will faithfully observe,
and, with all their power, cause to be observed, all the things mentioned
above.
And we will obtain nothing from any one, by ourselves, nor by another,
by which any of these concessions and liberties may be revoked or diminished.
And if any such thing shall have been obtained, let it be void and null:
and we will never use it, neither by ourselves nor by another.
(62) And we have fully remitted and pardoned to all men, all
the ill-will, rancor, and resentments, which have arisen between us and
our subjects, both clergy and laity, from the commencement of the discord.
Moreover, we have fully remitted to all the clergy and laity, and as far
as belongs to us, have fully pardoned all transgressions committed by occasion
of the said discord, from Easter, in the sixteenth year of our reign, until
the conclusion of the peace.
And, moreover, we have caused to be made to them testimonial letters-patent
of the Lord Stephen, Archbishop of Canterbury, the Lord Henry, Archbishop
of Dublin, and of the aforesaid Bishops, and of Master Pandulph concerning
this security, and the aforesaid concessions.
(63) Wherefore, our will is and we firmly command that the Church
of England be free, and that the men in our kingdom have and hold the aforesaid
liberties, rights, and concessions, well and in peace, freely and quietly,
fully and entirely, to them and their heirs, of us and our heirs, in all
things and places, for ever as is aforesaid.
It is also sworn, both on our part, and on that of the Barons, that
all the aforesaid shall be observed in good faith, and without any evil
intention. Witnessed by the above, and many others.
Given by our hand in the Meadow which is called Runningmead, between
Windsor and Staines, this 15th day of June, in the 17th year of our reign.
Note: Under the threat of civil war King John issued the Great
Charter in 1215, granting liberties to the barons and the church. Heavy
taxation had been laid upon those groups, since the crown needed means
for the Third Crusade as well as for the ransom of Richard I, who had been
captured by Henry VI. Through the years Magna Carta gained importance as
a more general manifesto of liberty. It was reissued several times, 1216,
1217, and 1225. There exist four copies of the document, originally written
in Latin.
