Magna Charta, the Great Charter granted by King John of England to the barons, has since that time been viewed as the basis of the English constitution. The oppressions of a tyrannical sovereign compelled a confederacy of the barons or tenants-in-chief of the crown, who took up arms for the redress of their grievances. They demanded the restoration of the laws of Edward the Confessor and Henry I.; laws which combined Norman feudalism with Saxon and Danish institutions. A conference was held at Runnymede, on the Thames near Egham, where king and barons encamped opposite each other; and, after several days' debate, John signed and sealed the charter with great solemnity on 15th June 1215.
The Great Charter provided against the abuse of the royal prerogative by protecting the rights and obligations of the feudal proprietor. It redressed a variety of grievances connected with feudal tenures, some of which are long since obsolete. Minute provisions were made regarding the ward, relief, and marriage of heirs, and rights of their widows. No sentage or aid was to be imposed without the authority of the common council of the kingdom, except on the three great feudal occasions of the king's captivity, the knighting of his eldest son, and the marriage of his eldest daughter. The liberties of the city of London and other towns, burghs, and ports were declared inviolable. Freedom of commerce was guaranteed to foreign merchants. Justice was no longer to be sold, denied, or delayed. The Court of Common Pleas, instead of, as formerly, following the king's person in all his progresses, was permanently fixed at Westminster, assizes were appointed to be held in the several counties, annual circuits established, and regulations made for the efficiency of the inferior courts. Life, liberty, and property were protected from arbitrary spoliation, and none was to be condemned to forfeit these but by lawful judgment of his peers or by the law of the land. No one was to be condemned on rumours or suspicions, but only on evidence of witnesses. Fines imposed were in all cases to be proportioned to the magnitude of the offence, and even the villein or rustic was not to be deprived of his necessary chattels. The testamentary power of the subject was recognised over part of his personal estate, and the rest was to be divided between his widow and children. The independence of the church was also provided for.
These are the most important features of that Charter which occupies so conspicuous a place in history, and which establishes the supremacy of the law of England over the will of the monarch. A charter was at the same time granted to mitigate the oppressions of the Forest Laws (q.v.). The terms dictated by the barons to John included the surrender of London to their charge, and the Tower to the custody of the primate till the 15th of August following, or till the execution of the several articles of the Great Charter. Twenty-five barons, as conservators of the public liberties, were empowered to make war against the sovereign in case of his violation of the Charter. Several solemn ratifications were required by the barons both from John and from Henry III.; and a copy of the Great Charter was sent to every cathedral, and ordered to be read publicly twice a year. The copy preserved in Lincoln Cathedral is regarded as the most accurate and complete; and a fac-simile of it was published by the Records Commissioners in 1865. See Bishop Stubbs's Select Charters (1870).