Limited Government And Rule Of Law As Seen In The Magna Carta

Laws are created to maintain order and to allow people to live at peace with one and other. Laws also serve as a guarantee that people will be able to enjoy certain rights which are outlined in the laws created as well as protect the people from governmental bully. The Magna Carta and the Bill of Rights are both important documents which were written to outline laws that those in power must abide by in order to give rights to citizens. Both documents changed history. In this paper, I will compare and contrast both the Magna Carta and the Bill of Rights-mainly the first ten amendments, in terms of who were making demands, what rights they were demanding, as well as who benefitted from those demands.

First, the Magna Carta is a legal document that was written in 1215. It was written to acknowledge the things the king of England was doing to abuse his power while watching the other English people suffer, and also to enforce a set of rules that everyone would have to follow.

In England, King John was restricting the citizens’ rights, consequently the nobles rebelled against King John. In 1215 AD, the nobles forced King John to sign a document called the “Magna Carta” (or “Great Charter” in English). The Magna Carta tried to enforce the concepts of rule of law, trial by jury, and limited government. Due process is a fair trial by your peers and a speedy trial, which makes it less likely for an unjust trial. This concept is reflected in the United States Constitution: Clause 39 of the Manga Carta states, “No free man is to be arrested, or imprisoned, or disseised, or outlawed, or exiled, or in any other way ruined, nor will we go against him or send against him, except by the lawful judgment of his peers or by the law of the land.” The Manga Carta is saying that you need to have a trial by jury. Article 2, Section 3 of the United States Constitution, the document that formed the American government, states: “The Trial of all Crimes; except in Cases of Impeachment, shall be by Jury.” The Constitution was denoting that a citizen has the right to a trial by jury, parallel to the Manga Carta. A trial by jury is an important concept in a government, because it allows people to be tried justly. If

Today, we have freedom in many forms, freedom of speech, freedom of the press and freedom of religion. The Magna Carta and John Locke’s Second Treatise on Government laid the foundation for the freedom we enjoy today. The Magna Carta accomplished the liberty Englishmen currently enjoy by raising the status quo of peasants to commoner. This means those born to royalty will begin to treat peasants (underpeers) as people, for instance the Magna Carta states “(9) Neither we [feudal barons] nor our officials will seize any land or rent in payment of a debt, so long the debtor has movable goods sufficient to discharge the debt.” Similarly to the U.S., which has three branches of government to limit power, executive, legislative and judicial; the

The Magna Carta was the first document in which English subjects to force English king into power; granting and protecting the subjects’ rights. This was important since the king at

Everyone is created equal in the eyes of the Declaration of Independence, but before this document was even thought about, this was not the case for colonist in the New World. They didn’t have an enemy like the indians, they were up against themselves in the New World, their own King. Many people came to the New World hoping for freedom and independence, but they realized once they got there that this new world was far from being the land they were promised and they land they hoped to get away from. Many things caused new colonist to revolt, including English traditions, enlightenment ideas about rights and government, and what the King did to anger the colonist. It was these reason they decided to start a revolution, the American Revolution.

The Magna Carta was an agreement between King John of England and his baron’s that limited his powers over the kingdom. Article 29 of the Magna Carta exemplifies the limitations of the king in favor of the people by stating, “No freeman is to be taken or imprisoned or disseised of his free tenement or of his liberties or free customs, or outlawed or exiled or in any way ruined, nor will we go against such a man or send against him save by lawful judgement of his peers or by the law of the land. To no-one will we sell or deny of delay right or justice” (Article 29 of the Magna Carta). The Magna Carta was an extraordinary step in history that has helped shape the forms of government that we practice today. This document laid the foundation of the democracies that were yet to come. The creation and implementation of the Magna Carta was a significant historical event that took place during the Middle Ages. Although it is one of few written documents that took place during this time period, it is surely one of the most important events in

Charlemagne merged power into a centralized government and entailed men to take an oath(Frankpledge). The Frankpledge is made of social control reinforced by oath to obey the law of the land. Today, in Law Enforcement agencies are officers are required to take an oath, and the Federal government unites law enforcement agencies. The Magna Carter was in introduced in England in 1215. The document limited the king’s power and gave the citizens of England certain rights. This document would be similar to the Constitution that officers swear to uphold of each citizen.(Conser, J., Paynich, R., & Gingerich, T. 2013 pages 34,

The Magna Carta has been a standout amongst the most productive and important documents in history. English Nobles created this paper. They made it to limited the power of the king, protect peoples rights, due process, to show the king has to follow all the same laws the people on his land follow too and many others. The Magna Carta influenced the executive historical process that led to the Rule of Constitutional law, the development of the Common Law, Charters of Freedom and Gettysburg Address. Notably, the U.S Constitution. The following quote from the U.S Constitution supports that is was influenced by the Magna Carta "no person shall ... be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of the law." The Magna Carta's has become

The rule of law is whereby the government and all those who govern are bound by the law and everyone must follow the law. Rule of law is also known as nomocracy. Government individual officials are not entitled to make any decision which is not in accordance to the law (Paulsen, Calabresi, McConnell & Bray, 2013). All the citizens are governed by the law including those who make the laws. A. V. Dicey has highly advocated for rule of law in modern times and has popularized it. In history the idea of rule of law can be traced back to the ancient civilizations like China, Mesopotamia, and Rome among others.

Magna Carta says that the government should treat its people to have different rights. One right that they would have is the right of a wealthy widow that would have centuries-long relevance. It would guaranteed them church freedom. This means that the rich widows will have every right and freedom to be in that church. Another thing he says how the government should treat its people is by making sure of their safety. Taking care of your safety means you have to follow the rules. Even the king has to follow these rules for his safety. This is stating that it does not matter how old you are or how young you are everyone has rules that will keep them safe.

In the year 1606, a joint-stock company called the Virginia Company was granted a charter by the King granting them a settlement in the New World. Alongside granting the Virginia Company a section of land in the New World, the charter permitted the colonists with the same rights and liberties as an Englishman, even though they were an ocean away, and banned colonists from trading with any foreign countries besides England without the King's approval. However throughout the years the colonists Englishman rights were constantly violated. Outlined by the colonists in the Declaration of Independence, the king “deprived [the colonists] in many cases, of a Trial by Jury”, a fundamental Englishman right outlined in the Magna Carta. The King was

In 1215 King John of England wielded absolute power. A group of barons were unhappy and made the King sign a charter which in theory limited the constitutional power of the King and gave powerful barons a say in legislation and taxation. The Magna Carta was far from creating a democracy, but it was very significant for ending the rule of absolute monarchs and had the seeds of parliamentary government. It resulted in a limited monarchy. The king now had to consult his nobles before implementing taxes and going to war. The king's power was limited because he had to consult his nobles to tax citizens or go to war. The transfer of some power from the king to the nobles introduces basic freedom and property rights to "free men".

As a result of looking through Thomas Hobbes’ view on monarchy and John Locke’s view on democracy, both perspectives provide a vast amount of information of an ideal government. In Locke’s book, Second Treatise of Government, chapter 11 is devoted to legislative power, which Locke identifies as the most important part of the government. Locke provides rules for this legislative power. The first is the preservation of society. No one can challenge the power of the legislative body, or pass laws of their own. This power is invested in the body of the majority. In this chapter, he brings up a constant

The rule of law is seen as being one of the most fundamental components of the UK constitution as well as being a principle that is concerned with restricting parliamentary action. Though the rule of law is seen to be a component in the constitution; the actual meaning of the rule of law has been very problematic to interpret. This is considerably down to the fact that it means different things to different people as since the nineteenth century, academics, politicians and judges have proposed diverse definitions and explanations in regards to the rule of law and the role it upholds in the UK constitution.