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Magna Carta Essay

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The Magna Carta is the most famous document in British history, being introduced and signed by King John in 1215. The Magna Carta opened the doors to democracy in England and America. The Magna Carta or the “Great Charter” has been hailed as the “sacred text” of liberty in the Western World. The Magna Carta set the foundation and basic ideas for modern democracy. It gave the people basic rights and abolished absolute monarchy for England. The Magna Carta provided and built the foundation for modern democracy with its premises the government guarantees basic rights for the people, established a basic rule of law and allowing a group to govern rather than an individual. The Magna Carta guarantees basic rights for the people. Before the Magna …show more content…

Before the Magna Carta, the monarch has all the power, and could do whatever the monarch wishes, today that would be considered being above the law. Diminishing the power of government workers, section twenty-four states "No sheriff, constable, coroners, or other royal are hold to lawsuits that should be held by the royal justices (Langton 24)". Stating no government official is above the law with no exceptions. This is to provide a uniform system of justice. Ruling under an absolute monarchy, the monarch could have someone arrested and imprisoned for no apparent reason. Imprisonment with no reason is abolished by section thirty-nine in the Magna Carta, it states "no free man shall have seized or imprisoned, or stripped of his rights or his possessions, outlawed or exiled […] except by lawful of his equals or by the law (Langton 39)". This states the monarch is no longer allowed to punish people unless found guilty by the law or by a jury. Section thirty-nine guarantees the individual convicted shall have a jury of one's peers, this section is one of the most crucial out of the document. The Magna Carta stated that no royal or government official is above the law, including the imprisonment of an individual unless for a valid reason and found

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