Magna Carta

The 1215 charter forced on King John establishing that the monarch is subject to law.

Overview

Sealed at Runnymede in June 1215 by King John under pressure from rebellious barons, Magna Carta established the principle that the king was bound by law, not above it. Of its 63 clauses, most dealt with feudal grievances, but clause 39 promised no free man would be imprisoned or dispossessed except by lawful judgment of his peers or the law of the land. Reissued and modified in 1216, 1217, and 1225, it became a foundation stone of English constitutionalism. Its symbolic power grew over centuries, cited by the American revolutionaries and embedded in legal traditions across the English speaking world.