Magna Carta originals reunited for 800th anniversary

By Saul Loeb

Visitors look at the Lincoln Cathedral Magna Carta during the opening of an exhibition celebrating the 800th anniversary of the Magna Carta at the Library of Congress in Washington, DC, November 6, 2014.

The four surviving original Magna Carta copies go on display together for the first time from Monday as Britain kicks off 800th anniversary celebrations for a contract with global significance.

Considered the cornerstone of liberty, modern democracy, justice and the rule of law, the 1215 English charter forms the basis for legal systems around the world, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the US constitution.

A total of 1,215 people, drawn from a ballot, have won the chance to see the unification at the British Library, which is bringing together its two originals with those of Lincoln and Salisbury cathedrals from Monday to Wednesday.

The four parchments will also be on private show in parliament on Thursday, kicking off a year of celebrations for a document that still has resonance eight centuries on.

"No free man shall be taken or imprisoned or disseized or outlawed or exiled or in any way ruined, nor will we go and send against him except by the lawful judgement of his peers by the law of the land," it states in Latin.

"To no one will we sell, to no one will we deny or delay right or justice."

- Rebel barons challenged king -

In June 1215, the wayward king John agreed to the demands of rebellious barons to curb his powers and sealed the charter at Runnymede, a meadow by the River Thames west of London.

Although nearly a third of the text was dropped or substantially rewritten within 10 years and almost all the 63 clauses have been repealed, Magna Carta's principles have become "a potent, international rallying cry against the arbitrary use of power", says the British Library.

Anthony Clarke, one of Britain's Supreme Court judges, said it remains important as governments seek a balance between issues of security, individual rights, the rule of law and the "principles of justice that lie at the foundation of society".

The principles that justice should be available to all, the law applies to all equally and leaders can only exercise power in accordance with the law continue to be fought for in many parts of the world.

The Magna Carta Trust, which looks after the memorial site in Runnymede, believes the charter's importance is growing.

"800 years on, Magna Carta's best days lie ahead," it said.

"As an idea of freedom, democracy and the rule of law, it is lapping against the shores of despotism.

"The principles set out in Magna Carta have driven the Arab Spring and the continuing protests against despotism around the world."

- Charter linked to prosperity -

Magna Carta's principles extend well beyond the world's common law jurisdictions such as the United States, India and Australia which inherited England's legal system.

Lawyer David Wootton, a former lord mayor of London -- a role representing the city's business heartland -- said English law was the "common currency" of global business deals precisely due to the protections derived from Magna Carta.

"Investors regard their money as safe here (in London) because of the protections in the legal system," he said.

"There is a close relationship between economic development, societal development and the quality of a country's legal system."

Events are being staged across England throughout 2015 to mark the anniversary, including a major international commemoration event at Runnymede on June 15.

Exhibitions, debates, conferences, church services, lectures, charity dinners, theater performances, tourist trails, village fetes, and even a national peal of bells are being staged.

There will also be a mock trial of the barons who forced the creation of the charter in parliament's Westminster Hall to debate whether they were guilty of treason.

Magna Carta Found In Council Archives, Valued At £10 Million
PA | [Press Association] Posted: 08/02/2015 02:04 GMT Updated: 08/02/2015 02:59 GM

An edition of the Magna Carta which could be worth up to £10 million has been found after it lay forgotten in a council's archives. The discovery of the version of the historical parchment which established the principle of the rule of law, in the files of the history department of Kent County Council, has been described as an important historical find by an expert.

The document was found in the archives kept in Maidstone but belonging to the town of Sandwich. Speaking from Paris, Professor Nicholas Vincent, of the University of East Anglia, who authenticated the document, said: "It is a fantastic discovery which comes in the week that the four other known versions were brought together at the Houses of Parliament. It is a fantastic piece of news for Sandwich which puts it in a small category of towns and institutions that own a 1300 issue."

Prof Vincent said the fact Sandwich had its own Magna Carta gives backing to the theory that it was issued more widely than previously thought to at least 50 cathedral towns and ports. And he added the discovery gives him hope that further copies will also turn up.

There are only 24 editions of the Magna Carta in known existence around the world.

Prof Vincent said: "It must have been much more widely distributed than previously thought because if Sandwich had one... the chances are it went out to a lot of other towns. And it is very likely that there are one or two out there somewhere that no one has spotted yet."

Prof Vincent, who specializes in medieval history, said the value of the Sandwich edition could be up to £10 million, but it was ripped with about a third missing. He said: "This would be an upper value as it has, like the town of Sandwich, suffered over time from French invasions and the like."

The discovery was made by archivist Dr Mark Bateson at the end of December just before the 800th anniversary year celebrations of King John's concession. The Sandwich Magna Carta was found when Prof Vincent asked Dr Bateson to look up a copy of the town's original Charter of the Forest.

It was found next to the charter in a Victorian scrapbook and its high value comes from the fact it also comprises the Forest Charter. There is only one other such pair in the world, owned by Oriel College, Oxford. It is understood that Sandwich does not intend to sell its Magna Carta but instead is hoping to benefit from its potential as a tourist attraction.

Paul Graeme, mayor of Sandwich Town Council, said: "On behalf of Sandwich Town Council, I would like to say that we are absolutely delighted to discover that an original Magna Carta and original Charter of the Forest, previously unknown, are in our ownership.

"To own one of these documents, let alone both, is an immense privilege given their international importance. Perhaps it is fitting that they belong to a town where Thomas Paine lived, who proposed in his pamphlet Common Sense a Continental Charter for what were then the American colonies, 'answering to what is called the Magna Carta of England... securing freedom and property to all men, and ... the free exercise of religion'."

He added: "Through the American Declaration of Independence, continuing in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Magna Carta still underpins individual liberties worldwide. To own such a document - and the Charter of the Forest - is an honor and a great responsibility."

The four known 1215 editions are from Salisbury Cathedral, Lincoln Cathedral and two held at the British Library. They were brought together for a one-day exhibition at Parliament for a crowd of 2,015 chosen by a public ballot.

Speaking of the exhibition, the Lord Speaker, Baroness D'Souza, said: "Magna Carta established the principle of the rule of law and equality before the law; for 800 years we have been influenced by its contents and it remains one of the most important political documents in the world, with countries such as the United States, Australia, New Zealand and Canada tracing constitutional influences back to Magna Carta.

The Speaker, Rt Hon John Bercow MP, said: "Over the past eight centuries the public and their Parliament have shaped society and changed the way we live our lives. The sealing of the Magna Carta in 1215 and the Montfort parliament of 1265 marked the start of the journey towards modern rights and representation, paving the way for the House of Commons and democracy as we know it today."

The parchment, which was issued by Edward I in 1300, is the final version of Magna Carta and three of its clauses remain on the statute books today. These include the defense of the church, the protection of the City of London and the right to trial by jury.

The first Magna Carta was drafted by the Archbishop of Canterbury and agreed by King John on June 15, 1215 to make peace with a group of rebel barons. It was reissued and reaffirmed on many occasions in subsequent years.

• Alastair Grant/AP
  Members of the media film four of the original surviving Magna Carta manuscripts that have been brought together by the British Library for the first time, during a media preview in London, Monday, Feb. 2, 2015. The event marks the 800th anniversary of the Magna Carta, which established the timeless principle that no individual, even a monarch, is above the law. The original Magna Carta manuscripts were written and sealed in late June and early July 1215, and sent individually throughout the country.
• Matt Dunham/AP
  Lines of manuscript text are seen through a glass cabinet on the Salisbury Cathedral 1215 copy of the Magna Carta as it is displayed with the three other surviving original parchment engrossments of the Magna Carta to mark the 800th anniversary of the sealing of Magna Carta at Runnymede in 1215, in the Queen's Robing Room at the Houses of Parliament in London, Thursday, Feb. 5, 2015.
• Alastair Grant/AP
  The seal of King John is seen on one of the four original surviving Magna Carta manuscripts that have been brought together by the British Library for the first time, during a media preview in London, Monday, Feb. 2, 2015. King John agreed the terms of the charter known originally as the Charter of Runnymede, now known as the Magna Carta, on June, 15, 1015, they were authenticated by John's great seal, not his signature, which established the timeless principle that no individual, even a monarch, is above the law.
• Matt Dunham/PA Wire
  The Salisbury Cathedral 1215 copy of the Magna Carta is installed in a cabinet by Chris Woods (right), the director of the National Conservation Service, to be displayed alongside the other three surviving original parchment engrossments of the Magna Carta to mark the 800th anniversary of the sealing of Magna Carta at Runnymede in 1215, in the Queen's Robing Room at the Houses of Parliament in London.
• Matt Dunham/PA Wire
  People including Salisbury Cathedral archivist Emily Naish (left) look at the Salisbury Cathedral 1215 copy of the Magna Carta as it is displayed with the three other surviving original parchment engrossments of the Magna Carta to mark the 800th anniversary of the sealing of Magna Carta at Runnymede in 1215, in the Queen's Robing Room at the Houses of Parliament in London.
• Matt Dunham/PA Wire
  People look at the four surviving original parchment engrossments of the 1215 Magna Carta as they are displayed to mark the 800th anniversary of the sealing of Magna Carta at Runnymede in 1215, in the Queen's Robing Room at the Houses of Parliament in London.
• Philip Toscano/PA Wire
  Director of Information Services and Librarian at the House of Lords, Elizabeth Hallam Smith (second right) with Sir Tim Berners-Lee (right) with his family, looking at the Salisbury Cathedral 1215 copy of the Magna Carta as part of the Maqna Carta and Parliament exhibition in the Palace of Westminster, London.