Magna Carta
Rebel barons force a king to accept that he is bound by law.
- When
- Era
- Post-Classical, Holocene
Sealed at Runnymede in June 1215 under duress, the charter is a settlement of specific baronial grievances, annulled by the pope within ten weeks, and mostly concerned with feudal dues. Its lasting importance is a few clauses stating that no free man may be imprisoned or dispossessed except by lawful judgement of his peers or the law of the land, and that justice will not be sold or delayed. Those were reinterpreted centuries later into a general principle that power is subject to law.