tan-columbus
The Magna Carta (The Great
Charter)
1215
(Clauses marked (+) are still valid
under the charter of 1225, but with a few minor
amendments. Clauses marked (*) were
omitted in all later reissues of the charter. In
the charter
itself the clauses are not
numbered, and the text reads continuously. The
translation sets out to
convey the
sense rather than the precise wording of the
original Latin.)
JOHN, by the grace of
God King of England, Lord of Ireland, Duke of
Normandy and
Aquitaine, and Count of
Anjou, to his archbishops, bishops, abbots, earls,
barons, justices,
foresters, sheriffs,
stewards, servants, and to all his officials and
loyal subjects, Greeting.
KNOW THAT
BEFORE GOD, for the health of our soul and those
of our ancestors and
heirs, to the
honour of God, the exaltation of the holy Church,
and the better ordering of our
kingdom,
at the advice of our reverend fathers Stephen,
archbishop of Canterbury, primate of all
England, and cardinal of the holy Roman
Church, Henry archbishop of Dublin, William bishop
of
London, Peter bishop of Winchester,
Jocelin bishop of Bath and Glastonbury, Hugh
bishop of
Lincoln, Walter Bishop of
Worcester, William bishop of Coventry, Benedict
bishop of Rochester,
Master Pandulf
subdeacon and member of the papal household,
Brother Aymeric master of the
knighthood of the Temple in England,
William Marshal earl of Pembroke, William earl of
Salisbury, William earl of Warren,
William earl of Arundel, Alan de Galloway
constable of
Scotland, Warin Fitz
Gerald, Peter Fitz Herbert, Hubert de Burgh
seneschal of Poitou, Hugh de
Neville,
Matthew Fitz Herbert, Thomas Basset, Alan Basset,
Philip Daubeny, Robert de Roppeley,
John Marshal, John Fitz Hugh, and other
loyal subjects:
+ (1) FIRST, THAT WE
HAVE GRANTED TO GOD, and by this present charter
have
confirmed for us and our heirs in
perpetuity, that the English Church shall be free,
and shall have
its rights undiminished,
and its liberties unimpaired. That we wish this so
to be observed, appears
from the fact
that of our own free will, before the outbreak of
the present dispute between us and
our
barons, we granted and confirmed by charter the
freedom of the Church's elections - a right
reckoned to be of the greatest
necessity and importance to it - and caused this
to be confirmed by
Pope Innocent III.
This freedom we shall observe ourselves, and
desire to be observed in good
faith by
our heirs in perpetuity.
TO ALL FREE
MEN OF OUR KINGDOM we have also granted, for us
and our heirs for
ever, all the
liberties written out below, to have and to keep
for them and their heirs, of us and our
heirs:
(2) If any earl,
baron, or other person that holds lands directly
of the Crown, for military
service,
shall die, and at his death his heir shall be of
full age and owe a `relief', the heir shall have
his inheritance on payment of the
ancient scale of `relief'. That is to say, the
heir or heirs of an earl
shall pay
?
100 for the entire earl's barony, the
heir or heirs of a knight l00s. at most for the
entire
knight's `fee', and any man that
owes less shall pay less, in accordance with the
ancient usage of
`fees'
(3)
But if the heir of such a person is under age and
a ward, when he comes of age he shall
have his inheritance without `relief'
or fine.
(4) The guardian of the land
of an heir who is under age shall take from it
only reasonable
revenues, customary
dues, and feudal services. He shall do this
without destruction or damage to
men or
property. If we have given the guardianship of the
land to a sheriff, or to any person
answerable to us for the revenues, and
he commits destruction or damage, we will exact
compensation from him, and the land
shall be entrusted to two worthy and prudent men
of the
same `fee', who shall be
answerable to us for the revenues, or to the
person to whom we have
assigned them.
If we have given or sold to anyone the
guardianship of such land, and he causes
destruction or damage, he shall lose
the guardianship of it, and it shall be handed
over to two
worthy and prudent men of
the same `fee', who shall be similarly answerable
to us.
(5) For so long as a guardian
has guardianship of such land, he shall maintain
the houses,
parks, fish preserves,
ponds, mills, and everything else pertaining to
it, from the revenues of the
land
itself. When the heir comes of age, he shall
restore the whole land to him, stocked with
plough teams and such implements of
husbandry as the season demands and the revenues
from the
land can reasonably bear.
(6) Heirs may be given in marriage, but
not to someone of lower social standing. Before a
marriage takes place, it shall be' made
known to the heir's next-of-kin.
(7) At
her husband's death, a widow may have her marriage
portion and inheritance at once
and
without trouble. She shall pay nothing for her
dower, marriage portion, or any inheritance that
she and her husband held jointly on the
day of his death. She may remain in her husband's
house
for forty days after his death,
and within this period her dower shall be assigned
to her.
(8) No widow shall be compelled
to marry, so long as she wishes to remain without
a
husband. But she must give security
that she will not marry without royal consent, if
she holds her
lands of the Crown, or
without the consent of whatever other lord she may
hold them of.
(9) Neither we nor our
officials will seize any land or rent in payment
of a debt, so long as
the debtor has
movable goods sufficient to discharge the debt. A
debtor's sureties shall not be
distrained upon so long as the debtor
himself can discharge his debt. If, for lack of
means, the
debtor is unable to
discharge his debt, his sureties shall be
answerable for it. If they so desire, they
may have the debtor's lands and rents
until they have received satisfaction for the debt
that they
paid for him, unless the
debtor can show that he has settled his
obligations to them.
* (10) If anyone
who has borrowed a sum of money from Jews dies
before the debt has been
repaid, his
heir shall pay no interest on the debt for so long
as he remains under age, irrespective
of whom he holds his lands. If such a
debt falls into the hands of the Crown, it will
take nothing
except the principal sum
specified in the bond.
* (11) If a man
dies owing money to Jews, his wife may have her
dower and pay nothing
towards the debt
from it. If he leaves children that are under age,
their needs may also be provided
for on
a scale appropriate to the size of his holding of
lands. The debt is to be paid out of the
residue, reserving the service due to
his feudal lords. Debts owed to persons other than
Jews are to
be dealt with similarly.
* (12) No `scutage' or `aid' may be
levied in our kingdom without its general consent,
unless
it is for the ransom of our
person, to make our eldest son a knight, and
(once) to marry our eldest
daughter.
For these purposes ouly a reasonable `aid' may be
levied. `Aids' from the city of London
are to be treated similarly.
+ (13) The city of London shall enjoy
all its ancient liberties and free customs, both
by land
and by water. We also will and
grant that all other cities, boroughs, towns, and
ports shall enjoy all
their liberties
and free customs.
* (14) To obtain the
general consent of the realm for the assessment of
an `aid' - except in
the three cases
specified above - or a `scutage', we will cause
the archbishops, bishops, abbots,
earls, and greater barons to be
summoned individually by letter. To those who hold
lands directly
of us we will cause a
general summons to be issued, through the sheriffs
and other officials, to
come together
on a fixed day (of which at least forty days
notice shall be given) and at a fixed
place. In all letters of summons, the
cause of the summons will be stated. When a
summons has
been issued, the business
appointed for the day shall go forward in
accordance with the resolution
of those
present, even if not all those who were summoned
have appeared.
* (15) In future we will
allow no one to levy an `aid' from his free men,
except to ransom his
person, to make
his eldest son a knight, and (once) to marry his
eldest daughter. For these
purposes
only a reasonable `aid' may be levied.
(16) No man shall be forced to perform
more service for a knight's `fee', or other free
holding of land, than is due from it.
(17) Ordinary lawsuits shall not follow
the royal court around, but shall be held in a
fixed
place.
(18) Inquests
of
novel disseisin
,
mort d'ancestor
, and
darrein presentment
shall be
taken
only in their proper county
court. We ourselves, or in our absence abroad our
chief justice, will
send two justices
to each county four times a year, and these
justices, with four knights of the
county elected by the county itself,
shall hold the assizes in the county court, on the
day and in the
place where the court
meets.
(19) If any assizes cannot be
taken on the day of the county court, as many
knights and
freeholders shall
afterwards remain behind, of those who have
attended the court, as will suffice
for
the administration of justice, having regard to
the volume of business to be done.
(20)
For a trivial offence, a free man shall be fined
only in proportion to the degree of his
offence, and for a serious offence
correspondingly, but not so heavily as to deprive
him of his
livelihood. In the same way,
a merchant shall be spared his merchandise, and a
husbandman the
implements of his
husbandry, if they fall upon the mercy of a royal
court. None of these fines shall
be
imposed except by the assessment on oath of
reputable men of the neighbourhood.
(21) Earls and barons shall be fined
only by their equals, and in proportion to the
gravity of
their offence.
(22) A fine imposed upon the lay
property of a clerk in holy orders shall be
assessed upon
the same principles,
without reference to the value of his
ecclesiastical benefice.
(23) No town
or person shall be forced to build bridges over
rivers except those with an
ancient
obligation to do so.
(24) No sheriff,
constable, coroners, or other royal officials are
to hold lawsuits that should
be held by
the royal justices.
* (25) Every
county, hundred, wapentake, and tithing shall
remain at its ancient rent, without
increase, except the royal demesne
manors.
(26) If at the death of a man
who holds a lay `fee' of the Crown, a sheriff or
royal official
produces royal letters
patent of summons for a debt due to the Crown, it
shall be lawful for them
to seize and
list movable goods found in the lay `fee' of the
dead man to the value of the debt, as
assessed by worthy men. Nothing shall
be removed until the whole debt is paid, when the
residue
shall be given over to the
executors to carry out the dead man s will. If no
debt is due to the Crown,
all the
movable goods shall be regarded as the property of
the dead man, except the reasonable
shares of his wife and children.
* (27) If a free man dies intestate,
his movable goods are to be distributed by his
next-of-kin
and friends, under the
supervision of the Church. The rights of his
debtors are to be preserved.
(28) No
constable or other royal official shall take corn
or other movable goods from any
man
without immediate payment, unless the seller
voluntarily offers postponement of this.
(29) No constable may compel a knight
to pay money for castle-guard if the knight is
willing
to undertake the guard in
person, or with reasonable excuse to supply some
other fit man to do it.
A knight taken
or sent on military service shall be excused from
castle-guard for the period of this
servlce.
(30) No sheriff,
royal official, or other person shall take horses
or carts for transport from
any free
man, without his consent.
(31) Neither
we nor any royal official will take wood for our
castle, or for any other purpose,
without the consent of the owner.
(32) We will not keep the lands of
people convicted of felony in our hand for longer
than a
year and a day, after which they
shall be returned to the lords of the `fees'
concerned.
(33) All fish-weirs shall be
removed from the Thames, the Medway, and
throughout the
whole of England, except
on the sea coast.
(34) The writ called
precipe
shall not in future
be issued to anyone in respect of any holding
of land, if a free man could thereby be
deprived of the right of trial in his own lord's
court.
(35) There shall be standard
measures of wine, ale, and corn (the London
quarter),
throughout the kingdom. There
shall also be a standard width of dyed cloth,
russett, and haberject,
namely two ells
within the selvedges. Weights are to be
standardised similarly.
(36) In future
nothing shall be paid or accepted for the issue of
a writ of inquisition of life or
limbs.
It shall be given gratis, and not refused.
(37) If a man holds land of the Crown
by `fee-farm', `socage', or `burgage', and also
holds
land of someone else for knight's
service, we will not have guardianship of his
heir, nor of the land
that belongs to
the other person's `fee', by virtue of the `fee-
farm', `socage', or `burgage', unless the
`fee-farm' owes knight's service. We
will not have the guardianship of a man's heir, or
of land that
he holds of someone else,
by reason of any small property that he may hold
of the Crown for a
service of knives,
arrows, or the like.
(38) In future no
official shall place a man on trial upon his own
unsupported statement,
without
producing credible witnesses to the truth of it.
+ (39) No free man shall be seized or
imprisoned, or stripped of his rights or
possessions, or
outlawed or exiled, or
deprived of his standing in any other way, nor
will we proceed with force
against him,
or send others to do so, except by the lawful
judgement of his equals or by the law of
the land.
+ (40) To no one
will we sell, to no one deny or delay right or
justice.
(41) All merchants may enter
or leave England unharmed and without fear, and
may stay or
travel within it, by land
or water, for purposes of trade, free from all
illegal exactions, in
accordance with
ancient and lawful customs. This, however, does
not apply in time of war to
merchants
from a country that is at war with us. Any such
merchants found in our country at the
outbreak of war shall be detained
without injury to their persons or property, until
we or our chief
justice have discovered
how our own merchants are being treated in the
country at war with us. If
our own
merchants are safe they shall be safe too.
* (42) In future it shall be lawful for
any man to leave and return to our kingdom
unharmed
and without fear, by land or
water, preserving his allegiance to us, except in
time of war, for some
short period, for
the common benefit of the realm. People that have
been imprisoned or outlawed
in
accordance with the law of the land, people from a
country that is at war with us, and merchants
- who shall be dealt with as stated
above - are excepted from this provision.
(43) If a man holds lands of any
`escheat' such as the `honour' of Wallingford,
Nottingham,
Boulogne, Lancaster, or of
other `escheats' in our hand that are baronies, at
his death his heir shall
give us only
the `relief' and service that he would have made
to the baron, had the barony been in
the baron's hand. We will hold the
`escheat' in the same manner as the baron held it.
(44) People who live outside the forest
need not in future appear before the royal
justices of
the forest in answer to
general summonses, unless they are actually
involved in proceedings or are
sureties
for someone who has been seized for a forest
offence.
* (45) We will appoint as
justices, constables, sheriffs, or other
officials, only men that know
the law
of the realm and are minded to keep it well.
(46) All barons who have founded
abbeys, and have charters of English kings or
ancient
tenure as evidence of this, may
have guardianship of them when there is no abbot,
as is their due.
(47) All forests that
have been created in our reign shall at once be
disafforested.
River-banks that have
been enclosed in our reign shall be treated
similarly.
* (48) All evil customs
relating to forests and warrens, foresters,
warreners, sheriffs and their
servants,
or river-banks and their wardens, are at once to
be investigated in every county by twelve
sworn knights of the county, and within
forty days of their enquiry the evil customs are
to be
abolished completely and
irrevocably. But we, or our chief justice if we
are not in England, are
first to be
informed.
* (49) We will at once return
all hostages and charters delivered up to us by
Englishmen as
security for peace or for
loyal service.
* (50) We will remove
completely from their offices the kinsmen of
Gerard de Athé
e, and in
future they shall hold no offices in
England. The people in question are Engelard de
Cigogné
',
Peter, Guy, and
Andrew de Chanceaux, Guy de Cigogné
,
Geoffrey de Martigny and his brothers,
Philip Marc and his brothers, with
Geoffrey his nephew, and all their followers.
* (51) As soon as peace is restored, we
will remove from the kingdom all the foreign
knights,
bowmen, their attendants, and
the mercenaries that have come to it, to its harm,
with horses and
arms.
* (52)
To any man whom we have deprived or dispossessed
of lands, castles, liberties, or
rights, without the lawful judgement of
his equals, we will at once restore these. In
cases of
dispute the matter shall be
resolved by the judgement of the twenty-five
barons referred to below
in the clause
for securing the peace (§
61). In
cases, however, where a man was deprived or
dispossessed of something without the
lawful judgement of his equals by our father King
Henry or
our brother King Richard, and
it remains in our hands or is held by others under
our warranty, we
shall have respite for
the period commonly allowed to Crusaders, unless a
lawsuit had been begun,
or an enquiry
had been made at our order, before we took the
Cross as a Crusader. On our return
from
the Crusade, or if we abandon it, we will at once
render justice in full.
* (53) We shall
have similar respite in rendering justice in
connexion with forests that are to
be
disafforested, or to remain forests, when these
were first a-orested by our father Henry or our
brother Richard; with the guardianship
of lands in another person's `fee', when we have
hitherto
had this by virtue of a `fee'
held of us for knight's service by a third party;
and with abbeys
founded in another
person's `fee', in which the lord of the `fee'
claims to own a right. On our return
from the Crusade, or if we abandon it,
we will at once do full justice to complaints
about these
matters.
(54) No
one shall be arrested or imprisoned on the appeal
of a woman for the death of any
person
except her husband.
* (55) All fines
that have been given to us unjustiy and against
the law of the land, and all
fines that
we have exacted unjustly, shall be entirely
remitted or the matter decided by a majority
judgement of the twenty-five barons
referred to below in the clause for securing the
peace (§
61)
together with
Stephen, archbishop of Canterbury, if he can be
present, and such others as he
wishes
to bring with him. If the archbishop cannot be
present, proceedings shall continue without
him, provided that if any of the
twenty-five barons has been involved in a similar
suit himself, his
judgement shall be
set aside, and someone else chosen and sworn in
his place, as a substitute for
the
single occasion, by the rest of the twenty-five.
(56) If we have deprived or
dispossessed any Welshmen of lands, liberties, or
anything else
in England or in Wales,
without the lawful judgement of their equals,
these are at once to be
returned to
them. A dispute on this point shall be determined
in the Marches by the judgement of
equals. English law shall apply to
holdings of land in England, Welsh law to those in
Wales, and
the law of the Marches to
those in the Marches. The Welsh shall treat us and
ours in the same way.
* (57) In cases
where a Welshman was deprived or dispossessed of
anything, without the
lawful judgement
of his equals, by our father King Henry or our
brother King Richard, and it
remains in
our hands or is held by others under our warranty,
we shall have respite for the period
commonly allowed to Crusaders, unless a
lawsuit had been begun, or an enquiry had been
made at
our order, before we took the
Cross as a Crusader. But on our return from the
Crusade, or if we
abandon it, we will
at once do full justice according to the laws of
Wales and the said regions.
* (58) We
will at once return the son of Llywelyn, all Welsh
hostages, and the charters
delivered to
us as security for the peace.
* (59)
With regard to the return of the sisters and
hostages of Alexander, king of Scotland,
his liberties and his rights, we will
treat him in the same way as our other barons of
England,
unless it appears from the
charters that we hold from his father William,
formerly king of Scotland,
that he
should be treated otherwise. This matter shall be
resolved by the judgement of his equals in
our court.
(60) All these
customs and liberties that we have granted shall
be observed in our kingdom
in so far as
concerns our own relations with our subjects. Let
all men of our kingdom, whether
clergy
or laymen, observe them similarly in their
relations with their own men.