THE MAGNA CARTA 1215: Written by John LACKLAND. It is a charter

Art. 21. This article is a limited application only for the earls (un comte) and barons, not for the majority of the population. Trial by one's peers (equals).
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CIVILISATION BRITANNIQUE WEEK 4

THE MAGNA CARTA

1215: Written by John LACKLAND. It is a charter (legal document in which the King grants new rights to his citizens). There are 61 clauses in this charter. It applied for a group of persons. There were 3 categories of people in 1215:  The King  The nobility  The serfs Art. 21 This article is a limited application only for the earls (un comte) and barons, not for the majority of the population. Trial by one’s peers (equals). It is a guarantee of impartiality. There is a proportion between the sentence and the offence. They are protected by the King’s judgment (partial, tyrannical, dictatorial). It is a guarantee against the arbitrary condemnation by the King. Livelihood = Means of subsistence / Gagne pain. Art. 20 A judgment should not be excessive. Example: taking the merchandise of a merchant and reducing him to poverty. The court of justice must ask the neighborhood in the judgment. Trial by one’s peers is fairer than the trial by the King. The population was composed of serfs (80%) and nobility/freemen (20%). In The Magna Carta, there are 2 principles:  Only free men are judged with the neighborhood’s advice.  Only earls and barons are judged by their peers. In the Feudal system, the vassal pays/owes allegiance to his lord. Everyone has a lord. The Article 8 of the Magna Carta is totally outdated. The Magna Carta is a fundament of the English Constitution. It became a constitutional text because it gives the right to justice. It is a fair trial. It gives guarantees against the arbitrary government (justice, taxes). The Magna Carta is important because some of the principles are still valid. The Magna Carta became a myth because it was nnot supposed to be a keynot document. It was the 1st constitutional proclamation (the earliest, actually). The charter was reissued and reconfirmed several times.