Why is magna carta important
Magna Carta Liberatum, or simply Magna Carta, means Great Charter of Freedoms†in English. It is considered as the most influential legal document that was ever written in the history of England during 1215. It is also believed to have paved the way for the development of England’s legal system and became the basis in the establishment of civil law in England’s former colonies.
Magna Carta became an important document as it served as a symbol against tyranny, a representation of a constitution that ruled over the king, and a legally written symbolism of freedom.
It was during the reign of King John of England that Magna Carta was created. This was due to the mismanagement of the kingdom that motivated the rich men consisting of the counts, dukes, and earls, to take back some of the authority from the king.
In general, Magna Carta of 1215 contains a preamble in addition to its 63 clauses which can be divided into nine important groupings that includes laws regarding the church, feudal law, feudal laws concerning subtenants; towns, trade and merchants; legal reforms, behavior of government officials, royal forests, urgent concerns like the dismissal of King John’s foreign mercenaries, and the assurance that the king will act in accordance to the legal written agreement.
In 1216, King John died and Magna Carta was reprinted with changes under King Henry III’s reign, King John’s son. It was changed and reissued in 1217 and 1225, wherein the later version was incorporated into the British statue law.
Most of the laws written in the original document of Magna Carta were no longer applied. However, there were other laws that still remained which influenced the creation of closely related civil laws like the Petition of Right in England of 1628, the Writ of Habeas Corpus in England of 1679, and the Bill of Rights by United States in 1791.
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