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  • 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 only 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 service.

  • (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.

  • ***here were some strange characters, not completely removed

  • (50) We will remove completely from their offices the kinsmen of

  • Gerard de Ath, Peter, Guy, and Andrew de Chanceaux, Guy de Cigogne, and in

  • future they shall hold no offices in England. The

  • people in question are Engelard de Cigogn, Geoffrey de Martigny and his

  • brothers, Philip Marc and his brothers, with Geoffrey his nephew,

  • and all their followers. * 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. * 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. 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.

  • * 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 aforested by our father Henry or our brother

  • Richard; with the guardianship of lands in another persons fee,

  • when we have hitherto had this by virtue of a fee held of us for

  • knights service by a third party; and with abbeys founded in

  • another persons 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.

  • * No one shall be arrested or imprisoned on the appeal of a woman

  • for the death of any person except her husband. * All fines that have been given to us unjustly

  • 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 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.

  • * 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. * 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. * We will at once return the son of Llywelyn,

  • all Welsh hostages, and the charters delivered to us as security

  • for the peace. * 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.

  • * 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. ***Strange characters may have ended here.

  • SINCE WE HAVE GRANTED ALL THESE THINGS for God, for the better

  • ordering of our kingdom, and to allay the discord that has arisen

  • between us and our barons, and since we desire that they shall be

  • enjoyed in their entirety, with lasting strength, for ever, we give

  • and grant to the barons the following security: * The barons shall elect twenty-five of their

  • number to keep, and cause to be observed with all their might,

  • the peace and liberties granted and confirmed to them by this charter.

  • * If we, our chief justice, our officials, or any of our servants

  • offend in any respect against any man, or transgress any of the

  • articles of the peace or of this security, and the offence is made

  • known to four of the said twenty-five barons, they shall come to

  • us - or in our absence from the kingdom to the chief justice - to

  • declare it and claim immediate redress. If we, or in our absence

  • abroad the chief justice, make no redress within forty days,

  • reckoning from the day on which the offence was declared to us or

  • to him, the four barons shall refer the matter to the rest of the

  • twenty-five barons, who may distrain upon and assail us in every

  • way possible, with the support of the whole community of the land,

  • by seizing our castles, lands, possessions, or anything else

  • saving only our own person and those of the queen and our

  • children, until they have secured such redress as they have

  • determined upon. Having secured the redress, they may then resume

  • their normal obedience to us. * Any man who so desires may take an oath

  • to obey the commands of the twenty-five barons for the achievement

  • of these ends, and to join with them in assailing us to the utmost

  • of his power. We give public and free permission to take this oath

  • to any man who so desires, and at no time will we prohibit any

  • man from taking it. Indeed, we will compel any of our subjects

  • who are unwilling to take it to swear it at our command.

  • * If-one of the twenty-five barons dies or leaves the country, or is

  • prevented in any other way from discharging his duties, the rest

  • of them shall choose another baron in his place, at their

  • discretion, who shall be duly sworn in as they were.

  • * In the event of disagreement among the twenty-five barons on any

  • matter referred to them for decision, the verdict of the majority

  • present shall have the same validity as a unanimous verdict of the

  • whole twenty-five, whether these were all present or some of those

  • summoned were unwilling or unable to appear. * The twenty-five barons shall swear to obey

  • all the above articles faithfully, and shall cause them to be obeyed

  • by others to the best of their power.

  • * We will not seek to procure from anyone, either by our own efforts

  • or those of a third party, anything by which any part of these

  • concessions or liberties might be revoked or diminished. Should

  • such a thing be procured, it shall be null and void and we will at

  • no time make use of it, either ourselves or through a third party.

  • We have remitted and pardoned fully to all men any ill-will, hurt, or

  • grudges that have arisen between us and our subjects, whether clergy

  • or laymen, since the beginning of the dispute. We have in addition remitted fully, and for

  • our own part have also pardoned, to all clergy and laymen any offences

  • committed as a result of the said dispute between Easter 1215 AD

  • and the restoration of peace.

  • In addition we have caused letters patent to be made for the barons,

  • bearing witness to this security and to the concessions set out above,

  • over the seals of Stephen archbishop of Canterbury, Henry archbishop

  • of Dublin, the other bishops named above, and Master Pandulf.

  • IT IS ACCORDINGLY OUR WISH AND COMMAND that the English Church shall

  • be free, and that men in our kingdom shall have and keep all these

  • liberties, rights, and concessions, well and peaceably in their

  • fulness and entirety for them and their heirs, of us and our heirs, in

  • all things and all places for ever.

  • Both we and the barons have sworn that all this shall be observed in

  • good faith and without deceit. Witness the above mentioned people and

  • many others.

  • Given by our hand in the meadow that is called Runnymede, between

  • Windsor and Staines, on the fifteenth day of June in the seventeenth

  • year of our reign .

  • ***

  • [There were many missing spaces in this one, not sure I got them all]

  • Magna Carta 1215

  • John, by the grace of God, king of England, lord of Ireland, duke of

  • Normandy and Aquitaine, and count of Anjou, to the archbishops,

  • bishops, abbots, earls, barons, justiciars, foresters, sheriffs,

  • stewards, servants, and to all his bailiffs and liege subjects,

  • greeting. Know that, having regard to God and for the salvation of our

  • soul, and those of all our ancestors and heirs, and unto the honor of

  • God and the advancement of holy church, and for the reform of

  • our realm, by advice of our venerable fathers, Stephen archbishop of

  • Canterbury, primate of all England and cardinal of the holy Roman

  • Church, Henry archbishop of Dublin, William of London, Peter of

  • Winchester, Jocelyn of Bath and Glastonbury, Hugh of Lincoln, Walter of

  • Worcester, William of Coventry, Benedict of Rochester, bishops; of

  • master Pandulf, subdeacon and member of the household of our lord the

  • Pope, of brother Aymeric (master of the Knights of the Temple in

  • England), and of the illustrious men William Marshall earl of Pembroke,

  • William earl of Salisbury, William earl of Warenne, William earl

  • of Arundel, Alan of Galloway (constable of Scotland), Waren Fitz

  • Gerald, Peter Fits Herbert, Hubert de Burgh (seneschal of Poitou), Hugh

  • de Neville, Matthew Fitz Herbert, Thomas Basset, Alan Basset, Philip

  • d'Aubigny, Robert of Roppesley, John Marshall, John Fitz Hugh, and

  • others, our liegemen.

  • 1. In the first place we have granted to God, and by this our present

  • charter confirmed for us and our heirs for ever that the English church

  • shall be free, and shall have her rights entire, and her liberties

  • inviolate; and we will that it be thus observed; which is apparent from

  • this that the freedom of elections, which is reckoned most important

  • and very essential to the English church, we, of our pure and

  • unconstrained will, did grant, and did by our charter confirm and did

  • obtain the ratification of the same from our lord, Pope Innocent

  • III., before the quarrel arose between us and our barons: and this we

  • will observe, and our will is that it be observed in good faith by our

  • heirs for ever. We have also granted to all freemen of our kingdom, for

  • us and our heirs for ever, all the underwritten liberties, to be had

  • and held by them and their heirs, of us and our heirs for ever.

  • 2. If any of our earls or barons, or others holding of us in chief by

  • military service shall have died, and at the time of his death his heir

  • shall be of full age and owe "relief" he shall have his inheritance on

  • payment of the ancient relief, namely the heir or heirs of an earl, 100

  • pounds for a whole earl's barony; the heir or heirs of a baron, 100

  • pounds for a whole barony; the heir or heirs of a knight, 100 shillings

  • at most for a whole knight's fee; and whoever owes less let him give

  • less, according to the ancient custom officers.

  • 3. If, however, the heir of any of the aforesaid has been under age

  • and in wardship, let him have his inheritance without relief and

  • without fine when he comes of age.

  • 4. The guardian of the land of an heir who is thus under age, shall

  • take from the land of the heir nothing but reasonably produce,

  • reasonable customs, and reasonable services, and that without

  • destruction or waste of men or goods; and if we have committed the

  • wardship of the lands of any such minor to the sheriff, or to any other

  • who is responsible to us for its issues, and he has made destruction or

  • waste of what he holds in wardship, we will take of him amends, and the

  • land shall be committed to two lawful and discreet men of that fee, who

  • shall be responsible for the issues to us or to him to whom we

  • shall assign them; and if we have given or sold the wardship of any

  • such land to anyone and he has there in made destruction or waste, he

  • shall lose that wardship, and it shall be transferred to two lawful and

  • discreet men of that fief, who shall be responsible to us in like

  • manner as aforesaid.

  • 5. The guardian, moreover, so long as he has the wardship of the land,

  • shall keep up the houses, parks, fishponds, stanks, mills, and other

  • things pertaining to the land, out of the issues of the same land; and

  • he shall restore to the heir, when he has come to full age, all his

  • land, stocked with ploughs and "waynage," according as the season of

  • husbandry shall require, and the issues of the land can reasonably bear.

  • 6. Heirs shall be married without disparagement, yet so that before the

  • marriage takes place the nearest in blood to that heir shall have notice.

  • 7. A widow, after the death of her husband, shall forthwith and

  • without difficulty have her marriage portion and inheritance; nor shall

  • she give anything for her dower, or for her marriage portion, or for

  • the inheritance which her husband and she held on the day of the death

  • of that husband; and she may remain in the house of her husband for

  • fourty days after his death, within which time her dower shall be

  • assigned to her.

  • 8. No widow shall be compelled to marry, so long as she prefers to

  • live without a husband; provided always that she gives security not to

  • marry without our consent, if she holds of us, or without the consent

  • of the lord of whom she holds, if she holds of another.

  • 9. Neither we nor our bailiffs shall seize any land or rent for any

  • debt, so long as the chattels of the debtor are sufficient to repay the

  • debt; nor shall the sureties of the debtor be distrained so long as the

  • principal debtor is able to satisfy the debt; and if the principal

  • debtor shall fail to pay the debt, having nothing wherewith to pay it,

  • then the sureties shall answer for the debt; and let them have the

  • lands and rents of the debtor, if they desire them, until they are

  • indemnified for the debt which they have paid for him, unless the

  • principal debtor can show proof that he is discharged thereof as

  • against the said sureties.

  • 10. If one who has borrowed from the Jews any sum, great or small, die

  • before that loan can be repaid, the debt shall not bear interest while

  • the heir is under age, of whomsoever he may hold; and if the debt fall

  • into our hands, we will not take anything except the principal sum

  • contained in the bond.

  • 11. And if any one die indebted to the Jews, his wife shall have her

  • dower and pay nothing of that debt; and if any children of the deceased

  • are left underage, necessaries shall be provided for them in keeping

  • with the holding of the deceased; and out of the residue the debt shall

  • be paid, reserving, however, service due to feudal lords; in like

  • manner let it be done touching debts due to others than Jews.

  • 12. No scutage nor aid shall be imposed on our kingdom, unless by

  • common counsel of our kingdom, except for ransoming our person, for

  • making our eldest son a knight, and for once marrying our eldest

  • daughter; and for these there shall not be levied more than a

  • reasonable aid. In like manner it shall be done concerning aids from

  • the city of London.

  • 13. And the city of London shall have all its ancient liberties and

  • free customs, as well by land as by water; furthermore, we decree and

  • grant that all other cities, boroughs, towns, and ports shall have all

  • their liberties and free customs.

  • 14. And for obtaining the common counsel of the kingdom anent the

  • assessing of an aid (except in the three cases aforesaid) or of a

  • scutage, we will cause to be summoned the archbishops, bishops, abbots,

  • earls, and greater barons, severally by our letters; and we will

  • moreover cause to be summoned generally, through our sheriffs and

  • bailiffs, all others who hold of us in chief, for a fixed date, namely,

  • after the expiry of at least forty days, and at a fixed place; and in

  • all letters of such summons we will specify the reason of the summons.

  • And when the summons has thus been made, the business shall proceed on

  • the day appointed, according to the counsel of such as are present,

  • although not all who were summoned have come.

  • 15. We will not for the future grant to any one license to take an aid

  • from his own free tenants, except to ransom his body, to make his

  • eldest son a knight, and once to marry his eldest daughter; and on

  • each of these occasions there shall be levied only a reasonable aid.

  • 16. No one shall be distrained for performance of greater service for

  • a knight's fee, or for any other free tenement, than is due therefrom.

  • 17. Common pleas shall not follow our court, but shall be held in some

  • fixed place.

  • 18. Inquests of novel disseisin, of mort d'ancester, and of darrein

  • presentment, shall not be held elsewhere than in their own county

  • courts and that in manner following,--We, or, if we should be out of

  • the realm, our chief justiciar, will send two justiciars through

  • every county four times a year, who shall, along with four knights of

  • the county chosen by the county, hold the said assize in the county

  • court, on the day and in the place of meeting of that court.

  • 19. And if any of the said assizes cannot be taken on the day of the

  • county court, let there remain of the knights and freeholders, who were

  • present at the county court on that day, as many as may be required for

  • the efficient making of judgments, according as the business be more or

  • less.

  • 20. A freeman shall not be amerced for a slight offense, except in

  • accordance with the degree of the offense; and for a grave offense he

  • shall be amerced in accordance with the gravity of the offense, yet

  • saving always his "contentment;" and a merchant in the same way, saving

  • his "merchandise;" and a villein shall be amerced in the same way,

  • saving his "wainage"--if they have fallen into our mercy: and none of

  • the aforesaid amercements shall be impsed except by the oath of honest

  • men of the neighborhood.

  • 21. Earls and barons shall not be amerced except through their peers,

  • and only in accordance with the degree of the offense.

  • 22. A clerk shall not be amerced in respect of his lay holding except

  • after the manner of the others aforesaid; further, he shall not be

  • amerced in accordance with the extent of his ecclesiastical benefice.

  • 23. No village or individual shall be compelled to make bridges at

  • river-banks, except those who from of old were legally bound to do so.

  • 24. No sheriff, constable, coroners, or others of our bailiffs, shall

  • hold pleas of our Crown.

  • 25. All counties, hundreds, wapentakes, and trithings (except our

  • demesne manors) shall remain at old rents, and without any additional

  • payment.***here may be an error

  • 26. If any one holding of us a lay fief shall die, and our sheriff or

  • bailiff shall exhibit our letters patent of summons for a debt which

  • the deceased owed to us, it shall be lawful for our sheriff or bailiff

  • to attach and catalogue chattels of the deceased, found upon the lay

  • fief, to the value of that debt, at the sight of law-worthy men,

  • provided always that nothing whatever be then be removed until the debt

  • which is evident shall be fully paid to us; and the residue shall be

  • left to the executors to fulfil the will of the deceased; and if there

  • be nothing due from him to us, all the chattels shall go to

  • the deceased, saving to his wife and children their reasonable shares.

  • 27. If any freeman shall die intestate, his chattels shall be

  • distributed by the hands of his nearest kinsfolk and friends, under

  • supervision of the church, saving to every one the debts which the

  • deceased owed to him.

  • 28. No constable or other bailiff of ours shall take corn or other

  • provisions from any one without immediately tendering money therefor,

  • unless he can have postponement thereof by permission of the seller.

  • 29. No constable shall compel any knight to give money in lieu

  • of castle-guard, when he is willing to perform it in his own person, or

  • (if he cannot do it from any reasonable cause) then by another

  • responsible man. Further, if we have led or sent him upon military

  • service, he shall be relieved from guard in proportion to the time

  • during which he has been on service because of us.

  • 30. No sheriff or bailiff of ours, or other person, shall take the

  • horses or carts of any freeman for transport duty, against the will of

  • the said freeman.

  • 31. Neither we nor our bailiffs shall take, for our castles or for any

  • other work of ours, wood which is not ours, against the will of the

  • owner of that wood.

  • 32. We will not retain beyond one year and one day, the lands of those

  • who have been convicted of felony, and the lands shall thereafter be

  • handed over to the lords of the fiefs.

  • 33. All kiddles for the future shall be removed altogether from Thames

  • and Medway, and throughout all England, except upon the seashore.

  • 34. The writ which is called praecipe shall not for the future

  • be issued to any one, regarding any tenement whereby a freeman may lose

  • his court.

  • 35. Let there be one measure of wine throughout our whole realm; and

  • one measure of ale; and one measure of corn, to wit, "the London

  • quarter;" and one width of cloth (whether dyed, or russet, or

  • "halberget"), to wit, two ells within the selvages; of weights also let

  • it be as of measures.

  • 36. Nothing in future shall be given or taken for a writ of inquisition

  • of life or limbs, but freely it shall be granted, and never denied.

  • 37. If any one holds of us by fee-farm, by socage, or by burgage,

  • and holds also land of another lord by knight's service, we will

  • not (by reason of that fee-farm, socage, or burgage) have the wardship

  • of the heir, or of such land of his as is of the fief of that other;

  • nor shall we have wardship of that fee-farm, socage, or burgage,

  • unless such fee-farm owes knight's service. We will not by reason of

  • any small serjeanty which any one may hold of us by the service of

  • rendering to us knives, arrows, or the like, have wardship of his heir

  • of the land which he holds of another lord by knight's service.

  • 38. No bailiff for the future shall, upon his own unsupported

  • complaint, put any one to his "law," without credible witnesses brought

  • for this purpose.

  • 39. No freeman shall be taken or imprisoned or disseised or exiled or

  • in anyway destroyed, nor will we go upon him nor send upon him, except

  • by the lawful judgment of his peers or by the law of the land.

  • 40. To no one will we sell, to no one will we refuse or delay, right

  • or justice.

  • 41. All merchants shall have safe and secure exit from England, and

  • entry to England, with the right to tarry there and to move about as

  • well by land as by water, for buying and selling by the ancient and

  • right customs, quit from all evil tolls, except (in time of war) such

  • merchants as are of the land at war with us. And if such are found in

  • our land at the beginning of the war, they shall be detained, without

  • injury to their bodies or goods, until information be received by us,

  • or by our chief justiciar, how the merchants of our land found in the

  • land at war with us are treated; and if our men are safe there, the

  • others shall be safe in our land.

  • 42. It shall be lawful in future for any one (excepting always

  • those imprisoned or outlawed in accordance with the law of the kingdom,

  • and natives of any country at war with us, and merchants, who shall be

  • treated as is above provided) to leave our kingdom and to return, safe

  • and secure by land and water, except for a short period in time of war,

  • on grounds of public policy--reserving always the allegiance due to us.

  • 43. If any one holding of some escheat (such as the honor of

  • Wallingford, Nottingham, Boulogne, Lancaster, or of other escheats

  • which are in our hands and are baronies) shall die, his heir shall give

  • no other relief, and perform no other service to us than he would have

  • done to the baron, if that barony had been in the baron's hand; and we

  • shall hold it in the same manner in which the baron held it.

  • 44. Men who dwell without the forest need not henceforth come before

  • our justiciars of the forest upon a general summons, except those who

  • are impleaded, or who have become sureties for any person or persons

  • attached for forest offenses.

  • 45. We will appoint as justices, constables, sheriffs, or bailiffs

  • only such as know the law of the realm and mean to observe it well.

  • 46. All barons who have founded abbeys, concerning which they hold

  • charters from the kings of England, or of which they have

  • long-continued possession, shall have the wardship of them, when

  • vacant, as they ought to have.

  • 47. All forests that have been made such in our time shall forthwith

  • be disafforested; and a similar course shall be followed with regard

  • to river-banks that have been placed "in defense" by us in our time.

  • 48. All evil customs connected with forests and warrens, foresters

  • and warreners, sheriffs and their officers, river-banks and their

  • wardens, shall immediately be inquired into in each county by twelve

  • sworn knights of the same county chosen by the honest men of the same

  • county, and shall, within forty days of the said inquest, be utterly

  • abolished, so as never to be restored, provided always that we

  • previously have intimation thereof, or our justiciar, if we should not

  • be in England.

  • 49. We will immediately restore all hostages and charters delivered to

  • us by Englishmen, as sureties of the peace or of faithful service.

  • 50. We will entirely remove from their bailiwicks, the relations of

  • Gerard Athee (so that in future they shall have no bailiwick in

  • England); namely, Engelard of Cigogne, Peter, Guy, and Andrew of

  • Chanceaux, Guy of Cigogne, Geofrrey of Martigny with his brothers,

  • Philip Mark with his brothers and his nephew Geoffrey, and the whole

  • brood of the same.

  • 51. As soon as peace is restored, we will banish from the kingdom

  • all foreign-born knights, cross-bowmen, serjeants, and mercenary

  • soldiers, who have come with horses and arms to the kingdom's hurt.

  • 52. If any one has been dispossessed or removed by us, without the

  • legal judgment of his peers, from his lands, castles, franchises, or

  • from his right, we will immediately restore them to him; and if a

  • dispute arise over this, then let it be decided by the five-and-twenty

  • barons of whom mention is made below in the clause for securing the

  • peace. Moreover, for all those possessions, from which any one has,

  • without the lawful judgment of his peers, be endisseised or removed, by

  • our father, King Henry, or by our brother, King Richard, and which we

  • retain in our hand (or which are possessed by others, to whom we are

  • bound to warrant them) we shall have respite until the usual term of

  • crusaders; excepting those things about which a plea has been raised,

  • or an inquest made by our order, before our taking of the cross; but as

  • soon as were turn from our expedition (or if perchance we desist from

  • the expedition) we will immediately grant full justice therein.

  • 53. We shall have, moreover, the same respite and in the same manner

  • in rendering justice concerning the disafforestation or retention of

  • those forests which Henry our father and Richard our brother

  • afforested, and concerning wardship of lands which are of the fief of

  • another (namely, such wardships as we have hitherto had by reason of a

  • fief which any one held of us by knight's service), and concerning

  • abbeys founded on other fiefs than our own, in which the lord of the

  • fief claims to have right; and when we have returned, or if we desist

  • from our expedition, we will immediately grant full justice to all

  • who complain of such things.

  • 54. No one shall be arrested or imprisoned upon the appeal of a woman,

  • for the death of any other than her husband.

  • 55. All fines made with us unjustly and against the law of the land,

  • and all amercements imposed unjustly and against the law of the land,

  • shall be entirely remitted, or else it shall be done concerning them

  • according to the decision of the five-and-twenty barons of whom mention

  • is made below in the clause for securing the peace, or according to the

  • judgment of the majority of the same, along with the aforesaid Stephen,

  • archbishop of Canterbury, if he can be present, and such others as he

  • may wish to bring with him for this purpose, and if he cannot be

  • present the business shall nevertheless proceed without him, provided

  • always that if any one or more of the aforesaid five-and-twenty

  • barons are in a similar suit, they shall be removed as far as concerns

  • this particular judgment, others being substituted in their places

  • after having been selected by the rest of the same five-and-twenty for

  • this purpose only, and after having been sworn.

  • 56. If we have disseised or removed Welshmen from lands or liberties,

  • or other things, without the legal judgment of their peers in England

  • or in Wales, they shall be immediately restored to them; and if a

  • dispute arise over this, then let it be decided in the marches by the

  • judgment of their peers; for tenements in England according to the law

  • of England, for tenements in Wales according to the law of Wales, and

  • for tenements in the marches according to the law of the marches.

  • Welshmen shall do the same to us and ours.

  • 57. Further, for all those possessions from which any Welshman has,

  • without the lawful judgment of his peers, been disseised or removed by

  • King Henry our father or King Richard our brother, and which we retain

  • in our hand (or which are possessed by others, to whom we are bound to

  • warrant them) we shall have respite until the usual term of crusaders;

  • excepting those things about which a plea has been raised or an inquest

  • made by our order before we took the cross; but as soon as we return

  • (or if perchance we desist from our expedition), we will immediately

  • grant full justice in accordance with the laws of the Welsh and in

  • relation to the foresaid regions.

  • 58. We will immediately give up the son of Llywelyn and all the

  • hostages of Wales, and the charters delivered to us as security for the

  • peace.

  • 59. We will do toward Alexander, King of Scots, concerning the return

  • of his sisters and his hostages, and concerning his franchises, and his

  • right, in the same manner as we shall do toward our other barons of

  • England, unless it ought to be otherwise according to the charters

  • which we hold from William his father, formerly King of Scots; and this

  • shall be according to the judgment of his peers in our court.

  • 60. Moreover, all these aforesaid customs and liberties, the

  • observance of which we have granted in our kingdom as far as pertains

  • to us toward our men, shall be observed by all of our kingdom, as well

  • clergy as laymen, as far as pertains to them toward their men.

  • 61. Since, moreover, for God and the amendment of our kingdom and for

  • the better allaying of the quarrel that has arisen between us and our

  • barons, we have granted all these concessions, desirous that they

  • should enjoy them in complete and firm endurance for ever, we give and

  • grant to them the underwritten security, namely, that the barons choose

  • five-and-twenty barons of the kingdom, whomsoever they will, who shall

  • be bound with all their might, to observe and hold, and cause to be

  • observed, the peace and liberties we have granted and confirmed to them

  • by this our present Charter, so that if we, or our justiciar, or our

  • bailiffs or any one of our officers, shall in anything be at fault

  • toward any one, or shall have broken any one of the articles of

  • the peace or of this security, and the offense be notified to four

  • barons of the foresaid five-and-twenty, the said four barons shall

  • repair to us (or our justiciar, if we are out of the realm) and, laying

  • the transgression before us, petition to have that transgression

  • redressed without delay. And if we shall not have corrected the

  • transgression (or, in the event of our being out of the realm, if our

  • justiciar shall not have corrected it) within forty days, reckoning

  • from the time it has been intimated to us (or to our justiciar, if

  • we should be out of the realm), the four barons aforesaid shall refer

  • that matter to the rest of the five-and-twenty barons, and those

  • five-and-twenty barons shall, together with the community of the whole

  • land, distrain and distress us in all possible ways, namely, by seizing

  • our castles, lands, possessions, and in any other way they can, until

  • redress has been obtained as they deem fit, saving harmless our own

  • person, and the persons of our queen and children; and when redress has

  • been obtained, they shall resume their old relations toward us. And let

  • whoever in the country desires it, swear to obey the orders of the said

  • five-and-twenty barons for the execution of all the aforesaid matters,

  • and along with them, to molest us to the utmost of his power; and we

  • publicly and freely grant leave to every one who wishes to swear, and

  • we shall never forbid any one to swear. All those, moreover, in the

  • land who of themselves and of their own accord are unwilling to swear

  • to the twenty-five to help them in constraining and molesting us, we

  • shall by our command compel the same to swear to the effect aforesaid.

  • And if any one of the five-and-twenty barons shall have died or

  • departed from the land, or be incapacitated in any other manner which

  • would prevent the foresaid provisions being carried out, those of

  • the said twenty-five barons who are left shall choose another in his

  • place according to their own judgment, and he shall be sworn in the

  • same way as the others. Further, in all matters, the execution of which

  • is intrusted to these twenty-five barons, if perchance these

  • twenty-five are present, that which the majority of those present

  • ordain or command shall be held as fixed and established, exactly as if

  • the whole twenty-five had concurred in this; and the said twenty-five

  • shall swear that they will faithfully observe all that is aforesaid,

  • and cause it to be observed with all their might. And we shall procure

  • nothing from any one, directly or indirectly, whereby any part of

  • these concessions and liberties might be revoked or diminished; and if

  • any such thing has been procured, let it be void and null, and we shall

  • never use it personally or by another.

  • 62. And all the ill-will, hatreds, and bitterness that have arisen

  • between us and our men, clergy and lay, from the date of the quarrel,

  • we have completely remitted and pardoned every one. Moreover, all

  • trespasses occasioned by the said quarrel, from Easter in the sixteenth

  • year of our reign till the restoration of peace, we have fully remitted

  • to all, both clergy and laymen, and completely forgiven, as far as

  • pertains to us. And, on this head, we have caused to be made for them

  • letters testimonial patent of the lord Stephen, archbishop of

  • Canterbury, of the lord Henry, archbishop of Dublin, of the bishops

  • aforesaid, and of Master Pandulf as touching this security and

  • the concessions aforesaid.

  • 63. Wherefore it is our will, and we firmly enjoin, that the English

  • Church be free, and that the men in our kingdom have and hold all the

  • aforesaid liberties, rights, and concessions, well and peaceably,

  • freely and quietly, fully and wholly, for themselves and their heirs,

  • of us and our heirs, in all respects and in all places for ever, as is

  • aforesaid. An oath, moreover, has been taken, as well on our part as on

  • the part of the barons, that all these conditions aforesaid shall be

  • kept in good faith and without evil intent. Given under our hand--the

  • above-named and many others being witnesses--in the meadow which is

  • called Runnymede, between Windsor and Staines, on the fifteenth day of

  • June, in the seventeenth year of our reign.

  • ***

  • The text of THE MAGNA CARTA

  • The Magna Carta (The Great Charter):

  • Preamble:

  • John, by the grace of God, king of England, lord of Ireland, duke of

  • Normandy and Aquitaine, and count of Anjou, to the archbishop,

  • bishops, abbots, earls, barons, justiciaries, foresters, sheriffs,

  • stewards, servants, and to all his bailiffs and liege subjects,

  • greetings. Know that, having regard to God and for the salvation of

  • our soul, and those of all our ancestors and heirs, and unto the honor

  • of God and the advancement of his holy Church and for the rectifying

  • of our realm, we have granted as underwritten by advice of our

  • venerable fathers, Stephen, archbishop of Canterbury, primate of all

  • England and cardinal of the holy Roman Church, Henry, archbishop of

  • Dublin, William of London, Peter of Winchester, Jocelyn of Bath and

  • Glastonbury, Hugh of Lincoln, Walter of Worcester, William of

  • Coventry, Benedict of Rochester, bishops; of Master Pandulf, subdeacon

  • and member of the household of our lord the Pope, of brother Aymeric

  • (master of the Knights of the Temple in England), and of the

  • illustrious men William Marshal, earl of Pembroke, William, earl of

  • Salisbury, William, earl of Warenne, William, earl of Arundel, Alan of

  • Galloway (constable of Scotland), Waren Fitz Gerold, Peter Fitz

  • Herbert, Hubert De Burgh (seneschal of Poitou), Hugh de Neville,

  • Matthew Fitz Herbert, Thomas Basset, Alan Basset, Philip d'Aubigny,

  • Robert of Roppesley, John Marshal, John Fitz Hugh, and others, our

  • liegemen.

  • 1. In the first place we have granted to God, and by this our present

  • charter confirmed for us and our heirs forever that the English Church

  • shall be free, and shall have her rights entire, and her liberties

  • inviolate; and we will that it be thus observed; which is apparent

  • from this that the freedom of elections, which is reckoned most

  • important and very essential to the English Church, we, of our pure

  • and unconstrained will, did grant, and did by our charter confirm and

  • did obtain the ratification of the same from our lord, Pope Innocent

  • III, before the quarrel arose between us and our barons: and this we

  • will observe, and our will is that it be observed in good faith by our

  • heirs forever. We have also granted to all freemen of our kingdom,

  • for us and our heirs forever, all the underwritten liberties, to be

  • had and held by them and their heirs, of us and our heirs forever.

  • 2. If any of our earls or barons, or others holding of us in chief by

  • military service shall have died, and at the time of his death his

  • heir shall be full of age and owe "relief", he shall have his

  • inheritance by the old relief, to wit, the heir or heirs of an earl,

  • for the whole baroncy of an earl by L100; the heir or heirs of a

  • baron, L100 for a whole barony; the heir or heirs of a knight, 100s,

  • at most, and whoever owes less let him give less, according to the

  • ancient custom of fees.

  • 3. If, however, the heir of any one of the aforesaid has been under

  • age and in wardship, let him have his inheritance without relief and

  • without fine when he comes of age.

  • 4. The guardian of the land of an heir who is thus under age, shall

  • take from the land of the heir nothing but reasonable produce,

  • reasonable customs, and reasonable services, and that without

  • destruction or waste of men or goods; and if we have committed the

  • wardship of the lands of any such minor to the sheriff, or to any

  • other who is responsible to us for its issues, and he has made

  • destruction or waster of what he holds in wardship, we will take of

  • him amends, and the land shall be committed to two lawful and discreet

  • men of that fee, who shall be responsible for the issues to us or to

  • him to whom we shall assign them; and if we have given or sold the

  • wardship of any such land to anyone and he has therein made

  • destruction or waste, he shall lose that wardship, and it shall be

  • transferred to two lawful and discreet men of that fief, who shall be

  • responsible to us in like manner as aforesaid.

  • 5. The guardian, moreover, so long as he has the wardship of the land,

  • shall keep up the houses, parks, fishponds, stanks, mills, and other

  • things pertaining to the land, out of the issues of the same land; and

  • he shall restore to the heir, when he has come to full age, all his

  • land, stocked with ploughs and wainage, according as the season of

  • husbandry shall require, and the issues of the land can reasonable

  • bear.

  • 6. Heirs shall be married without disparagement, yet so that before

  • the marriage takes place the nearest in blood to that heir shall have

  • notice.

  • 7. A widow, after the death of her husband, shall forthwith and

  • without difficulty have her marriage portion and inheritance; nor

  • shall she give anything for her dower, or for her marriage portion, or

  • for the inheritance which her husband and she held on the day of the

  • death of that husband; and she may remain in the house of her husband

  • for forty days after his death, within which time her dower shall be

  • assigned to her.

  • 8. No widow shall be compelled to marry, so long as she prefers to

  • live without a husband; provided always that she gives security not to

  • marry without our consent, if she holds of us, or without the consent

  • of the lord of whom she holds, if she holds of another.

  • 9. Neither we nor our bailiffs will seize any land or rent for any

  • debt, as long as the chattels of the debtor are sufficient to repay

  • the debt; nor shall the sureties of the debtor be distrained so long

  • as the principal debtor is able to satisfy the debt; and if the

  • principal debtor shall fail to pay the debt, having nothing wherewith

  • to pay it, then the sureties shall answer for the debt; and let them

  • have the lands and rents of the debtor, if they desire them, until

  • they are indemnified for the debt which they have paid for him, unless

  • the principal debtor can show proof that he is discharged thereof as

  • against the said sureties.

  • 10. If one who has borrowed from the Jews any sum, great or small, die

  • before that loan be repaid, the debt shall not bear interest while the

  • heir is under age, of whomsoever he may hold; and if the debt fall

  • into our hands, we will not take anything except the principal sum

  • contained in the bond.

  • 11. And if anyone die indebted to the Jews, his wife shall have her

  • dower and pay nothing of that debt; and if any children of the

  • deceased are left under age, necessaries shall be provided for them in

  • keeping with the holding of the deceased; and out of the residue the

  • debt shall be paid, reserving, however, service due to feudal lords;

  • in like manner let it be done touching debts due to others than Jews.

  • 12. No scutage not aid shall be imposed on our kingdom, unless by

  • common counsel of our kingdom, except for ransoming our person, for

  • making our eldest son a knight, and for once marrying our eldest

  • daughter; and for these there shall not be levied more than a

  • reasonable aid. In like manner it shall be done concerning aids from

  • the city of London.

  • 13. And the city of London shall have all it ancient liberties and

  • free customs, as well by land as by water; furthermore, we decree

  • and grant that all other cities, boroughs, towns, and ports shall

  • have all their liberties and free customs.

  • 14. And for obtaining the common counsel of the kingdom anent the

  • assessing of an aid (except in the three cases aforesaid) or of a

  • scutage, we will cause to be summoned the archbishops, bishops,

  • abbots, earls, and greater barons, severally by our letters; and we

  • will moveover cause to be summoned generally, through our sheriffs and

  • bailiffs, and others who hold of us in chief, for a fixed date,

  • namely, after the expiry of at least forty days, and at a fixed place;

  • and in all letters of such summons we will specify the reason of the

  • summons. And when the summons has thus been made, the business shall

  • proceed on the day appointed, according to the counsel of such as are

  • present, although not all who were summoned have come.

  • 15. We will not for the future grant to anyone license to take an aid

  • from his own free tenants, except to ransom his person, to make his

  • eldest son a knight, and once to marry his eldest daughter; and on

  • each of these occasions there shall be levied only a reasonable aid.

  • 16. No one shall be distrained for performance of greater service for

  • a knight's fee, or for any other free tenement, than is due therefrom.

  • 17. Common pleas shall not follow our court, but shall be held in some

  • fixed place.

  • 18. Inquests of novel disseisin, of mort d'ancestor, and of darrein

  • presentment shall not be held elsewhere than in their own county

  • courts, and that in manner following; We, or, if we should be out of

  • the realm, our chief justiciar, will send two justiciaries through

  • every county four times a year, who shall alone with four knights of

  • the county chosen by the county, hold the said assizes in the county

  • court, on the day and in the place of meeting of that court.

  • 19. And if any of the said assizes cannot be taken on the day of the

  • county court, let there remain of the knights and freeholders, who

  • were present at the county court on that day, as many as may be

  • required for the efficient making of judgments, according as the

  • business be more or less.

  • 20. A freeman shall not be amerced for a slight offense, except in

  • accordance with the degree of the offense; and for a grave offense he

  • shall be amerced in accordance with the gravity of the offense, yet

  • saving always his "contentment"; and a merchant in the same way,

  • saving his "merchandise"; and a villein shall be amerced in the same

  • way, saving his "wainage" if they have fallen into our mercy: and none

  • of the aforesaid amercements shall be imposed except by the oath of

  • honest men of the neighborhood.

  • 21. Earls and barons shall not be amerced except through their peers,

  • and only in accordance with the degree of the offense.

  • 22. A clerk shall not be amerced in respect of his lay holding except

  • after the manner of the others aforesaid; further, he shall not be

  • amerced in accordance with the extent of his ecclesiastical benefice.

  • 23. No village or individual shall be compelled to make bridges at

  • river banks, except those who from of old were legally bound to do so.

  • 24. No sheriff, constable, coroners, or others of our bailiffs, shall

  • hold pleas of our Crown.

  • 25. All counties, hundred, wapentakes, and trithings (except our

  • demesne manors) shall remain at the old rents, and without any

  • additional payment.

  • 26. If anyone holding of us a lay fief shall die, and our sheriff or

  • bailiff shall exhibit our letters patent of summons for a debt which

  • the deceased owed us, it shall be lawful for our sheriff or bailiff to

  • attach and enroll the chattels of the deceased, found upon the lay

  • fief, to the value of that debt, at the sight of law worthy men,

  • provided always that nothing whatever be thence removed until the debt

  • which is evident shall be fully paid to us; and the residue shall be

  • left to the executors to fulfill the will of the deceased; and if

  • there be nothing due from him to us, all the chattels shall go to the

  • deceased, saving to his wife and children their reasonable shares.

  • 27. If any freeman shall die intestate, his chattels shall be

  • distributed by the hands of his nearest kinsfolk and friends, under

  • supervision of the Church, saving to every one the debts which the

  • deceased owed to him.

  • 28. No constable or other bailiff of ours shall take corn or other

  • provisions from anyone without immediately tendering money therefor,

  • unless he can have postponement thereof by permission of the seller.

  • 29. No constable shall compel any knight to give money in lieu of

  • castle-guard, when he is willing to perform it in his own person, or

  • (if he himself cannot do it from any reasonable cause) then by another

  • responsible man. Further, if we have led or sent him upon military

  • service, he shall be relieved from guard in proportion to the time

  • during which he has been on service because of us.

  • 30. No sheriff or bailiff of ours, or other person, shall take the

  • horses or carts of any freeman for transport duty, against the will of

  • the said freeman.

  • 31. Neither we nor our bailiffs shall take, for our castles or for any

  • other work of ours, wood which is not ours, against the will of the

  • owner of that wood.

  • 32. We will not retain beyond one year and one day, the lands those

  • who have been convicted of felony, and the lands shall thereafter be

  • handed over to the lords of the fiefs.

  • 33. All kydells for the future shall be removed altogether from Thames

  • and Medway, and throughout all England, except upon the seashore.

  • 34. The writ which is called praecipe shall not for the future be

  • issued to anyone, regarding any tenement whereby a freeman may lose

  • his court.

  • 35. Let there be one measure of wine throughout our whole realm; and

  • one measure of ale; and one measure of corn, to wit, "the London

  • quarter"; and one width of cloth (whether dyed, or russet, or

  • "halberget"), to wit, two ells within the selvedges; of weights also

  • let it be as of measures.

  • 36. Nothing in future shall be given or taken for a writ of

  • inquisition of life or limbs, but freely it shall be granted,

  • and never denied.

  • 37. If anyone holds of us by fee-farm, either by socage or by burage,

  • or of any other land by knight's service, we will not (by reason of

  • that fee-farm, socage, or burgage), have the wardship of the heir, or

  • of such land of his as if of the fief of that other; nor shall we have

  • wardship of that fee-farm, socage, or burgage, unless such fee-farm

  • owes knight's service. We will not by reason of any small serjeancy

  • which anyone may hold of us by the service of rendering to us knives,

  • arrows, or the like, have wardship of his heir or of the land which he

  • holds of another lord by knight's service.

  • 38. No bailiff for the future shall, upon his own unsupported

  • complaint, put anyone to his "law", without credible witnesses brought

  • for this purposes.

  • 39. No freemen shall be taken or imprisoned or disseised or exiled or

  • in any way destroyed, nor will we go upon him nor send upon him,

  • except by the lawful judgment of his peers or by the law of the land.

  • 40. To no one will we sell, to no one will we refuse or delay, right

  • or justice.

  • 41. All merchants shall have safe and secure exit from England, and

  • entry to England, with the right to tarry there and to move about as

  • well by land as by water, for buying and selling by the ancient and

  • right customs, quit from all evil tolls, except (in time of war) such

  • merchants as are of the land at war with us. And if such are found in

  • our land at the beginning of the war, they shall be detained, without

  • injury to their bodies or goods, until information be received by us,

  • or by our chief justiciar, how the merchants of our land found in the

  • land at war with us are treated; and if our men are safe there, the

  • others shall be safe in our land.

  • 42. It shall be lawful in future for anyone (excepting always those

  • imprisoned or outlawed in accordance with the law of the kingdom, and

  • natives of any country at war with us, and merchants, who shall be

  • treated as if above provided) to leave our kingdom and to return, safe

  • and secure by land and water, except for a short period in time of

  • war, on grounds of public policy- reserving always the allegiance due

  • to us.

  • 43. If anyone holding of some escheat (such as the honor of

  • Wallingford, Nottingham, Boulogne, Lancaster, or of other escheats

  • which are in our hands and are baronies) shall die, his heir shall

  • give no other relief, and perform no other service to us than he would

  • have done to the baron if that barony had been in the baron's hand;

  • and we shall hold it in the same manner in which the baron held it.

  • 44. Men who dwell without the forest need not henceforth come before

  • our justiciaries of the forest upon a general summons, unless they are

  • in plea, or sureties of one or more, who are attached for the forest.

  • 45. We will appoint as justices, constables, sheriffs, or bailiffs

  • only such as know the law of the realm and mean to observe it well.

  • 46. All barons who have founded abbeys, concerning which they hold

  • charters from the kings of England, or of which they have long

  • continued possession, shall have the wardship of them, when vacant, as

  • they ought to have.

  • 47. All forests that have been made such in our time shall forthwith

  • be disafforsted; and a similar course shall be followed with regard

  • to river banks that have been placed "in defense" by us in our time.

  • 48. All evil customs connected with forests and warrens, foresters

  • and warreners, sheriffs and their officers, river banks and their

  • wardens, shall immediately by inquired into in each county by twelve

  • sworn knights of the same county chosen by the honest men of the same

  • county, and shall, within forty days of the said inquest, be utterly

  • abolished, so as never to be restored, provided always that we

  • previously have intimation thereof, or our justiciar, if we should not

  • be in England.

  • 49. We will immediately restore all hostages and charters delivered to

  • us by Englishmen, as sureties of the peace of faithful service.

  • 50. We will entirely remove from their bailiwicks, the relations of

  • Gerard of Athee (so that in future they shall have no bailiwick in

  • England); namely, Engelard of Cigogne, Peter, Guy, and Andrew of

  • Chanceaux, Guy of Cigogne, Geoffrey of Martigny with his brothers,

  • Philip Mark with his brothers and his nephew Geoffrey, and the whole

  • brood of the same.

  • 51. As soon as peace is restored, we will banish from the kingdom all

  • foreign born knights, crossbowmen, serjeants, and mercenary soldiers

  • who have come with horses and arms to the kingdom's hurt.

  • 52. If anyone has been dispossessed or removed by us, without the

  • legal judgment of his peers, from his lands, castles, franchises, or

  • from his right, we will immediately restore them to him; and if a

  • dispute arise over this, then let it be decided by the five and twenty

  • barons of whom mention is made below in the clause for securing the

  • peace. Moreover, for all those possessions, from which anyone has,

  • without the lawful judgment of his peers, been disseised or removed,

  • by our father, King Henry, or by our brother, King Richard, and which

  • we retain in our hand (or which as possessed by others, to whom we are

  • bound to warrant them) we shall have respite until the usual term of

  • crusaders; excepting those things about which a plea has been raised,

  • or an inquest made by our order, before our taking of the cross; but

  • as soon as we return from the expedition, we will immediately grant

  • full justice therein.

  • 53. We shall have, moreover, the same respite and in the same manner

  • in rendering justice concerning the disafforestation or retention of

  • those forests which Henry our father and Richard our brother

  • afforested, and concerning the wardship of lands which are of the fief

  • of another (namely, such wardships as we have hitherto had by reason

  • of a fief which anyone held of us by knight's service), and concerning

  • abbeys founded on other fiefs than our own, in which the lord of the

  • fee claims to have right; and when we have returned, or if we desist

  • from our expedition, we will immediately grant full justice to all who

  • complain of such things.

  • 54. No one shall be arrested or imprisoned upon the appeal of a woman,

  • for the death of any other than her husband.

  • 55. All fines made with us unjustly and against the law of the land,

  • and all amercements, imposed unjustly and against the law of the land,

  • shall be entirely remitted, or else it shall be done concerning them

  • according to the decision of the five and twenty barons whom mention

  • is made below in the clause for securing the pease, or according to

  • the judgment of the majority of the same, along with the aforesaid

  • Stephen, archbishop of Canterbury, if he can be present, and such

  • others as he may wish to bring with him for this purpose, and if he

  • cannot be present the business shall nevertheless proceed without him,

  • provided always that if any one or more of the aforesaid five and

  • twenty barons are in a similar suit, they shall be removed as far as

  • concerns this particular judgment, others being substituted in their

  • places after having been selected by the rest of the same five and

  • twenty for this purpose only, and after having been sworn.

  • 56. If we have disseised or removed Welshmen from lands or liberties,

  • or other things, without the legal judgment of their peers in England

  • or in Wales, they shall be immediately restored to them; and if a

  • dispute arise over this, then let it be decided in the marches by the

  • judgment of their peers; for the tenements in England according to the

  • law of England, for tenements in Wales according to the law of Wales,

  • and for tenements in the marches according to the law of the marches.

  • Welshmen shall do the same to us and ours.

  • 57. Further, for all those possessions from which any Welshman has,

  • without the lawful judgment of his peers, been disseised or removed by

  • King Henry our father, or King Richard our brother, and which we

  • retain in our hand (or which are possessed by others, and which we

  • ought to warrant), we will have respite until the usual term of

  • crusaders; excepting those things about which a plea has been raised

  • or an inquest made by our order before we took the cross; but as soon

  • as we return (or if perchance we desist from our expedition), we will

  • immediately grant full justice in accordance with the laws of the

  • Welsh and in relation to the foresaid regions.

  • 58. We will immediately give up the son of Llywelyn and all the

  • hostages of Wales, and the charters delivered to us as security for

  • the peace.

  • 59. We will do towards Alexander, king of Scots, concerning the return

  • of his sisters and his hostages, and concerning his franchises, and

  • his right, in the same manner as we shall do towards our other barons

  • of England, unless it ought to be otherwise according to the charters

  • which we hold from William his father, formerly king of Scots; and

  • this shall be according to the judgment of his peers in our court.

  • 60. Moreover, all these aforesaid customs and liberties, the

  • observances of which we have granted in our kingdom as far as pertains

  • to us towards our men, shall be observed b all of our kingdom, as well

  • clergy as laymen, as far as pertains to them towards their men.

  • 61. Since, moveover, for God and the amendment of our kingdom and for

  • the better allaying of the quarrel that has arisen between us and our

  • barons, we have granted all these concessions, desirous that they

  • should enjoy them in complete and firm endurance forever, we give and

  • grant to them the underwritten security, namely, that the barons

  • choose five and twenty barons of the kingdom, whomsoever they will,

  • who shall be bound with all their might, to observe and hold, and

  • cause to be observed, the peace and liberties we have granted and

  • confirmed to them by this our present Charter, so that if we, or our

  • justiciar, or our bailiffs or any one of our officers, shall in

  • anything be at fault towards anyone, or shall have broken any one of

  • the articles of this peace or of this security, and the offense be

  • notified to four barons of the foresaid five and twenty, the said four

  • barons shall repair to us (or our justiciar, if we are out of the

  • realm) and, laying the transgression before us, petition to have that

  • transgression redressed without delay. And if we shall not have

  • corrected the transgression (or, in the event of our being out of the

  • realm, if our justiciar shall not have corrected it) within forty

  • days, reckoning from the time it has been intimated to us (or to our

  • justiciar, if we should be out of the realm), the four barons

  • aforesaid shall refer that matter to the rest of the five and twenty

  • barons, and those five and twenty barons shall, together with the

  • community of the whole realm, distrain and distress us in all possible

  • ways, namely, by seizing our castles, lands, possessions, and in any

  • other way they can, until redress has been obtained as they deem fit,

  • saving harmless our own person, and the persons of our queen and

  • children; and when redress has been obtained, they shall resume their

  • old relations towards us. And let whoever in the country desires it,

  • swear to obey the orders of the said five and twenty barons for the

  • execution of all the aforesaid matters, and along with them, to molest

  • us to the utmost of his power; and we publicly and freely grant leave

  • to everyone who wishes to swear, and we shall never forbid anyone to

  • swear.

  • All those, moveover, in the land who of themselves and of their own

  • accord are unwilling to swear to the twenty five to help them in

  • constraining and molesting us, we shall by our command compel the same

  • to swear to the effect foresaid. And if any one of the five and

  • twenty barons shall have died or departed from the land, or be

  • incapacitated in any other manner which would prevent the foresaid

  • provisions being carried out, those of the said twenty five barons who

  • are left shall choose another in his place according to their own

  • judgment, and he shall be sworn in the same way as the others.

  • Further, in all matters, the execution of which is entrusted,to these

  • twenty five barons, if perchance these twenty five are present and

  • disagree about anything, or if some of them, after being summoned, are

  • unwilling or unable to be present, that which the majority of those

  • present ordain or command shall be held as fixed and established,

  • exactly as if the whole twenty five had concurred in this; and the

  • said twenty five shall swear that they will faithfully observe all

  • that is aforesaid, and cause it to be observed with all their might.

  • And we shall procure nothing from anyone, directly or indirectly,

  • whereby any part of these concessions and liberties might be revoked

  • or diminished; and if any such things has been procured, let it be

  • void and null, and we shall never use it personally or by another.

  • 62. And all the will, hatreds, and bitterness that have arisen between

  • us and our men, clergy and lay, from the date of the quarrel, we have

  • completely remitted and pardoned to everyone. Moreover, all

  • trespasses occasioned by the said quarrel, from Easter in the

  • sixteenth year of our reign till the restoration of peace, we have

  • fully remitted to all, both clergy and laymen, and completely

  • forgiven, as far as pertains to us. And on this head, we have caused

  • to be made for them letters testimonial patent of the lord Stephen,

  • archbishop of Canterbury, of the lord Henry, archbishop of Dublin, of

  • the bishops aforesaid, and of Master Pandulf as touching this security

  • and the concessions aforesaid.

  • 63. Wherefore we will and firmly order that the English Church be

  • free, and that the men in our kingdom have and hold all the aforesaid

  • liberties, rights, and concessions, well and peaceably, freely and

  • quietly, fully and wholly, for themselves and their heirs, of us and

  • our heirs, in all respects and in all places forever, as is

  • aforesaid. An oath, moreover, has been taken, as well on our part as

  • on the part of the barons, that all these conditions aforesaid shall be

  • kept in good faith and without evil intent. Given under our hand -

  • the above named and many others being witnesses - in the meadow which

  • is called Runnymede, between Windsor and Staines, on the fifteenth day

  • of June, in the seventeenth year of our reign.

JOHN, by the grace of God King of England, Lord of Ireland, Duke of

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Magna Carta - signed by King John of England - FULL Audio Book - History - Medieval England

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    Why Why に公開 2013 年 03 月 26 日
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