Magna Carta: A Commentary on the Great Charter of King John: With an Historical IntroductionMcKechnie, William Sharp
History
Magna Carta: A Commentary on the Great Charter of King John: With an Historical Introduction
McKechnie, William Sharp
Constitutional history -- England -- Sources; Law -- England -- History; Law -- England -- Sources; Magna Carta
The “consideration” also clearly appears in the concluding portion of
the Charter, where it is stated that in return for the foregoing gift of
liberties along with those granted in the Forest Charter, the
archbishops, bishops, abbots, priors, earls, barons, knights, free
tenants, and all others of the realm had given a fifteenth part of their
moveables to the King.
The prominence given to this feature brings the transaction embodied in
the re-issue of 1225 (as compared with the original grant of 1215) one
step nearer the legal category of “private bargain.” It is, in one
aspect, simply a contract of purchase and sale. Another important new
clause follows—founded probably on a precedent taken from chapter 61 of
the Charter of King John: Henry is made significantly to declare “And we
have granted to them for us and our heirs, that neither we nor our heirs
shall procure any thing whereby the liberties in this charter shall be
infringed or broken; and if any thing shall be procured by any person
contrary to these premises, it shall be held of no validity or effect.”
This provision was clearly directed against future papal dispensations
or abrogations, such as that which King John had obtained from Innocent
in 1215. The clause, however, was diplomatically made quite general in
its terms.[275]
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Footnote 275:
A few minor alterations, such as the omission of the clause against
unlicensed castles (now unnecessary) and some verbal changes need not
be mentioned. A list of these is given by Blackstone, _Great Charter_,
l.
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One original copy of this third re-issue of the Great Charter is
preserved at Durham with the great seal in green wax still perfect,
though the parchment has been “defaced and obliterated by the
unfortunate accident of overturning a bottle of ink.”[276] A second is
to be found at Lacock Abbey, in Wiltshire. The accompanying Forest
Charter is also preserved at Durham.[277]
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Footnote 276:
See Blackstone, _Ibid._, xlvii. to l.
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Footnote 277:
_Ibid._
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This third re-issue brings the story of the genesis of the Great Charter
to an end. It marked the final form assumed by Magna Carta; the
identical words were then used which afterwards became stereotyped and
were confirmed, time after time, without further modification. It is
this Charter of 1225 which is always referred to in the ordinary
editions of the Statutes, in the courts of law, in parliament, and in a
long series of classical law books beginning with the second _Institute_
of Sir Edward Coke.[278]
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Footnote 278:
One slight exception should be noted. In one point of detail a change
had occurred since 1225; the rate of relief payable from a barony had
been reduced from £100 to 100 marks. See _infra_ under chapter 2.
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Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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