Constitutional history -- England -- Sources; Magna Carta
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.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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