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1、The Great Charter The Great Charter The Great Charter is also called Magna Carta in Latin,it is first signed by King John of England In June 1215 according to the 1100 Charter of Liberties and reissued later in the 13th century.It is the first documentto limit the king powers by law and protect the
2、barons privileges. Why King John was forced to signed such a charter? The reason is that King John was unpopular with his barons because the course of his reign a combination of higher taxes, unsuccessful wars with France and conflict with the Pope.So many barons began to conspire against him in 120
3、9 and 1212 and some important ones engaged in open rebellion against their King. King John could not stopped those rebellion. During negotiations between January and June 1215, a document was produced, which is named The Unknown Charter of Liberties. Later on 10 June 1215 King John was forced to agr
4、ee to a document known as theArticles of the Barons. And a formal document to record the agreement between King John and the baronswas passed through the royal chancery on 15 July,and this was the original great charter. The Great Charter is a challenges to the Kingpower.For example,Clauses 12 and 1
5、4 of the 1215 charter state that the king will accept the common counsel of our realm when levying and assessing an aid or a scutage.These clauses effectively meant that the monarch had to ask before raising new taxes. And Clause 61 say that if the king does not keep to the charter, the twenty five
6、barons shall seize his castles if they thought it necessary. Clause 61 was a serious challenge to Johns authority as a ruling monarch. He renounced it as soon as the barons left London.Pope Innocent III also rejected any call for restraints on the King, saying it impaired Johns dignity.So England wa
7、s plunged into a civil war, known as the First Barons War.The Charter had no real effect until the Elizabethan era (15581603). But it again began to occupy legal minds, and began to shape how that government was run, but in a manner entirely different to that of earlier ages. Many country later atte
8、mpts to draft constitutional forms of government,trace their lineage back to this source document.The British dominions, Australia and New Zealand , Canada (except Quebec), and formerly Union of South Africa and Southern Rhodesia, all looked back to Magna Carta in their law, and the Charter impacted generally on the states that evolved from the British Empire.Magna Carta is thought to be the crucial turning point in the struggle to establish freedom and a key element in the transformation of constitutional thinking throughout the world.
