Magna Carta

Sir Winston Churchill's most famous wartime speeches will sit alongside the Magna Carta and the Bayeux Tapestry in a register of pivotal documents in world history. The announcement, on the 141st anniversary of Churchill's birth, means the archive will receive world-class preservation advice and assistance in promoting his words worldwide, reports

DailyMail. As we draw towards the end of a year during which we have celebrated the 800th anniversary of the Magna Carta, it is worth reminding ourselves of the significance of that document – and the values it establishes – not only for Britain, but universally, thus writes Peta Buscombe in “It’s time to bring Magna Carta to North Korea” (http://www.conservativehome.com). For what, after all, did Magna Carta do? It sowed the seeds that form the foundations of the principles of liberty and rule of law which we cherish today.

Magna Carta, meaning ‘The Great Charter’, is one of the most famous documents in the world. In 1215, Magna Carta was a peace treaty between the King and the rebel barons. In that respect it was a failure, but it provided a new framework for the relationship between the King and his subjects. It established for the first time the principle that everybody, including the king, was subject to the law. Most of the 63 clauses granted by King John dealt with specific grievances relating to his rule.

However, buried within them were a number of fundamental values that both challenged the autocracy of the king and proved highly adaptable in future centuries. Most famously, the 39th clause gave all ‘free men’ the right to justice and a fair trial. Some of Magna Carta’s core principles are echoed in the United States Bill of Rights (1791) and in many other constitutional documents around the world, as well as in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) and the European Convention on Human Rights (1950).

Under article 61 of Magna Carta 1215, people have a right to enter into lawful rebellion if they feel they are being governed unjustly. In political philosophy, the right of revolution is the right or duty, previously stated throughout history, of the people of a nation to overthrow a government that acts against their common interests. Belief in this right has been used throughout history to justify various revolutions, including the English Civil War, the American Revolution and the French Revolution.