Magna Carta

British constitutional charter which limited the power of kings and was signed by King John I in 1215; constitution ensuring rights and liberties

Magna Carta (Latin for "Great Charter", literally "Great Paper"), also called Magna Carta Libertatum ("Great Charter of Freedoms"), is an English charter originally issued in 1215. Magna Carta was the most significant early influence on the extensive historical process that led to the rule of constitutional law today. Magna Carta influenced many common law and other documents, such as the United States Constitution and Bill of Rights, and is considered one of the most important legal documents in the history of democracy.
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Noun
1. the royal charter of political rights given to rebellious English barons by King John in 1215
(synonym) Magna Charta, The Great Charter
(hypernym) royal charter
(classification) United Kingdom, UK, Great Britain, GB, Britain, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

Magna Carta, British constitutional charter which limited the power of kings

The agreement forced upon King John by the English barons on June 15, 1215, at Runnymede, England, that stripped many powers from the king in favor of the barons. The barons created a group of 25 of their number, the forerunner of the first English parliament founded fifty years later. The innovation in the charter was that one of the baron’s number could make a complaint to at least four of the twenty five, who would then determine of their complaint against the king was valid. If it was found to be so, then the king had forty days to correct the ‘injustice’, after which the barons would seize such property of His Majesty and the Royal family as deemed necessary for redress. The charter layed the foundation for the first constitutional monarchy wherein the king’s heretofore legally limitless powers were formally checked by another political body. In ordinary feudal systems , the power of the king was checked not by a formal political mechanism but by the power of the great Royal Peers , whose support in political and military affairs he required to maintain authority and legitimacy.
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