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I remember reading this some years ago in school. It is portrayed as the forerunner to our constitution, but most of it is laying out protections for the nobles — not ordinary people. I can see how it was a step towards what we have today, but it was a very small step.

One small step for man, one giant step for mankind.

It established the Rule of Law over the arbitrary dictates of the sovereign (Lex Rex vs Rex Lex). THAT is the important legal step.

Odd though that the authors get the history so wrong. This is the 1297 Magna Carta or Confirmatio Cartarum of Edward I issued by Parliament. Not the original Magna Carta of 1215 issued by King John.

I remember reading this some years ago in school. It is portrayed as the forerunner to our constitution, but most of it is laying out protections for the nobles — not ordinary people. I can see how it was a step towards what we have today, but it was a very small step.

I've got the text of the Magna Carta on my website. One way to look at it, is that it is a list of kingly "shall nots". Prior to the Magna Carta the king could do just about anything he wanted and wasn't restrained by anything but his own personal restraints. After, it was generally accepted that the law applied to the king, as well as his subjects. That's really a major shift in thinking.

I remember reading this some years ago in school. It is portrayed as the forerunner to our constitution, but most of it is laying out protections for the nobles — not ordinary people. I can see how it was a step towards what we have today, but it was a very small step.

Many of the rights granted in the US Constitution weren't aimed at ordinary people either. They were aimed at one of two genders; they excluded slaves; and they excluded non property-owners.

Look at the population of counties in early US elections versus those that were permitted to vote and actual voter turnout to get an indication of what I mean.

This by no means takes away from the historical significance of either document. Remember the historical context of legal protections prior to the Magna Carta and prior to the US Constitution. Each is a step up the ladder to freedom for all men.

That neither was a perfect document or was the top rung of the ladder takes away nothing from either document. Each should be measured in the era in which they were created and noted as huge steps forward for humankind.

jas3