Posted on 06/15/2015 11:46:38 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
MAGNA CARTA, on which King John placed his seal 800 years ago today, is synonymous in the English-speaking world with fundamental rights and the rule of law. It’s been celebrated, and appropriated, by everyone from Tea Party members to Jay Z, who called his latest album “Magna Carta Holy Grail.”
But its fame rests on several myths. First, it wasn’t effective. In fact, it was a failure. John was a weak king who had squandered the royal fortune on a fruitless war with France. Continually raising taxes to pay for his European adventures, he provoked a revolt by his barons, who forced him to sign the charter. But John repudiated the document immediately, and the barons sought to replace him. John avoided that fate by dying.
The next year, his young son reissued Magna Carta, without some of the clauses. It was reissued several times more in the 13th century — the 1297 version is the one on display in the National Archives and embodied in English law. But the original version hardly constrained the monarch.
A second myth is that it was the first document of its type. Writing in 1908, Woodrow Wilson called it the beginning of constitutional government. But in fact, it was only one of many documents from the period, in England and elsewhere, codifying limitations on government power.
A third myth is that the document was a ringing endorsement of liberty. Even a cursory reading reveals a number of oddities. One clause prevents Jews from charging interest on a debt held by an underage heir. Another limits women’s ability to bear witness to certain homicides. A third requires the removal of fish traps from the Thames.
Why, then, is Magna Carta so revered?
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Tom Ginsburg focuses on comparative and international law from an interdisciplinary perspective. He holds BA, JD, and PhD degrees from the University of California at Berkeley. His books include Judicial Review in New Democracies (2003), which won the C. Herman Pritchett Award from the American Political Science Association; The Endurance of National Constitutions (2009), which also won a best book prize from APSA; Constitutions in Authoritarian Regimes (2014); and Law and Development in Middle-Income Countries (2014). He currently co-directs the Comparative Constitutions Project, an effort funded by the National Science Foundation to gather and analyze the constitutions of all independent nation-states since 1789. Before entering law teaching, he served as a legal adviser at the Iran-U.S. Claims Tribunal, The Hague, Netherlands, and he continues to work with numerous international development agencies and foreign governments on legal and constitutional reform. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Jeese.... it’s only time before someone decides to start blowing up NYT facilities..
Other NYC media outlets are not far behind....
The HATE for the United States there must be intense..
Well, that does it then! If Tom Ginsburg and the New York Times dismiss the Magna Carta as a discredited document based on flawed principles, hey, who’s to say otherwise?
As Gerald Celente has often said (referred to the NYT): ‘The toilet paper of record’.
Why is the Magna Carta so revered? Because during the 18th Century, many referred to the Magna Carta as the prototype of the changes needed to finally get away from the feudal system that in the end so hamstrung Europe.
Magna Carta sent a shockwave through British history. While King John failed to live up to its requirements British subjects never forgot it and used it repeatedly later in British history for various purposes. Further, our Constitution might be very different without the influence of MC.
This author is a typical Liberal... completely unaware of the fact that he lives in a country heavily influenced by Magana Carta while he urinates on it yelling it isn’t very important at all. Total imbecile.
While the NYT worships at the alter of Das Capital....
Don’t sweat it. Until Christ comes back, it will be ever thus.
Stares are going to start peeling away. The South will go first. They’ve most certainly had it. California and NE will scream and cry.
The flyover states will say, “You know, its too bad you moved all the federal military stuff out of your states and into ours. Cry all you want, but there won’t be much you can do about it.”
If the Magna Carta is/was a failure, why is it after 800 years we still celebrate it? Please name something else from 1215 we should better celebrate or from any year a century each way? Please JD Berkeley Law Degree, give us something better!
If you can read it. Have you actually seen this thing? You need a microscope to read it. I have no idea how anyone wrote so small.
The idea that Constitutional Government took centuries to develop and that Magna Carta was a great step forward in that developement appears to escape this doyen of constitutional law.
Much like our own constitution and monarch.
Hmmm, who you gonna believe, old Tom Denning OM, PC, DL, QC or this univ of chicago hack?
Graduated University of California at Berkeley.
Nuff Said.
Why is the NYT still in existence?
Because good men did nothing.
............................................
Great answer . . . and they will continue to do nothing but watch their favorite sports and reality shows.
or even during the Bush dynasty
Our global governance bosses demand we write this article. We now demand you buy our content. /s
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
