Magna Carta

Abstract

This is a fully revised and extended edition of J. C. Holt's study of Magna Carta, the Great Charter, which sets the events of 1215 and the Charter itself in the context of the law, politics and administration of England and Europe in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. The author has added to the first edition (1965) further comment on the development of local liberties, the significance of the famous provision nullus liber homo, the political manoeuvres of 1215, and the later history of the Charter, and many other matters. The book is broadened by the addition of an extensive chapter on justice and jurisdiction which embodies an entirely new approach to some of the most crucial and longest-lasting provisions of the Charter. New appendices have been added. Some of these are concerned with the political crisis of 1213–15, for example the alleged meeting at Bury St Edmunds; others examine the Anglo-Norman translations of the Charter and related documents, or the development of perpetual liberties. References are brought up to date throughout, and there is an entirely new index.

The long transition from a natural state to a liberal economic order

“…However, as historians have long pointed out, the relationship between the Great Charter of 1215 and what modern scholars understand by rule of law is more complex and nuanced than is usually recognized (McKechnie, 1914;Holt, 1992). Magna Carta was a document of its time: the outcome of a civil war, and an attempt to make peace between the king and his barons.…”

National Identity, Political Interest and Human Rights in Europe: The Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union

“…Nevertheless, its clauses were important in limiting the misuse of powers by the royal officials, such as overburdening and unregulated financial and other levies on the population, interference with church affairs, etc. (see Holt, 1992;Thomas, 1988). 5.…”

Energy Ownership

“…The barons would have certain rights, and those rights would be enforced by neutral courts, not monarchies. 5 the WestPhalIan concePt of natIon-state and sovereIgnty…”