The year 2015 marked the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta - that seminal document which enshrined the principle that there must be a judicial process when reviewing a decision made by the Crown to ...detain an individual. Clause 39 of Magna Carta states that 'no person shall be taken or imprisoned or deprived of their liberty unless they have been judged by their peers or by the law of the land'. This reflects an ideal of government accountability that is still pertinent in Australia today. Even before the signing of the Magna Carta, the writ of habeas corpus existed to enable those deprived of their liberty to challenge the lawfulness of their detention before a court. Habeas corpus has practical effect at common law and the unlawful deprivation of liberty by the executive is not accepted in Australian society.
The year 2015 marked the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta - that seminal document which enshrined the principle that there must be a judicial process when reviewing a decision made by the Crown to ...detain an individual. Clause 39 of Magna Carta states that 'no person shall be taken or imprisoned or deprived of their liberty unless they have been judged by their peers or by the law of the land'. This reflects an ideal of government accountability that is still pertinent in Australia today. Even before the signing of the Magna Carta, the writ of habeas corpus existed to enable those deprived of their liberty to challenge the lawfulness of their detention before a court. Habeas corpus has practical effect at common law and the unlawful deprivation of liberty by the executive is not accepted in Australian society.
For several generations before the First World War, the idea that the British constitution contained a 'right of asylum' for foreign nationals was commonplace. Though this belief had profound ...consequences for Britain's treatment of political and religious exiles, its relations with foreign states, and the drafting of its extradition and immigration laws, there has been little enquiry into its origins. This article delineates the emergence of the idea of a constitutional 'right of asylum', locating it in a series of political clashes over the 'Alien Act' that took place during the decade after the Napoleonic Wars. This legislation, which established controls over foreigners during the French Revolution and the quarter-century of war that followed, was increasingly challenged by the Whig and radical oppositions after Waterloo, both for its specific arbitrary provisions and as a more fundamental violation of the rights of aliens guaranteed by key constitutional documents like Magna Carta and the Habeas Corpus Act. By the mid-1820s these objections cohered into a conviction that asylum itself could be claimed as a right. This conviction and the arguments that spawned it were repeated for many subsequent decades, forming the basis of the widespread Victorian belief in the 'right of asylum'.
The 800th anniversary of Magna Carta came at a time of growing uncertainty about what it means to be British. Contemporary politicians have responded by articulating visions of Britishness, through ...which they seek to unite citizens behind a common identity. Taking as its focus the myth of Magna Carta, this article examines the rhetoric of Britishness of Gordon Brown and David Cameron. It shows that although both link Magna Carta to the myth of British exceptionalism, Cameron alone defines Britishness against an external 'Other'. The article also demonstrates that Magna Carta acts as a 'founding myth', and that its emergence as such is indicative of a change in Britain's 'rhetorical culture'.
The peculiar and particular manner in which freedom of religion is promoted and protected in the United Kingdom owes much to the nation’s history. This article offers a highly selective consideration ...of some of the incidents of history which have shaped or foreshadowed the lived reality of freedom of religion in Britain today. It traces key episodes over past centuries, crudely categorised as the Seven Ages of Religious Liberty.
Recent studies suggest that Magna Carta could have been published mainly by the Church, which had a specific interest in spreading copies of the charter, and the technical ability to write, ...distribute and preserve them. These researches confirm the special sway of the Church on the formation of English legal system. First, thanks to the action of the Ecclesiastical Courts, which had a jurisdiction larger than that possessed by any other Ecclesiastical Courts in Europe. Then, in the decisive importance of the cultural background, based on canon law, of the holders of administrative and judicial offices of the kingdom. Finally, for the concrete contents of rules transmitted to the Equity system, and generally to English law. The influence of ecclesiastical jurisdiction was indeed decisive in marriage, in defining rights and interests in estates, in the development of contracts; but it was paramount even in the concrete shaping of rules and institutions nowadays surrounded by «an aura of Englishness», like wills and trusts. The role of the Church in the history of Common law tradition is so evident, that «any account of English legal development that does not take account of ecclesiastical jurisdiction is therefore an incomplete account». Recenti studi dimostrano che la Magna Carta sarebbe stata pubblicata soprattutto dalla Chiesa, che aveva uno specifico interesse nel diffondere copie dello statuto, e le abilità tecniche per scriverle, distribuirle e conservarle. Queste ricerche confermano la speciale influenza della Chiesa sulla formazione dell'ordinamento giuridico inglese. In primo luogo, grazie all'azione delle Corti ecclesiastiche, che ebbero una giurisdizione più ampia rispetto a quella che possedevano tutte le altre Corti ecclesiastiche in Europa. In secondo luogo, per la decisiva importanza del background culturale, basato sul diritto canonico, dei titolari degli uffici amministrativi e giudiziari del regno. Infine, per i contenuti concreti delle regole trasmesse al sistema di Equity, e in generale al diritto inglese.L'influenza della giurisdizione ecclesiastica fu, infatti, decisiva in tema di matrimonio, nella determinazione dei diritti e degli interessi nelle proprietà, nell'evoluzione della disciplina dei contratti; ma è stata fondamentale anche nella concreta elaborazione di regole e istituzioni tutt'oggi circondate da un'aura di «Englishness», come il testamento e il trust. Il ruolo della Chiesa nella storia della tradizione del Common law è così evidente che «any account of English legal development that does not take account of ecclesiastical jurisdiction is therefore an incomplete account».
An economic analysis of Magna Carta Leeson, Peter T.; Suarez, Paola A.
International review of law and economics,
August 2016, 2016-08-00, 20160801, Letnik:
47
Journal Article
Recenzirano
•Magna Carta is analyzed via the economic approach to self-enforcing constitutions.•Original Magna Carta was not self-enforcing and failed to constrain government.•Reissued Magna Carta was ...self-enforcing and successfully constrained government.•Magna Carta history supports the economic approach to self-enforcing constitutions.
This paper uses the economic approach to self-enforcing constitutions to analyze Magna Carta and uses Magna Carta to evaluate the economic approach to self-enforcing constitutions. We find that Magna Carta in its reissued, but not original, incarnation satisfied each of the conditions necessary for constitutional self-enforcement according to that approach and thus effectively constrained government. Our analysis illuminates Magna Carta's initial failure to constrain government, helps explain its ultimate success in doing so, and furnishes supportive evidence for the economic approach to self-enforcing constitutions.
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