Four essays commemorating the 750th anniversary of Magna Carta, commissioned by the American Council of Learned Societies.

The constitutional foundation of English (and perhaps world) freedoms

2015 marks the 800th anniversary of the signing of Magna Carta, the influence of which is still felt today around the world. In 1215 the barons of England forced King John to sign a revolutionary document which would change the political landscape not only of thirteenth-century Britain, but of the modern world. Magna Carta was the forerunner of the constitution that limited the powers of the crown and its echoes can be found in the seventeenth-century Civil Wars, the struggles for American Independence, the work of Thomas Paine and in the bedrock constitutional legislation of just about every democratic country today. As civil Liberties and the rule of law are increasingly brought into question throughout the world, leading medieval historian Geoffrey Hindley breathes vivid life into the story behind the signing of Magna Carta, and reveals the undiminished significance of this ancient document in today’s world.

This book provides an original and multidisciplinary approach on Magna Carta (1215) as a joint heritage, a source of inspiration both for long established democracies and countries which only recently experienced the Rule of Law. Far from simply extolling the virtues associated with Magna Carta, it explores the gaps of the Great Charter. Instead of dealing separately with the historians’ and the lawyers’ outlooks as two conflicting perspectives, it juxtaposes the views of medievalist and contemporary historians with those of practicing lawyers and law academics, offering readers a thorough yet accessible historic and legal analysis of the charter and its meaning for the citizens of twenty-first century democracies. At a time of the erosion of civil liberties and fundamental rights, The Rights and Aspirations of the Magna Carta provides a rare insight into the 1215 medieval charter and its legacy.