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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 10000 ***
+
+The Magna Carta
+
+
+Contents
+
+ The Text of Magna Carta
+ Magna Carta 1215
+ The text of THE MAGNA CARTA
+
+
+
+
+A note from Michael Hart, preparer of the 0.1 version.
+
+
+This file contains a number of versions of the Magna Carta, some of
+which were a little mangled in transit. I am sure our volunteers will
+find and correct errors I didn’t catch, and that version 0.2 - 1.0 will
+have significant improvements, as well as at least one more version in
+Latin.
+
+
+Version 1.0 may contain a dozen different versions.
+
+
+
+
+The Text of Magna Carta
+
+
+JOHN, by the grace of God King of England, Lord of Ireland, Duke of
+Normandy and Aquitaine, and Count of Anjou, to his archbishops,
+bishops, abbots, earls, barons, justices, foresters, sheriffs,
+stewards, servants, and to all his officials and loyal subjects,
+Greeting.
+
+KNOW THAT BEFORE GOD, for the health of our soul and those of our
+ancestors and heirs, to the honour of God, the exaltation of the holy
+Church, and the better ordering of our kingdom, at the advice of our
+reverend fathers Stephen, archbishop of Canterbury, primate of all
+England, and cardinal of the holy Roman Church, Henry archbishop of
+Dublin, William bishop of London, Peter bishop of Winchester, Jocelin
+bishop of Bath and Glastonbury, Hugh bishop of Lincoln, Walter Bishop
+of Worcester, William bishop of Coventry, Benedict bishop of Rochester,
+Master Pandulf subdeacon and member of the papal household, Brother
+Aymeric master of the knighthood of the Temple in England, William
+Marshal earl of Pembroke, William earl of Salisbury, William earl of
+Warren, William earl of Arundel, Alan de Galloway constable of
+Scotland, Warin Fitz Gerald, Peter Fitz Herbert, Hubert de Burgh
+seneschal of Poitou, Hugh de Neville, Matthew Fitz Herbert, Thomas
+Basset, Alan Basset, Philip Daubeny, Robert de Roppeley, John Marshal,
+John Fitz Hugh, and other loyal subjects:
+
+(1) FIRST, THAT WE HAVE GRANTED TO GOD, and by this present charter
+have confirmed for us and our heirs in perpetuity, that the English
+Church shall be free, and shall have its rights undiminished, and its
+liberties unimpaired. That we wish this so to be observed, appears from
+the fact that of our own free will, before the outbreak of the present
+dispute between us and our barons, we granted and confirmed by charter
+the freedom of the Church’s elections - a right reckoned to be of the
+greatest necessity and importance to it - and caused this to be
+confirmed by Pope Innocent III. This freedom we shall observe
+ourselves, and desire to be observed in good faith by our heirs in
+perpetuity.
+
+TO ALL FREE MEN OF OUR KINGDOM we have also granted, for us and our
+heirs for ever, all the liberties written out below, to have and to
+keep for them and their heirs, of us and our heirs:
+
+(2) If any earl, baron, or other person that holds lands directly of
+the Crown, for military service, shall die, and at his death his heir
+shall be of full age and owe a ‘relief’, the heir shall have his
+inheritance on payment of the ancient scale of ‘relief’. That is to
+say, the heir or heirs of an earl shall pay 100 for the entire earl’s
+barony, the heir or heirs of a knight 100s. at most for the entire
+knight’s ‘fee’, and any man that owes less shall pay less, in
+accordance with the ancient usage of ‘fees’
+
+(3) But if the heir of such a person is under age and a ward, when he
+comes of age he shall have his inheritance without ‘relief’ or fine.
+
+(4) The guardian of the land of an heir who is under age shall take
+from it only reasonable revenues, customary dues, and feudal services.
+He shall do this without destruction or damage to men or property. If
+we have given the guardianship of the land to a sheriff, or to any
+person answerable to us for the revenues, and he commits destruction or
+damage, we will exact compensation from him, and the land shall be
+entrusted to two worthy and prudent men of the same ‘fee’, who shall be
+answerable to us for the revenues, or to the person to whom we have
+assigned them. If we have given or sold to anyone the guardianship of
+such land, and he causes destruction or damage, he shall lose the
+guardianship of it, and it shall be handed over to two worthy and
+prudent men of the same ‘fee’, who shall be similarly answerable to us.
+
+(5) For so long as a guardian has guardianship of such land, he shall
+maintain the houses, parks, fish preserves, ponds, mills, and
+everything else pertaining to it, from the revenues of the land itself.
+When the heir comes of age, he shall restore the whole land to him,
+stocked with plough teams and such implements of husbandry as the
+season demands and the revenues from the land can reasonably bear.
+
+(6) Heirs may be given in marriage, but not to someone of lower social
+standing. Before a marriage takes place, it shall be’ made known to the
+heir’s next-of-kin.
+
+(7) At her husband’s death, a widow may have her marriage portion and
+inheritance at once and without trouble. She shall pay nothing for her
+dower, marriage portion, or any inheritance that she and her husband
+held jointly on the day of his death. She may remain in her husband’s
+house for forty days after his death, and within this period her dower
+shall be assigned to her.
+
+(8) No widow shall be compelled to marry, so long as she wishes to
+remain without a husband. But she must give security that she will not
+marry without royal consent, if she holds her lands of the Crown, or
+without the consent of whatever other lord she may hold them of.
+
+(9) Neither we nor our officials will seize any land or rent in payment
+of a debt, so long as the debtor has movable goods sufficient to
+discharge the debt. A debtor’s sureties shall not be distrained upon so
+long as the debtor himself can discharge his debt. If, for lack of
+means, the debtor is unable to discharge his debt, his sureties shall
+be answerable for it. If they so desire, they may have the debtor’s
+lands and rents until they have received satisfaction for the debt that
+they paid for him, unless the debtor can show that he has settled his
+obligations to them.
+
+(10) If anyone who has borrowed a sum of money from Jews dies before
+the debt has been repaid, his heir shall pay no interest on the debt
+for so long as he remains under age, irrespective of whom he holds his
+lands. If such a debt falls into the hands of the Crown, it will take
+nothing except the principal sum specified in the bond.
+
+(11) If a man dies owing money to Jews, his wife may have her dower and
+pay nothing towards the debt from it. If he leaves children that are
+under age, their needs may also be provided for on a scale appropriate
+to the size of his holding of lands. The debt is to be paid out of the
+residue, reserving the service due to his feudal lords. Debts owed to
+persons other than Jews are to be dealt with similarly.
+
+(12) No ‘scutage’ or ‘aid’ may be levied in our kingdom without its
+general consent, unless it is for the ransom of our person, to make our
+eldest son a knight, and (once) to marry our eldest daughter. For these
+purposes only a reasonable ‘aid’ may be levied. ‘Aids’ from the city of
+London are to be treated similarly.
+
+(13) The city of London shall enjoy all its ancient liberties and free
+customs, both by land and by water. We also will and grant that all
+other cities, boroughs, towns, and ports shall enjoy all their
+liberties and free customs.
+
+ (14) To obtain the general consent of the realm for the assessment of
+ an ‘aid’ - except in the three cases specified above - or a ‘scutage’,
+ we will cause the archbishops, bishops, abbots, earls, and greater
+ barons to be summoned individually by letter. To those who hold lands
+ directly of us we will cause a general summons to be issued, through
+ the sheriffs and other officials, to come together on a fixed day (of
+ which at least forty days notice shall be given) and at a fixed place.
+ In all letters of summons, the cause of the summons will be stated.
+ When a summons has been issued, the business appointed for the day
+ shall go forward in accordance with the resolution of those present,
+ even if not all those who were summoned have appeared.
+
+(15) In future we will allow no one to levy an ‘aid’ from his free men,
+except to ransom his person, to make his eldest son a knight, and
+(once) to marry his eldest daughter. For these purposes only a
+reasonable ‘aid’ may be levied.
+
+(16) No man shall be forced to perform more service for a knight’s
+‘fee’, or other free holding of land, than is due from it.
+
+(17) Ordinary lawsuits shall not follow the royal court around, but
+shall be held in a fixed place.
+
+(18) Inquests of novel disseisin, mort d’ancestor, and darrein
+presentment shall be taken only in their proper county court. We
+ourselves, or in our absence abroad our chief justice, will send two
+justices to each county four times a year, and these justices, with
+four knights of the county elected by the county itself, shall hold the
+assizes in the county court, on the day and in the place where the
+court meets.
+
+(19) If any assizes cannot be taken on the day of the county court, as
+many knights and freeholders shall afterwards remain behind, of those
+who have attended the court, as will suffice for the administration of
+justice, having regard to the volume of business to be done.
+
+(20) For a trivial offence, a free man shall be fined only in
+proportion to the degree of his offence, and for a serious offence
+correspondingly, but not so heavily as to deprive him of his
+livelihood. In the same way, a merchant shall be spared his
+merchandise, and a husbandman the implements of his husbandry, if they
+fall upon the mercy of a royal court. None of these fines shall be
+imposed except by the assessment on oath of reputable men of the
+neighbourhood.
+
+(21) Earls and barons shall be fined only by their equals, and in
+proportion to the gravity of their offence.
+
+(22) A fine imposed upon the lay property of a clerk in holy orders
+shall be assessed upon the same principles, without reference to the
+value of his ecclesiastical benefice.
+
+(23) No town or person shall be forced to build bridges over rivers
+except those with an ancient obligation to do so.
+
+(24) No sheriff, constable, coroners, or other royal officials are to
+hold lawsuits that should be held by the royal justices.
+
+(25) Every county, hundred, wapentake, and tithing shall remain at its
+ancient rent, without increase, except the royal demesne manors.
+
+(26) If at the death of a man who holds a lay ‘fee’ of the Crown, a
+sheriff or royal official produces royal letters patent of summons for
+a debt due to the Crown, it shall be lawful for them to seize and list
+movable goods found in the lay ‘fee’ of the dead man to the value of
+the debt, as assessed by worthy men. Nothing shall be removed until the
+whole debt is paid, when the residue shall be given over to the
+executors to carry out the dead man’s will. If no debt is due to the
+Crown, all the movable goods shall be regarded as the property of the
+dead man, except the reasonable shares of his wife and children.
+
+(27) If a free man dies intestate, his movable goods are to be
+distributed by his next-of-kin and friends, under the supervision of
+the Church. The rights of his debtors are to be preserved.
+
+(28) No constable or other royal official shall take corn or other
+movable goods from any man without immediate payment, unless the seller
+voluntarily offers postponement of this.
+
+(29) No constable may compel a knight to pay money for castle-guard if
+the knight is willing to undertake the guard in person, or with
+reasonable excuse to supply some other fit man to do it. A knight taken
+or sent on military service shall be excused from castle-guard for the
+period of this service.
+
+(30) No sheriff, royal official, or other person shall take horses or
+carts for transport from any free man, without his consent.
+
+(31) Neither we nor any royal official will take wood for our castle,
+or for any other purpose, without the consent of the owner.
+
+(32) We will not keep the lands of people convicted of felony in our
+hand for longer than a year and a day, after which they shall be
+returned to the lords of the ‘fees’ concerned.
+
+(33) All fish-weirs shall be removed from the Thames, the Medway, and
+throughout the whole of England, except on the sea coast.
+
+(34) The writ called precipe shall not in future be issued to anyone in
+respect of any holding of land, if a free man could thereby be deprived
+of the right of trial in his own lord’s court.
+
+(35) There shall be standard measures of wine, ale, and corn (the
+London quarter), throughout the kingdom. There shall also be a standard
+width of dyed cloth, russett, and haberject, namely two ells within the
+selvedges. Weights are to be standardised similarly.
+
+(36) In future nothing shall be paid or accepted for the issue of a
+writ of inquisition of life or limbs. It shall be given gratis, and not
+refused.
+
+(37) If a man holds land of the Crown by ‘fee-farm’, ‘socage’, or
+‘burgage’, and also holds land of someone else for knight’s service, we
+will not have guardianship of his heir, nor of the land that belongs to
+the other person’s ‘fee’, by virtue of the ‘fee-farm’, ‘socage’, or
+‘burgage’, unless the ‘fee-farm’ owes knight’s service. We will not
+have the guardianship of a man’s heir, or of land that he holds of
+someone else, by reason of any small property that he may hold of the
+Crown for a service of knives, arrows, or the like.
+
+(38) In future no official shall place a man on trial upon his own
+unsupported statement, without producing credible witnesses to the
+truth of it.
+
+(39) No free man shall be seized or imprisoned, or stripped of his
+rights or possessions, or outlawed or exiled, or deprived of his
+standing in any other way, nor will we proceed with force against him,
+or send others to do so, except by the lawful judgement of his equals
+or by the law of the land.
+
+(40) To no one will we sell, to no one deny or delay right or justice.
+
+(41) All merchants may enter or leave England unharmed and without
+fear, and may stay or travel within it, by land or water, for purposes
+of trade, free from all illegal exactions, in accordance with ancient
+and lawful customs. This, however, does not apply in time of war to
+merchants from a country that is at war with us. Any such merchants
+found in our country at the outbreak of war shall be detained without
+injury to their persons or property, until we or our chief justice have
+discovered how our own merchants are being treated in the country at
+war with us. If our own merchants are safe they shall be safe too.
+
+(42) In future it shall be lawful for any man to leave and return to
+our kingdom unharmed and without fear, by land or water, preserving his
+allegiance to us, except in time of war, for some short period, for the
+common benefit of the realm. People that have been imprisoned or
+outlawed in accordance with the law of the land, people from a country
+that is at war with us, and merchants - who shall be dealt with as
+stated above - are excepted from this provision.
+
+(43) If a man holds lands of any ‘escheat’ such as the ‘honour’ of
+Wallingford, Nottingham, Boulogne, Lancaster, or of other ‘escheats’ in
+our hand that are baronies, at his death his heir shall give us only
+the ‘relief’ and service that he would have made to the baron, had the
+barony been in the baron’s hand. We will hold the ‘escheat’ in the same
+manner as the baron held it.
+
+(44) People who live outside the forest need not in future appear
+before the royal justices of the forest in answer to general summonses,
+unless they are actually involved in proceedings or are sureties for
+someone who has been seized for a forest offence.
+
+(45) We will appoint as justices, constables, sheriffs, or other
+officials, only men that know the law of the realm and are minded to
+keep it well.
+
+(46) All barons who have founded abbeys, and have charters of English
+kings or ancient tenure as evidence of this, may have guardianship of
+them when there is no abbot, as is their due.
+
+(47) All forests that have been created in our reign shall at once be
+disafforested. River-banks that have been enclosed in our reign shall
+be treated similarly.
+
+(48) All evil customs relating to forests and warrens, foresters,
+warreners, sheriffs and their servants, or river-banks and their
+wardens, are at once to be investigated in every county by twelve sworn
+knights of the county, and within forty days of their enquiry the evil
+customs are to be abolished completely and irrevocably. But we, or our
+chief justice if we are not in England, are first to be informed.
+
+(49) We will at once return all hostages and charters delivered up to
+us by Englishmen as security for peace or for loyal service. ***here
+were some strange characters, not completely removed
+
+(50) We will remove completely from their offices the kinsmen of Gerard
+de Ath, Peter, Guy, and Andrew de Chanceaux, Guy de Cigogne, and in
+future they shall hold no offices in England. The people in question
+are Engelard de Cigogn, Geoffrey de Martigny and his brothers, Philip
+Marc and his brothers, with Geoffrey his nephew, and all their
+followers.
+
+* As soon as peace is restored, we will remove from the kingdom all the
+foreign knights, bowmen, their attendants, and the mercenaries that
+have come to it, to its harm, with horses and arms.
+
+* To any man whom we have deprived or dispossessed of lands, castles,
+liberties, or rights, without the lawful judgement of his equals, we
+will at once restore these. In cases of dispute the matter shall be
+resolved by the judgement of the twenty-five barons referred to below
+in the clause for securing the peace. In cases, however, where a man
+was deprived or dispossessed of something without the lawful judgement
+of his equals by our father King Henry or our brother King Richard, and
+it remains in our hands or is held by others under our warranty, we
+shall have respite for the period commonly allowed to Crusaders, unless
+a lawsuit had been begun, or an enquiry had been made at our order,
+before we took the Cross as a Crusader. On our return from the Crusade,
+or if we abandon it, we will at once render justice in full.
+
+* We shall have similar respite in rendering justice in connexion with
+forests that are to be disafforested, or to remain forests, when these
+were first aforested by our father Henry or our brother Richard; with
+the guardianship of lands in another persons fee, when we have hitherto
+had this by virtue of a fee held of us for knights service by a third
+party; and with abbeys founded in another persons fee, in which the
+lord of the fee claims to own a right. On our return from the Crusade,
+or if we abandon it, we will at once do full justice to complaints
+about these matters.
+
+* No one shall be arrested or imprisoned on the appeal of a woman for
+the death of any person except her husband.
+
+* All fines that have been given to us unjustly and against the law of
+the land, and all fines that we have exacted unjustly, shall be
+entirely remitted or the matter decided by a majority judgement of the
+twenty-five barons referred to below in the clause for securing the
+peace together with Stephen, archbishop of Canterbury, if he can be
+present, and such others as he wishes to bring with him. If the
+archbishop cannot be present, proceedings shall continue without him,
+provided that if any of the twenty-five barons has been involved in a
+similar suit himself, his judgement shall be set aside, and someone
+else chosen and sworn in his place, as a substitute for the single
+occasion, by the rest of the twenty-five.
+
+* If we have deprived or dispossessed any Welshmen of lands, liberties,
+or anything else in England or in Wales, without the lawful judgement
+of their equals, these are at once to be returned to them. A dispute on
+this point shall be determined in the Marches by the judgement of
+equals. English law shall apply to holdings of land in England, Welsh
+law to those in Wales, and the law of the Marches to those in the
+Marches. The Welsh shall treat us and ours in the same way.
+
+* In cases where a Welshman was deprived or dispossessed of anything,
+without the lawful judgement of his equals, by our father King Henry or
+our brother King Richard, and it remains in our hands or is held by
+others under our warranty, we shall have respite for the period
+commonly allowed to Crusaders, unless a lawsuit had been begun, or an
+enquiry had been made at our order, before we took the Cross as a
+Crusader. But on our return from the Crusade, or if we abandon it, we
+will at once do full justice according to the laws of Wales and the
+said regions.
+
+* We will at once return the son of Llywelyn, all Welsh hostages, and
+the charters delivered to us as security for the peace.
+
+* With regard to the return of the sisters and hostages of Alexander,
+king of Scotland, his liberties and his rights, we will treat him in
+the same way as our other barons of England, unless it appears from the
+charters that we hold from his father William, formerly king of
+Scotland, that he should be treated otherwise. This matter shall be
+resolved by the judgement of his equals in our court.
+
+* All these customs and liberties that we have granted shall be
+observed in our kingdom in so far as concerns our own relations with
+our subjects. Let all men of our kingdom, whether clergy or laymen,
+observe them similarly in their relations with their own men.
+
+***Strange characters may have ended here.
+
+SINCE WE HAVE GRANTED ALL THESE THINGS for God, for the better ordering
+of our kingdom, and to allay the discord that has arisen between us and
+our barons, and since we desire that they shall be enjoyed in their
+entirety, with lasting strength, for ever, we give and grant to the
+barons the following security:
+
+* The barons shall elect twenty-five of their number to keep, and cause
+to be observed with all their might, the peace and liberties granted
+and confirmed to them by this charter.
+
+* If we, our chief justice, our officials, or any of our servants
+offend in any respect against any man, or transgress any of the
+articles of the peace or of this security, and the offence is made
+known to four of the said twenty-five barons, they shall come to us -
+or in our absence from the kingdom to the chief justice - to declare it
+and claim immediate redress. If we, or in our absence abroad the chief
+justice, make no redress within forty days, reckoning from the day on
+which the offence was declared to us or to him, the four barons shall
+refer the matter to the rest of the twenty-five barons, who may
+distrain upon and assail us in every way possible, with the support of
+the whole community of the land, by seizing our castles, lands,
+possessions, or anything else saving only our own person and those of
+the queen and our children, until they have secured such redress as
+they have determined upon. Having secured the redress, they may then
+resume their normal obedience to us.
+
+* Any man who so desires may take an oath to obey the commands of the
+twenty-five barons for the achievement of these ends, and to join with
+them in assailing us to the utmost of his power. We give public and
+free permission to take this oath to any man who so desires, and at no
+time will we prohibit any man from taking it. Indeed, we will compel
+any of our subjects who are unwilling to take it to swear it at our
+command.
+
+* If one of the twenty-five barons dies or leaves the country, or is
+prevented in any other way from discharging his duties, the rest of
+them shall choose another baron in his place, at their discretion, who
+shall be duly sworn in as they were.
+
+* In the event of disagreement among the twenty-five barons on any
+matter referred to them for decision, the verdict of the majority
+present shall have the same validity as a unanimous verdict of the
+whole twenty-five, whether these were all present or some of those
+summoned were unwilling or unable to appear.
+
+* The twenty-five barons shall swear to obey all the above articles
+faithfully, and shall cause them to be obeyed by others to the best of
+their power.
+
+* We will not seek to procure from anyone, either by our own efforts or
+those of a third party, anything by which any part of these concessions
+or liberties might be revoked or diminished. Should such a thing be
+procured, it shall be null and void and we will at no time make use of
+it, either ourselves or through a third party.
+
+We have remitted and pardoned fully to all men any ill-will, hurt, or
+grudges that have arisen between us and our subjects, whether clergy or
+laymen, since the beginning of the dispute. We have in addition
+remitted fully, and for our own part have also pardoned, to all clergy
+and laymen any offences committed as a result of the said dispute
+between Easter 1215 AD and the restoration of peace.
+
+In addition we have caused letters patent to be made for the barons,
+bearing witness to this security and to the concessions set out above,
+over the seals of Stephen archbishop of Canterbury, Henry archbishop of
+Dublin, the other bishops named above, and Master Pandulf.
+
+IT IS ACCORDINGLY OUR WISH AND COMMAND that the English Church shall be
+free, and that men in our kingdom shall have and keep all these
+liberties, rights, and concessions, well and peaceably in their fulness
+and entirety for them and their heirs, of us and our heirs, in all
+things and all places for ever.
+
+Both we and the barons have sworn that all this shall be observed in
+good faith and without deceit. Witness the above mentioned people and
+many others.
+
+Given by our hand in the meadow that is called Runnymede, between
+Windsor and Staines, on the fifteenth day of June in the seventeenth
+year of our reign.
+
+***
+
+[There were many missing spaces in this one, not sure I got them all]
+
+
+
+
+Magna Carta 1215
+
+
+John, by the grace of God, king of England, lord of Ireland, duke of
+Normandy and Aquitaine, and count of Anjou, to the archbishops,
+bishops, abbots, earls, barons, justiciars, foresters, sheriffs,
+stewards, servants, and to all his bailiffs and liege subjects,
+greeting. Know that, having regard to God and for the salvation of our
+soul, and those of all our ancestors and heirs, and unto the honor of
+God and the advancement of holy church, and for the reform of our
+realm, by advice of our venerable fathers, Stephen archbishop of
+Canterbury, primate of all England and cardinal of the holy Roman
+Church, Henry archbishop of Dublin, William of London, Peter of
+Winchester, Jocelyn of Bath and Glastonbury, Hugh of Lincoln, Walter of
+Worcester, William of Coventry, Benedict of Rochester, bishops; of
+master Pandulf, subdeacon and member of the household of our lord the
+Pope, of brother Aymeric (master of the Knights of the Temple in
+England), and of the illustrious men William Marshall earl of Pembroke,
+William earl of Salisbury, William earl of Warenne, William earl of
+Arundel, Alan of Galloway (constable of Scotland), Waren Fitz Gerald,
+Peter Fits Herbert, Hubert de Burgh (seneschal of Poitou), Hugh de
+Neville, Matthew Fitz Herbert, Thomas Basset, Alan Basset, Philip
+d’Aubigny, Robert of Roppesley, John Marshall, John Fitz Hugh, and
+others, our liegemen.
+
+1. In the first place we have granted to God, and by this our present
+charter confirmed for us and our heirs for ever that the English church
+shall be free, and shall have her rights entire, and her liberties
+inviolate; and we will that it be thus observed; which is apparent from
+this that the freedom of elections, which is reckoned most important
+and very essential to the English church, we, of our pure and
+unconstrained will, did grant, and did by our charter confirm and did
+obtain the ratification of the same from our lord, Pope Innocent III.,
+before the quarrel arose between us and our barons: and this we will
+observe, and our will is that it be observed in good faith by our heirs
+for ever. We have also granted to all freemen of our kingdom, for us
+and our heirs for ever, all the underwritten liberties, to be had and
+held by them and their heirs, of us and our heirs for ever.
+
+2. If any of our earls or barons, or others holding of us in chief by
+military service shall have died, and at the time of his death his heir
+shall be of full age and owe “relief” he shall have his inheritance on
+payment of the ancient relief, namely the heir or heirs of an earl, 100
+pounds for a whole earl’s barony; the heir or heirs of a baron, 100
+pounds for a whole barony; the heir or heirs of a knight, 100 shillings
+at most for a whole knight’s fee; and whoever owes less let him give
+less, according to the ancient custom officers.
+
+3. If, however, the heir of any of the aforesaid has been under age and
+in wardship, let him have his inheritance without relief and without
+fine when he comes of age.
+
+4. The guardian of the land of an heir who is thus under age, shall
+take from the land of the heir nothing but reasonably produce,
+reasonable customs, and reasonable services, and that without
+destruction or waste of men or goods; and if we have committed the
+wardship of the lands of any such minor to the sheriff, or to any other
+who is responsible to us for its issues, and he has made destruction or
+waste of what he holds in wardship, we will take of him amends, and the
+land shall be committed to two lawful and discreet men of that fee, who
+shall be responsible for the issues to us or to him to whom we shall
+assign them; and if we have given or sold the wardship of any such land
+to anyone and he has there in made destruction or waste, he shall lose
+that wardship, and it shall be transferred to two lawful and discreet
+men of that fief, who shall be responsible to us in like manner as
+aforesaid.
+
+5. The guardian, moreover, so long as he has the wardship of the land,
+shall keep up the houses, parks, fishponds, stanks, mills, and other
+things pertaining to the land, out of the issues of the same land; and
+he shall restore to the heir, when he has come to full age, all his
+land, stocked with ploughs and “waynage,” according as the season of
+husbandry shall require, and the issues of the land can reasonably
+bear.
+
+6. Heirs shall be married without disparagement, yet so that before the
+marriage takes place the nearest in blood to that heir shall have
+notice.
+
+7. A widow, after the death of her husband, shall forthwith and without
+difficulty have her marriage portion and inheritance; nor shall she
+give anything for her dower, or for her marriage portion, or for the
+inheritance which her husband and she held on the day of the death of
+that husband; and she may remain in the house of her husband for fourty
+days after his death, within which time her dower shall be assigned to
+her.
+
+8. No widow shall be compelled to marry, so long as she prefers to live
+without a husband; provided always that she gives security not to marry
+without our consent, if she holds of us, or without the consent of the
+lord of whom she holds, if she holds of another.
+
+9. Neither we nor our bailiffs shall seize any land or rent for any
+debt, so long as the chattels of the debtor are sufficient to repay the
+debt; nor shall the sureties of the debtor be distrained so long as the
+principal debtor is able to satisfy the debt; and if the principal
+debtor shall fail to pay the debt, having nothing wherewith to pay it,
+then the sureties shall answer for the debt; and let them have the
+lands and rents of the debtor, if they desire them, until they are
+indemnified for the debt which they have paid for him, unless the
+principal debtor can show proof that he is discharged thereof as
+against the said sureties.
+
+10. If one who has borrowed from the Jews any sum, great or small, die
+before that loan can be repaid, the debt shall not bear interest while
+the heir is under age, of whomsoever he may hold; and if the debt fall
+into our hands, we will not take anything except the principal sum
+contained in the bond.
+
+11. And if any one die indebted to the Jews, his wife shall have her
+dower and pay nothing of that debt; and if any children of the deceased
+are left underage, necessaries shall be provided for them in keeping
+with the holding of the deceased; and out of the residue the debt shall
+be paid, reserving, however, service due to feudal lords; in like
+manner let it be done touching debts due to others than Jews.
+
+12. No scutage nor aid shall be imposed on our kingdom, unless by
+common counsel of our kingdom, except for ransoming our person, for
+making our eldest son a knight, and for once marrying our eldest
+daughter; and for these there shall not be levied more than a
+reasonable aid. In like manner it shall be done concerning aids from
+the city of London.
+
+13. And the city of London shall have all its ancient liberties and
+free customs, as well by land as by water; furthermore, we decree and
+grant that all other cities, boroughs, towns, and ports shall have all
+their liberties and free customs.
+
+14. And for obtaining the common counsel of the kingdom anent the
+assessing of an aid (except in the three cases aforesaid) or of a
+scutage, we will cause to be summoned the archbishops, bishops, abbots,
+earls, and greater barons, severally by our letters; and we will
+moreover cause to be summoned generally, through our sheriffs and
+bailiffs, all others who hold of us in chief, for a fixed date, namely,
+after the expiry of at least forty days, and at a fixed place; and in
+all letters of such summons we will specify the reason of the summons.
+And when the summons has thus been made, the business shall proceed on
+the day appointed, according to the counsel of such as are present,
+although not all who were summoned have come.
+
+15. We will not for the future grant to any one license to take an aid
+from his own free tenants, except to ransom his body, to make his
+eldest son a knight, and once to marry his eldest daughter; and on each
+of these occasions there shall be levied only a reasonable aid.
+
+16. No one shall be distrained for performance of greater service for a
+knight’s fee, or for any other free tenement, than is due therefrom.
+
+17. Common pleas shall not follow our court, but shall be held in some
+fixed place.
+
+18. Inquests of novel disseisin, of mort d’ancester, and of darrein
+presentment, shall not be held elsewhere than in their own county
+courts and that in manner following,—We, or, if we should be out of the
+realm, our chief justiciar, will send two justiciars through every
+county four times a year, who shall, along with four knights of the
+county chosen by the county, hold the said assize in the county court,
+on the day and in the place of meeting of that court.
+
+19. And if any of the said assizes cannot be taken on the day of the
+county court, let there remain of the knights and freeholders, who were
+present at the county court on that day, as many as may be required for
+the efficient making of judgments, according as the business be more or
+less.
+
+20. A freeman shall not be amerced for a slight offense, except in
+accordance with the degree of the offense; and for a grave offense he
+shall be amerced in accordance with the gravity of the offense, yet
+saving always his “contentment;” and a merchant in the same way, saving
+his “merchandise;” and a villein shall be amerced in the same way,
+saving his “wainage”—if they have fallen into our mercy: and none of
+the aforesaid amercements shall be impsed except by the oath of honest
+men of the neighborhood.
+
+21. Earls and barons shall not be amerced except through their peers,
+and only in accordance with the degree of the offense.
+
+22. A clerk shall not be amerced in respect of his lay holding except
+after the manner of the others aforesaid; further, he shall not be
+amerced in accordance with the extent of his ecclesiastical benefice.
+
+23. No village or individual shall be compelled to make bridges at
+river-banks, except those who from of old were legally bound to do so.
+
+24. No sheriff, constable, coroners, or others of our bailiffs, shall
+hold pleas of our Crown.
+
+25. All counties, hundreds, wapentakes, and trithings (except our
+demesne manors) shall remain at old rents, and without any additional
+payment.***here may be an error
+
+26. If any one holding of us a lay fief shall die, and our sheriff or
+bailiff shall exhibit our letters patent of summons for a debt which
+the deceased owed to us, it shall be lawful for our sheriff or bailiff
+to attach and catalogue chattels of the deceased, found upon the lay
+fief, to the value of that debt, at the sight of law-worthy men,
+provided always that nothing whatever be then be removed until the debt
+which is evident shall be fully paid to us; and the residue shall be
+left to the executors to fulfil the will of the deceased; and if there
+be nothing due from him to us, all the chattels shall go to the
+deceased, saving to his wife and children their reasonable shares.
+
+27. If any freeman shall die intestate, his chattels shall be
+distributed by the hands of his nearest kinsfolk and friends, under
+supervision of the church, saving to every one the debts which the
+deceased owed to him.
+
+28. No constable or other bailiff of ours shall take corn or other
+provisions from any one without immediately tendering money therefor,
+unless he can have postponement thereof by permission of the seller.
+
+29. No constable shall compel any knight to give money in lieu of
+castle-guard, when he is willing to perform it in his own person, or
+(if he cannot do it from any reasonable cause) then by another
+responsible man. Further, if we have led or sent him upon military
+service, he shall be relieved from guard in proportion to the time
+during which he has been on service because of us.
+
+30. No sheriff or bailiff of ours, or other person, shall take the
+horses or carts of any freeman for transport duty, against the will of
+the said freeman.
+
+31. Neither we nor our bailiffs shall take, for our castles or for any
+other work of ours, wood which is not ours, against the will of the
+owner of that wood.
+
+32. We will not retain beyond one year and one day, the lands of those
+who have been convicted of felony, and the lands shall thereafter be
+handed over to the lords of the fiefs.
+
+33. All kiddles for the future shall be removed altogether from Thames
+and Medway, and throughout all England, except upon the seashore.
+
+34. The writ which is called praecipe shall not for the future be
+issued to any one, regarding any tenement whereby a freeman may lose
+his court.
+
+35. Let there be one measure of wine throughout our whole realm; and
+one measure of ale; and one measure of corn, to wit, “the London
+quarter;” and one width of cloth (whether dyed, or russet, or
+“halberget”), to wit, two ells within the selvages; of weights also let
+it be as of measures.
+
+36. Nothing in future shall be given or taken for a writ of inquisition
+of life or limbs, but freely it shall be granted, and never denied.
+
+37. If any one holds of us by fee-farm, by socage, or by burgage, and
+holds also land of another lord by knight’s service, we will not (by
+reason of that fee-farm, socage, or burgage) have the wardship of the
+heir, or of such land of his as is of the fief of that other; nor shall
+we have wardship of that fee-farm, socage, or burgage, unless such
+fee-farm owes knight’s service. We will not by reason of any small
+serjeanty which any one may hold of us by the service of rendering to
+us knives, arrows, or the like, have wardship of his heir of the land
+which he holds of another lord by knight’s service.
+
+38. No bailiff for the future shall, upon his own unsupported
+complaint, put any one to his “law,” without credible witnesses brought
+for this purpose.
+
+39. No freeman shall be taken or imprisoned or disseised or exiled or
+in anyway destroyed, nor will we go upon him nor send upon him, except
+by the lawful judgment of his peers or by the law of the land.
+
+40. To no one will we sell, to no one will we refuse or delay, right or
+justice.
+
+41. All merchants shall have safe and secure exit from England, and
+entry to England, with the right to tarry there and to move about as
+well by land as by water, for buying and selling by the ancient and
+right customs, quit from all evil tolls, except (in time of war) such
+merchants as are of the land at war with us. And if such are found in
+our land at the beginning of the war, they shall be detained, without
+injury to their bodies or goods, until information be received by us,
+or by our chief justiciar, how the merchants of our land found in the
+land at war with us are treated; and if our men are safe there, the
+others shall be safe in our land.
+
+42. It shall be lawful in future for any one (excepting always those
+imprisoned or outlawed in accordance with the law of the kingdom, and
+natives of any country at war with us, and merchants, who shall be
+treated as is above provided) to leave our kingdom and to return, safe
+and secure by land and water, except for a short period in time of war,
+on grounds of public policy—reserving always the allegiance due to us.
+
+43. If any one holding of some escheat (such as the honor of
+Wallingford, Nottingham, Boulogne, Lancaster, or of other escheats
+which are in our hands and are baronies) shall die, his heir shall give
+no other relief, and perform no other service to us than he would have
+done to the baron, if that barony had been in the baron’s hand; and we
+shall hold it in the same manner in which the baron held it.
+
+44. Men who dwell without the forest need not henceforth come before
+our justiciars of the forest upon a general summons, except those who
+are impleaded, or who have become sureties for any person or persons
+attached for forest offenses.
+
+45. We will appoint as justices, constables, sheriffs, or bailiffs only
+such as know the law of the realm and mean to observe it well.
+
+46. All barons who have founded abbeys, concerning which they hold
+charters from the kings of England, or of which they have
+long-continued possession, shall have the wardship of them, when
+vacant, as they ought to have.
+
+47. All forests that have been made such in our time shall forthwith be
+disafforested; and a similar course shall be followed with regard to
+river-banks that have been placed “in defense” by us in our time.
+
+48. All evil customs connected with forests and warrens, foresters and
+warreners, sheriffs and their officers, river-banks and their wardens,
+shall immediately be inquired into in each county by twelve sworn
+knights of the same county chosen by the honest men of the same county,
+and shall, within forty days of the said inquest, be utterly abolished,
+so as never to be restored, provided always that we previously have
+intimation thereof, or our justiciar, if we should not be in England.
+
+49. We will immediately restore all hostages and charters delivered to
+us by Englishmen, as sureties of the peace or of faithful service.
+
+50. We will entirely remove from their bailiwicks, the relations of
+Gerard Athee (so that in future they shall have no bailiwick in
+England); namely, Engelard of Cigogne, Peter, Guy, and Andrew of
+Chanceaux, Guy of Cigogne, Geofrrey of Martigny with his brothers,
+Philip Mark with his brothers and his nephew Geoffrey, and the whole
+brood of the same.
+
+51. As soon as peace is restored, we will banish from the kingdom all
+foreign-born knights, cross-bowmen, serjeants, and mercenary soldiers,
+who have come with horses and arms to the kingdom’s hurt.
+
+52. If any one has been dispossessed or removed by us, without the
+legal judgment of his peers, from his lands, castles, franchises, or
+from his right, we will immediately restore them to him; and if a
+dispute arise over this, then let it be decided by the five-and-twenty
+barons of whom mention is made below in the clause for securing the
+peace. Moreover, for all those possessions, from which any one has,
+without the lawful judgment of his peers, be endisseised or removed, by
+our father, King Henry, or by our brother, King Richard, and which we
+retain in our hand (or which are possessed by others, to whom we are
+bound to warrant them) we shall have respite until the usual term of
+crusaders; excepting those things about which a plea has been raised,
+or an inquest made by our order, before our taking of the cross; but as
+soon as were turn from our expedition (or if perchance we desist from
+the expedition) we will immediately grant full justice therein.
+
+53. We shall have, moreover, the same respite and in the same manner in
+rendering justice concerning the disafforestation or retention of those
+forests which Henry our father and Richard our brother afforested, and
+concerning wardship of lands which are of the fief of another (namely,
+such wardships as we have hitherto had by reason of a fief which any
+one held of us by knight’s service), and concerning abbeys founded on
+other fiefs than our own, in which the lord of the fief claims to have
+right; and when we have returned, or if we desist from our expedition,
+we will immediately grant full justice to all who complain of such
+things.
+
+54. No one shall be arrested or imprisoned upon the appeal of a woman,
+for the death of any other than her husband.
+
+55. All fines made with us unjustly and against the law of the land,
+and all amercements imposed unjustly and against the law of the land,
+shall be entirely remitted, or else it shall be done concerning them
+according to the decision of the five-and-twenty barons of whom mention
+is made below in the clause for securing the peace, or according to the
+judgment of the majority of the same, along with the aforesaid Stephen,
+archbishop of Canterbury, if he can be present, and such others as he
+may wish to bring with him for this purpose, and if he cannot be
+present the business shall nevertheless proceed without him, provided
+always that if any one or more of the aforesaid five-and-twenty barons
+are in a similar suit, they shall be removed as far as concerns this
+particular judgment, others being substituted in their places after
+having been selected by the rest of the same five-and-twenty for this
+purpose only, and after having been sworn.
+
+56. If we have disseised or removed Welshmen from lands or liberties,
+or other things, without the legal judgment of their peers in England
+or in Wales, they shall be immediately restored to them; and if a
+dispute arise over this, then let it be decided in the marches by the
+judgment of their peers; for tenements in England according to the law
+of England, for tenements in Wales according to the law of Wales, and
+for tenements in the marches according to the law of the marches.
+Welshmen shall do the same to us and ours.
+
+57. Further, for all those possessions from which any Welshman has,
+without the lawful judgment of his peers, been disseised or removed by
+King Henry our father or King Richard our brother, and which we retain
+in our hand (or which are possessed by others, to whom we are bound to
+warrant them) we shall have respite until the usual term of crusaders;
+excepting those things about which a plea has been raised or an inquest
+made by our order before we took the cross; but as soon as we return
+(or if perchance we desist from our expedition), we will immediately
+grant full justice in accordance with the laws of the Welsh and in
+relation to the foresaid regions.
+
+58. We will immediately give up the son of Llywelyn and all the
+hostages of Wales, and the charters delivered to us as security for the
+peace.
+
+59. We will do toward Alexander, King of Scots, concerning the return
+of his sisters and his hostages, and concerning his franchises, and his
+right, in the same manner as we shall do toward our other barons of
+England, unless it ought to be otherwise according to the charters
+which we hold from William his father, formerly King of Scots; and this
+shall be according to the judgment of his peers in our court.
+
+60. Moreover, all these aforesaid customs and liberties, the observance
+of which we have granted in our kingdom as far as pertains to us toward
+our men, shall be observed by all of our kingdom, as well clergy as
+laymen, as far as pertains to them toward their men.
+
+61. Since, moreover, for God and the amendment of our kingdom and for
+the better allaying of the quarrel that has arisen between us and our
+barons, we have granted all these concessions, desirous that they
+should enjoy them in complete and firm endurance for ever, we give and
+grant to them the underwritten security, namely, that the barons choose
+five-and-twenty barons of the kingdom, whomsoever they will, who shall
+be bound with all their might, to observe and hold, and cause to be
+observed, the peace and liberties we have granted and confirmed to them
+by this our present Charter, so that if we, or our justiciar, or our
+bailiffs or any one of our officers, shall in anything be at fault
+toward any one, or shall have broken any one of the articles of the
+peace or of this security, and the offense be notified to four barons
+of the foresaid five-and-twenty, the said four barons shall repair to
+us (or our justiciar, if we are out of the realm) and, laying the
+transgression before us, petition to have that transgression redressed
+without delay. And if we shall not have corrected the transgression
+(or, in the event of our being out of the realm, if our justiciar shall
+not have corrected it) within forty days, reckoning from the time it
+has been intimated to us (or to our justiciar, if we should be out of
+the realm), the four barons aforesaid shall refer that matter to the
+rest of the five-and-twenty barons, and those five-and-twenty barons
+shall, together with the community of the whole land, distrain and
+distress us in all possible ways, namely, by seizing our castles,
+lands, possessions, and in any other way they can, until redress has
+been obtained as they deem fit, saving harmless our own person, and the
+persons of our queen and children; and when redress has been obtained,
+they shall resume their old relations toward us. And let whoever in the
+country desires it, swear to obey the orders of the said
+five-and-twenty barons for the execution of all the aforesaid matters,
+and along with them, to molest us to the utmost of his power; and we
+publicly and freely grant leave to every one who wishes to swear, and
+we shall never forbid any one to swear. All those, moreover, in the
+land who of themselves and of their own accord are unwilling to swear
+to the twenty-five to help them in constraining and molesting us, we
+shall by our command compel the same to swear to the effect aforesaid.
+And if any one of the five-and-twenty barons shall have died or
+departed from the land, or be incapacitated in any other manner which
+would prevent the foresaid provisions being carried out, those of the
+said twenty-five barons who are left shall choose another in his place
+according to their own judgment, and he shall be sworn in the same way
+as the others. Further, in all matters, the execution of which is
+intrusted to these twenty-five barons, if perchance these twenty-five
+are present, that which the majority of those present ordain or command
+shall be held as fixed and established, exactly as if the whole
+twenty-five had concurred in this; and the said twenty-five shall swear
+that they will faithfully observe all that is aforesaid, and cause it
+to be observed with all their might. And we shall procure nothing from
+any one, directly or indirectly, whereby any part of these concessions
+and liberties might be revoked or diminished; and if any such thing has
+been procured, let it be void and null, and we shall never use it
+personally or by another.
+
+62. And all the ill-will, hatreds, and bitterness that have arisen
+between us and our men, clergy and lay, from the date of the quarrel,
+we have completely remitted and pardoned every one. Moreover, all
+trespasses occasioned by the said quarrel, from Easter in the sixteenth
+year of our reign till the restoration of peace, we have fully remitted
+to all, both clergy and laymen, and completely forgiven, as far as
+pertains to us. And, on this head, we have caused to be made for them
+letters testimonial patent of the lord Stephen, archbishop of
+Canterbury, of the lord Henry, archbishop of Dublin, of the bishops
+aforesaid, and of Master Pandulf as touching this security and the
+concessions aforesaid.
+
+63. Wherefore it is our will, and we firmly enjoin, that the English
+Church be free, and that the men in our kingdom have and hold all the
+aforesaid liberties, rights, and concessions, well and peaceably,
+freely and quietly, fully and wholly, for themselves and their heirs,
+of us and our heirs, in all respects and in all places for ever, as is
+aforesaid. An oath, moreover, has been taken, as well on our part as on
+the part of the barons, that all these conditions aforesaid shall be
+kept in good faith and without evil intent. Given under our hand—the
+above-named and many others being witnesses—in the meadow which is
+called Runnymede, between Windsor and Staines, on the fifteenth day of
+June, in the seventeenth year of our reign.
+
+
+
+
+The text of THE MAGNA CARTA
+
+
+The Magna Carta (The Great Charter):
+
+Preamble:
+
+John, by the grace of God, king of England, lord of Ireland, duke of
+Normandy and Aquitaine, and count of Anjou, to the archbishop, bishops,
+abbots, earls, barons, justiciaries, foresters, sheriffs, stewards,
+servants, and to all his bailiffs and liege subjects, greetings. Know
+that, having regard to God and for the salvation of our soul, and those
+of all our ancestors and heirs, and unto the honor of God and the
+advancement of his holy Church and for the rectifying of our realm, we
+have granted as underwritten by advice of our venerable fathers,
+Stephen, archbishop of Canterbury, primate of all England and cardinal
+of the holy Roman Church, Henry, archbishop of Dublin, William of
+London, Peter of Winchester, Jocelyn of Bath and Glastonbury, Hugh of
+Lincoln, Walter of Worcester, William of Coventry, Benedict of
+Rochester, bishops; of Master Pandulf, subdeacon and member of the
+household of our lord the Pope, of brother Aymeric (master of the
+Knights of the Temple in England), and of the illustrious men William
+Marshal, earl of Pembroke, William, earl of Salisbury, William, earl of
+Warenne, William, earl of Arundel, Alan of Galloway (constable of
+Scotland), Waren Fitz Gerold, Peter Fitz Herbert, Hubert De Burgh
+(seneschal of Poitou), Hugh de Neville, Matthew Fitz Herbert, Thomas
+Basset, Alan Basset, Philip d’Aubigny, Robert of Roppesley, John
+Marshal, John Fitz Hugh, and others, our liegemen.
+
+1. In the first place we have granted to God, and by this our present
+charter confirmed for us and our heirs forever that the English Church
+shall be free, and shall have her rights entire, and her liberties
+inviolate; and we will that it be thus observed; which is apparent from
+this that the freedom of elections, which is reckoned most important
+and very essential to the English Church, we, of our pure and
+unconstrained will, did grant, and did by our charter confirm and did
+obtain the ratification of the same from our lord, Pope Innocent III,
+before the quarrel arose between us and our barons: and this we will
+observe, and our will is that it be observed in good faith by our heirs
+forever. We have also granted to all freemen of our kingdom, for us and
+our heirs forever, all the underwritten liberties, to be had and held
+by them and their heirs, of us and our heirs forever.
+
+2. If any of our earls or barons, or others holding of us in chief by
+military service shall have died, and at the time of his death his heir
+shall be full of age and owe “relief”, he shall have his inheritance by
+the old relief, to wit, the heir or heirs of an earl, for the whole
+baroncy of an earl by L100; the heir or heirs of a baron, L100 for a
+whole barony; the heir or heirs of a knight, 100s, at most, and whoever
+owes less let him give less, according to the ancient custom of fees.
+
+3. If, however, the heir of any one of the aforesaid has been under age
+and in wardship, let him have his inheritance without relief and
+without fine when he comes of age.
+
+4. The guardian of the land of an heir who is thus under age, shall
+take from the land of the heir nothing but reasonable produce,
+reasonable customs, and reasonable services, and that without
+destruction or waste of men or goods; and if we have committed the
+wardship of the lands of any such minor to the sheriff, or to any other
+who is responsible to us for its issues, and he has made destruction or
+waster of what he holds in wardship, we will take of him amends, and
+the land shall be committed to two lawful and discreet men of that fee,
+who shall be responsible for the issues to us or to him to whom we
+shall assign them; and if we have given or sold the wardship of any
+such land to anyone and he has therein made destruction or waste, he
+shall lose that wardship, and it shall be transferred to two lawful and
+discreet men of that fief, who shall be responsible to us in like
+manner as aforesaid.
+
+5. The guardian, moreover, so long as he has the wardship of the land,
+shall keep up the houses, parks, fishponds, stanks, mills, and other
+things pertaining to the land, out of the issues of the same land; and
+he shall restore to the heir, when he has come to full age, all his
+land, stocked with ploughs and wainage, according as the season of
+husbandry shall require, and the issues of the land can reasonable
+bear.
+
+6. Heirs shall be married without disparagement, yet so that before the
+marriage takes place the nearest in blood to that heir shall have
+notice.
+
+7. A widow, after the death of her husband, shall forthwith and without
+difficulty have her marriage portion and inheritance; nor shall she
+give anything for her dower, or for her marriage portion, or for the
+inheritance which her husband and she held on the day of the death of
+that husband; and she may remain in the house of her husband for forty
+days after his death, within which time her dower shall be assigned to
+her.
+
+8. No widow shall be compelled to marry, so long as she prefers to live
+without a husband; provided always that she gives security not to marry
+without our consent, if she holds of us, or without the consent of the
+lord of whom she holds, if she holds of another.
+
+9. Neither we nor our bailiffs will seize any land or rent for any
+debt, as long as the chattels of the debtor are sufficient to repay the
+debt; nor shall the sureties of the debtor be distrained so long as the
+principal debtor is able to satisfy the debt; and if the principal
+debtor shall fail to pay the debt, having nothing wherewith to pay it,
+then the sureties shall answer for the debt; and let them have the
+lands and rents of the debtor, if they desire them, until they are
+indemnified for the debt which they have paid for him, unless the
+principal debtor can show proof that he is discharged thereof as
+against the said sureties.
+
+10. If one who has borrowed from the Jews any sum, great or small, die
+before that loan be repaid, the debt shall not bear interest while the
+heir is under age, of whomsoever he may hold; and if the debt fall into
+our hands, we will not take anything except the principal sum contained
+in the bond.
+
+11. And if anyone die indebted to the Jews, his wife shall have her
+dower and pay nothing of that debt; and if any children of the deceased
+are left under age, necessaries shall be provided for them in keeping
+with the holding of the deceased; and out of the residue the debt shall
+be paid, reserving, however, service due to feudal lords; in like
+manner let it be done touching debts due to others than Jews.
+
+12. No scutage not aid shall be imposed on our kingdom, unless by
+common counsel of our kingdom, except for ransoming our person, for
+making our eldest son a knight, and for once marrying our eldest
+daughter; and for these there shall not be levied more than a
+reasonable aid. In like manner it shall be done concerning aids from
+the city of London.
+
+13. And the city of London shall have all it ancient liberties and free
+customs, as well by land as by water; furthermore, we decree and grant
+that all other cities, boroughs, towns, and ports shall have all their
+liberties and free customs.
+
+14. And for obtaining the common counsel of the kingdom anent the
+assessing of an aid (except in the three cases aforesaid) or of a
+scutage, we will cause to be summoned the archbishops, bishops, abbots,
+earls, and greater barons, severally by our letters; and we will
+moveover cause to be summoned generally, through our sheriffs and
+bailiffs, and others who hold of us in chief, for a fixed date, namely,
+after the expiry of at least forty days, and at a fixed place; and in
+all letters of such summons we will specify the reason of the summons.
+And when the summons has thus been made, the business shall proceed on
+the day appointed, according to the counsel of such as are present,
+although not all who were summoned have come.
+
+15. We will not for the future grant to anyone license to take an aid
+from his own free tenants, except to ransom his person, to make his
+eldest son a knight, and once to marry his eldest daughter; and on each
+of these occasions there shall be levied only a reasonable aid.
+
+16. No one shall be distrained for performance of greater service for a
+knight’s fee, or for any other free tenement, than is due therefrom.
+
+17. Common pleas shall not follow our court, but shall be held in some
+fixed place.
+
+18. Inquests of novel disseisin, of mort d’ancestor, and of darrein
+presentment shall not be held elsewhere than in their own county
+courts, and that in manner following; We, or, if we should be out of
+the realm, our chief justiciar, will send two justiciaries through
+every county four times a year, who shall alone with four knights of
+the county chosen by the county, hold the said assizes in the county
+court, on the day and in the place of meeting of that court.
+
+19. And if any of the said assizes cannot be taken on the day of the
+county court, let there remain of the knights and freeholders, who were
+present at the county court on that day, as many as may be required for
+the efficient making of judgments, according as the business be more or
+less.
+
+20. A freeman shall not be amerced for a slight offense, except in
+accordance with the degree of the offense; and for a grave offense he
+shall be amerced in accordance with the gravity of the offense, yet
+saving always his “contentment”; and a merchant in the same way, saving
+his “merchandise”; and a villein shall be amerced in the same way,
+saving his “wainage” if they have fallen into our mercy: and none of
+the aforesaid amercements shall be imposed except by the oath of honest
+men of the neighborhood.
+
+21. Earls and barons shall not be amerced except through their peers,
+and only in accordance with the degree of the offense.
+
+22. A clerk shall not be amerced in respect of his lay holding except
+after the manner of the others aforesaid; further, he shall not be
+amerced in accordance with the extent of his ecclesiastical benefice.
+
+23. No village or individual shall be compelled to make bridges at
+river banks, except those who from of old were legally bound to do so.
+
+24. No sheriff, constable, coroners, or others of our bailiffs, shall
+hold pleas of our Crown.
+
+25. All counties, hundred, wapentakes, and trithings (except our
+demesne manors) shall remain at the old rents, and without any
+additional payment.
+
+26. If anyone holding of us a lay fief shall die, and our sheriff or
+bailiff shall exhibit our letters patent of summons for a debt which
+the deceased owed us, it shall be lawful for our sheriff or bailiff to
+attach and enroll the chattels of the deceased, found upon the lay
+fief, to the value of that debt, at the sight of law worthy men,
+provided always that nothing whatever be thence removed until the debt
+which is evident shall be fully paid to us; and the residue shall be
+left to the executors to fulfill the will of the deceased; and if there
+be nothing due from him to us, all the chattels shall go to the
+deceased, saving to his wife and children their reasonable shares.
+
+27. If any freeman shall die intestate, his chattels shall be
+distributed by the hands of his nearest kinsfolk and friends, under
+supervision of the Church, saving to every one the debts which the
+deceased owed to him.
+
+28. No constable or other bailiff of ours shall take corn or other
+provisions from anyone without immediately tendering money therefor,
+unless he can have postponement thereof by permission of the seller.
+
+29. No constable shall compel any knight to give money in lieu of
+castle-guard, when he is willing to perform it in his own person, or
+(if he himself cannot do it from any reasonable cause) then by another
+responsible man. Further, if we have led or sent him upon military
+service, he shall be relieved from guard in proportion to the time
+during which he has been on service because of us.
+
+30. No sheriff or bailiff of ours, or other person, shall take the
+horses or carts of any freeman for transport duty, against the will of
+the said freeman.
+
+31. Neither we nor our bailiffs shall take, for our castles or for any
+other work of ours, wood which is not ours, against the will of the
+owner of that wood.
+
+32. We will not retain beyond one year and one day, the lands those who
+have been convicted of felony, and the lands shall thereafter be handed
+over to the lords of the fiefs.
+
+33. All kydells for the future shall be removed altogether from Thames
+and Medway, and throughout all England, except upon the seashore.
+
+34. The writ which is called praecipe shall not for the future be
+issued to anyone, regarding any tenement whereby a freeman may lose his
+court.
+
+35. Let there be one measure of wine throughout our whole realm; and
+one measure of ale; and one measure of corn, to wit, “the London
+quarter”; and one width of cloth (whether dyed, or russet, or
+“halberget”), to wit, two ells within the selvedges; of weights also
+let it be as of measures.
+
+36. Nothing in future shall be given or taken for a writ of inquisition
+of life or limbs, but freely it shall be granted, and never denied.
+
+37. If anyone holds of us by fee-farm, either by socage or by burage,
+or of any other land by knight’s service, we will not (by reason of
+that fee-farm, socage, or burgage), have the wardship of the heir, or
+of such land of his as if of the fief of that other; nor shall we have
+wardship of that fee-farm, socage, or burgage, unless such fee-farm
+owes knight’s service. We will not by reason of any small serjeancy
+which anyone may hold of us by the service of rendering to us knives,
+arrows, or the like, have wardship of his heir or of the land which he
+holds of another lord by knight’s service.
+
+38. No bailiff for the future shall, upon his own unsupported
+complaint, put anyone to his “law”, without credible witnesses brought
+for this purposes.
+
+39. No freemen shall be taken or imprisoned or disseised or exiled or
+in any way destroyed, nor will we go upon him nor send upon him, except
+by the lawful judgment of his peers or by the law of the land.
+
+40. To no one will we sell, to no one will we refuse or delay, right or
+justice.
+
+41. All merchants shall have safe and secure exit from England, and
+entry to England, with the right to tarry there and to move about as
+well by land as by water, for buying and selling by the ancient and
+right customs, quit from all evil tolls, except (in time of war) such
+merchants as are of the land at war with us. And if such are found in
+our land at the beginning of the war, they shall be detained, without
+injury to their bodies or goods, until information be received by us,
+or by our chief justiciar, how the merchants of our land found in the
+land at war with us are treated; and if our men are safe there, the
+others shall be safe in our land.
+
+42. It shall be lawful in future for anyone (excepting always those
+imprisoned or outlawed in accordance with the law of the kingdom, and
+natives of any country at war with us, and merchants, who shall be
+treated as if above provided) to leave our kingdom and to return, safe
+and secure by land and water, except for a short period in time of war,
+on grounds of public policy- reserving always the allegiance due to us.
+
+43. If anyone holding of some escheat (such as the honor of
+Wallingford, Nottingham, Boulogne, Lancaster, or of other escheats
+which are in our hands and are baronies) shall die, his heir shall give
+no other relief, and perform no other service to us than he would have
+done to the baron if that barony had been in the baron’s hand; and we
+shall hold it in the same manner in which the baron held it.
+
+44. Men who dwell without the forest need not henceforth come before
+our justiciaries of the forest upon a general summons, unless they are
+in plea, or sureties of one or more, who are attached for the forest.
+
+45. We will appoint as justices, constables, sheriffs, or bailiffs only
+such as know the law of the realm and mean to observe it well.
+
+46. All barons who have founded abbeys, concerning which they hold
+charters from the kings of England, or of which they have long
+continued possession, shall have the wardship of them, when vacant, as
+they ought to have.
+
+47. All forests that have been made such in our time shall forthwith be
+disafforsted; and a similar course shall be followed with regard to
+river banks that have been placed “in defense” by us in our time.
+
+48. All evil customs connected with forests and warrens, foresters and
+warreners, sheriffs and their officers, river banks and their wardens,
+shall immediately by inquired into in each county by twelve sworn
+knights of the same county chosen by the honest men of the same county,
+and shall, within forty days of the said inquest, be utterly abolished,
+so as never to be restored, provided always that we previously have
+intimation thereof, or our justiciar, if we should not be in England.
+
+49. We will immediately restore all hostages and charters delivered to
+us by Englishmen, as sureties of the peace of faithful service.
+
+50. We will entirely remove from their bailiwicks, the relations of
+Gerard of Athee (so that in future they shall have no bailiwick in
+England); namely, Engelard of Cigogne, Peter, Guy, and Andrew of
+Chanceaux, Guy of Cigogne, Geoffrey of Martigny with his brothers,
+Philip Mark with his brothers and his nephew Geoffrey, and the whole
+brood of the same.
+
+51. As soon as peace is restored, we will banish from the kingdom all
+foreign born knights, crossbowmen, serjeants, and mercenary soldiers
+who have come with horses and arms to the kingdom’s hurt.
+
+52. If anyone has been dispossessed or removed by us, without the legal
+judgment of his peers, from his lands, castles, franchises, or from his
+right, we will immediately restore them to him; and if a dispute arise
+over this, then let it be decided by the five and twenty barons of whom
+mention is made below in the clause for securing the peace. Moreover,
+for all those possessions, from which anyone has, without the lawful
+judgment of his peers, been disseised or removed, by our father, King
+Henry, or by our brother, King Richard, and which we retain in our hand
+(or which as possessed by others, to whom we are bound to warrant them)
+we shall have respite until the usual term of crusaders; excepting
+those things about which a plea has been raised, or an inquest made by
+our order, before our taking of the cross; but as soon as we return
+from the expedition, we will immediately grant full justice therein.
+
+53. We shall have, moreover, the same respite and in the same manner in
+rendering justice concerning the disafforestation or retention of those
+forests which Henry our father and Richard our brother afforested, and
+concerning the wardship of lands which are of the fief of another
+(namely, such wardships as we have hitherto had by reason of a fief
+which anyone held of us by knight’s service), and concerning abbeys
+founded on other fiefs than our own, in which the lord of the fee
+claims to have right; and when we have returned, or if we desist from
+our expedition, we will immediately grant full justice to all who
+complain of such things.
+
+54. No one shall be arrested or imprisoned upon the appeal of a woman,
+for the death of any other than her husband.
+
+55. All fines made with us unjustly and against the law of the land,
+and all amercements, imposed unjustly and against the law of the land,
+shall be entirely remitted, or else it shall be done concerning them
+according to the decision of the five and twenty barons whom mention is
+made below in the clause for securing the pease, or according to the
+judgment of the majority of the same, along with the aforesaid Stephen,
+archbishop of Canterbury, if he can be present, and such others as he
+may wish to bring with him for this purpose, and if he cannot be
+present the business shall nevertheless proceed without him, provided
+always that if any one or more of the aforesaid five and twenty barons
+are in a similar suit, they shall be removed as far as concerns this
+particular judgment, others being substituted in their places after
+having been selected by the rest of the same five and twenty for this
+purpose only, and after having been sworn.
+
+56. If we have disseised or removed Welshmen from lands or liberties,
+or other things, without the legal judgment of their peers in England
+or in Wales, they shall be immediately restored to them; and if a
+dispute arise over this, then let it be decided in the marches by the
+judgment of their peers; for the tenements in England according to the
+law of England, for tenements in Wales according to the law of Wales,
+and for tenements in the marches according to the law of the marches.
+Welshmen shall do the same to us and ours.
+
+57. Further, for all those possessions from which any Welshman has,
+without the lawful judgment of his peers, been disseised or removed by
+King Henry our father, or King Richard our brother, and which we retain
+in our hand (or which are possessed by others, and which we ought to
+warrant), we will have respite until the usual term of crusaders;
+excepting those things about which a plea has been raised or an inquest
+made by our order before we took the cross; but as soon as we return
+(or if perchance we desist from our expedition), we will immediately
+grant full justice in accordance with the laws of the Welsh and in
+relation to the foresaid regions.
+
+58. We will immediately give up the son of Llywelyn and all the
+hostages of Wales, and the charters delivered to us as security for the
+peace.
+
+59. We will do towards Alexander, king of Scots, concerning the return
+of his sisters and his hostages, and concerning his franchises, and his
+right, in the same manner as we shall do towards our other barons of
+England, unless it ought to be otherwise according to the charters
+which we hold from William his father, formerly king of Scots; and this
+shall be according to the judgment of his peers in our court.
+
+60. Moreover, all these aforesaid customs and liberties, the
+observances of which we have granted in our kingdom as far as pertains
+to us towards our men, shall be observed b all of our kingdom, as well
+clergy as laymen, as far as pertains to them towards their men.
+
+61. Since, moveover, for God and the amendment of our kingdom and for
+the better allaying of the quarrel that has arisen between us and our
+barons, we have granted all these concessions, desirous that they
+should enjoy them in complete and firm endurance forever, we give and
+grant to them the underwritten security, namely, that the barons choose
+five and twenty barons of the kingdom, whomsoever they will, who shall
+be bound with all their might, to observe and hold, and cause to be
+observed, the peace and liberties we have granted and confirmed to them
+by this our present Charter, so that if we, or our justiciar, or our
+bailiffs or any one of our officers, shall in anything be at fault
+towards anyone, or shall have broken any one of the articles of this
+peace or of this security, and the offense be notified to four barons
+of the foresaid five and twenty, the said four barons shall repair to
+us (or our justiciar, if we are out of the realm) and, laying the
+transgression before us, petition to have that transgression redressed
+without delay. And if we shall not have corrected the transgression
+(or, in the event of our being out of the realm, if our justiciar shall
+not have corrected it) within forty days, reckoning from the time it
+has been intimated to us (or to our justiciar, if we should be out of
+the realm), the four barons aforesaid shall refer that matter to the
+rest of the five and twenty barons, and those five and twenty barons
+shall, together with the community of the whole realm, distrain and
+distress us in all possible ways, namely, by seizing our castles,
+lands, possessions, and in any other way they can, until redress has
+been obtained as they deem fit, saving harmless our own person, and the
+persons of our queen and children; and when redress has been obtained,
+they shall resume their old relations towards us. And let whoever in
+the country desires it, swear to obey the orders of the said five and
+twenty barons for the execution of all the aforesaid matters, and along
+with them, to molest us to the utmost of his power; and we publicly and
+freely grant leave to everyone who wishes to swear, and we shall never
+forbid anyone to swear.
+
+All those, moveover, in the land who of themselves and of their own
+accord are unwilling to swear to the twenty five to help them in
+constraining and molesting us, we shall by our command compel the same
+to swear to the effect foresaid. And if any one of the five and twenty
+barons shall have died or departed from the land, or be incapacitated
+in any other manner which would prevent the foresaid provisions being
+carried out, those of the said twenty five barons who are left shall
+choose another in his place according to their own judgment, and he
+shall be sworn in the same way as the others. Further, in all matters,
+the execution of which is entrusted to these twenty five barons, if
+perchance these twenty five are present and disagree about anything, or
+if some of them, after being summoned, are unwilling or unable to be
+present, that which the majority of those present ordain or command
+shall be held as fixed and established, exactly as if the whole twenty
+five had concurred in this; and the said twenty five shall swear that
+they will faithfully observe all that is aforesaid, and cause it to be
+observed with all their might. And we shall procure nothing from
+anyone, directly or indirectly, whereby any part of these concessions
+and liberties might be revoked or diminished; and if any such things
+has been procured, let it be void and null, and we shall never use it
+personally or by another.
+
+62. And all the will, hatreds, and bitterness that have arisen between
+us and our men, clergy and lay, from the date of the quarrel, we have
+completely remitted and pardoned to everyone. Moreover, all trespasses
+occasioned by the said quarrel, from Easter in the sixteenth year of
+our reign till the restoration of peace, we have fully remitted to all,
+both clergy and laymen, and completely forgiven, as far as pertains to
+us. And on this head, we have caused to be made for them letters
+testimonial patent of the lord Stephen, archbishop of Canterbury, of
+the lord Henry, archbishop of Dublin, of the bishops aforesaid, and of
+Master Pandulf as touching this security and the concessions aforesaid.
+
+63. Wherefore we will and firmly order that the English Church be free,
+and that the men in our kingdom have and hold all the aforesaid
+liberties, rights, and concessions, well and peaceably, freely and
+quietly, fully and wholly, for themselves and their heirs, of us and
+our heirs, in all respects and in all places forever, as is aforesaid.
+An oath, moreover, has been taken, as well on our part as on the part
+of the barons, that all these conditions aforesaid shall be kept in
+good faith and without evil intent. Given under our hand - the above
+named and many others being witnesses - in the meadow which is called
+Runnymede, between Windsor and Staines, on the fifteenth day of June,
+in the seventeenth year of our reign.
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 10000 ***