Magna Carta ITS ROLE IN THE MAKING OF THE ENGLISH CONSTITUTION
1300-1629 by FAITH THOMPSON Associate Professor of History
University of Minnesota THE UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA PRESS,
Minneapolis LONDON GEOFFREY CTTMBEKLBGB OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
Copyright 1948 by the UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without the
written permission of the publisher. Permission is hereby granted
to review ers to quote brief passages in a review to be printed in
a magazine or newspaper. Second Printing 1950 Old London Bridge
From Gordon Homes Old London Bridge Job Lane the Bodley Head Ltd,
PREFACE Magna Carta is well called the oldest of liberty,
documents. It has come to serve as the prototype of all bills of
rights, a symbol, a slogan that conies readily to the tongue of a
public speaker. Its history, in these days when human progress
seems to depend on the success of a world charter, may seem of mere
antiquarian interest. Yet the New Yor Times of January n, 1946, saw
fit to devote nearly a column to a description of the ceremony in
which Dr. Luther H. Evans, Librarian of Congress, handed to his
majes tys minister, John Balfour, one of the original parchment
copies of the Great Charter for return to the Dean and Chapter of
Lincoln Cathedral. Of the Charter, during its stay in the United
States, Dr. Evans said Fifteen million Americans have made
pilgrimage to see it American arms have been its guard. Mr. Balfour
termed the Charter the forefather of the British and American bills
of rights, the American Habeas Corpus Act, and the Declaration of
Independence. The Federal Constitution of the United States, Mr.
Balfour said, contained many of itsprovisions and even some of its
actual words and this in turn has been the model for many
constitutions in many lands. The line of descent extends to our
time and we can, without flight of fancy, trace as an authentic
offspring the preamble to the Charter of the United Nations. Here
is a lineage without equal in human history. For this we honor the
Great Charter, and for this, not as Britons or as Americans, but as
members of the whole brotherhood of free peoples, we give our
thanks to the Librarians of Congress for the care with which during
these momentous years, they have guarded a document that is beyond
re placement and above price. Magna Carta is not the private
property of the British people. It belongs equally to you and to
all who at any time and in any land have fought for freedom under
the law. la the words of Professor A. B. White Today we study its
history, yes terday it was our political Bible. If it became
something of a myth few would question that the myth has been
beneficent and still is. It was through Professor White that my
interest in Magna Carta history was first awakened while preparing
under his direction at the University of Minnesota a doctoral
dissertation, published as The First Century of Magna Carta These
studies attempt to trace through three more centuries the varied
uses and increasingly significant interpretations of the famous
document. It is a pleasure to express to Professor White my
gratitude for his continued in terest and stimulating suggestions,
and for reading parts of the manuscript. VI PREFACE The opportunity
to use valuable sources available only in England was made possible
by a Guggenheim Fellowship for the year 1938-39, For this I
expresshearty thanks to the foundation, as well as to the Graduate
School of the University of Minnesota for a grant-in-aid for a
research assistant. I am indebted to Mr. Pulling of the Harvard Law
Library, and to Professor Bade and Miss Caroline Brede of the
University of Minnesota Law Library, for permission and aid in
using their remarkable collections of early printed law books.
Acknowledgment is also due the Treasurer and Masters of the Bench
of the Inner Temple for permission to use certain Inner Temple
Library manuscripts...
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