The Text of Magna Carta

Introductory Note

As might be expected, the text of the Magna Carta of 1215 bears many traces of haste, and is
clearly the product of much bargaining and many hands. Most of its clauses deal with specific,
and often long-standing, grievances rather than with general principles of law. Some of the
grievances are self-explanatory: others can be understood only in the context of the feudal
society in which they arose. Of a few clauses, the precise meaning is still a matter of argument.

In feudal society, the king's barons held their lands `in fee' (feudum) from the king, for an oath
to him of loyalty and obedience, and with the obligation to provide him with a fixed number of
knights whenever these were required for military service. At first the barons provided the
knights by dividing their estates (of which the largest and most important were known as
`honours') into smaller parcels described as `knights' fees', which they distributed to tenants able
to serve as knights. But by the time of King John it had become more convenient and usual for
the obligation for service to be commuted for a cash payment known as `scutage', and for the
revenue so obtained to be used to maintain paid armies.

Besides military service, feudal custom allowed the king to make certain other exactions from
his barons. In times of emergency, and on such special occasions as the marriage of his eldest
daughter, he could demand from them a financial levy known as an `aid' (auxilium). When a
baron died, he could demand a succession duty or `relief' (relevium) from the baron's heir. If
there was no heir, or if the succession was disputed, the baron's lands could be forfeited or
`escheated' to the Crown. If the heir was under age, the king could assume the guardianship of
his estates, and enjoy all the profits from them-ven to the extent of despoliation-until the heir
came of age. The king had the right, if he chose, to sell such a guardianship to the highest
bidder, and to sell the heir himself in marriage for such price as the value of his estates would
command. The widows and daughters of barons might also be sold in marriage. With their own
tenants, the barons could deal similarly.

The scope for extortion and abuse in this system, if it were not benevolently applied, was
obviously great and had been the subject of complaint long before King John came to the
throne. Abuses were, moreover, aggravated by the difficulty of obtaining redress for them, and
in Magna Carta the provision of the means for obtaining a fair hearing of complaints, not only
against the king and his agents but against lesser feudal lords, achieves corresponding
importance.

About two-thirds of the clauses of the Magna Carta of 1215 are concerned with matters such as
these, and with the misuse of their powers by royal officials. As regards other topics, the first
clause, conceding the freedom of the Church, and in particular confirming its right to elect its
own dignitaries without royal interference, reflects John's dispute with the Pope over Stephen
Langton's election as archbishop of Canterbury: it does not appear in the Articles of the Barons,
and its somewhat stilted phrasing seems in part to be attempting to justify its inclusion, none the
less, in the charter itself. The clauses that deal with the royal forests (§§ 44, 47, 48), over which
the king had special powers and jurisdiction, reflect the disquiet and anxieties that had arisen on
account of a longstanding royal tendency to extend the forest boundaries, to the detriment of the
holders of the lands affected. Those that deal with debts (§§ 9-1l) reflect administrative
problems created by the chronic scarcity of ready cash among the upper and middle classes, and
their need to resort to money-lenders when this was required. The clause promising the removal
of fish-weirs (§ 33) was intended to facilitate the navigation of rivers. A number of clauses deal
with the special circumstances that surrounded the making of the charter, and are such as might
be found in any treaty of peace. Others, such as those relating to the city of London (§ 13) and
to merchants (§ 41), clearly represent concessions to special interests.

Translation
(Clauses marked (+) are still valid under the charter of 1225, but with a few minor amendments.
Clauses marked (*) were omitted in all later reissues of the charter. In the charter itself the
clauses are not numbered, and the text reads continuously. The translation sets out to convey the
sense rather than the precise wording of the original Latin.)

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 l00s. 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 ouly 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 servlce.

(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.

* (50) We will remove completely from their offices the kinsmen of Gerard de Athée, and
in future they shall hold no offices in England. The people in question are Engelard de
Cigogné', Peter, Guy, and Andrew de Chanceaux, Guy de Cigogné, Geoffrey de Martigny
and his brothers, Philip Marc and his brothers, with Geoffrey his nephew, and all their
followers.

* (51) 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.

* (52) 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 (§ 61). 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.

* (53) 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 a-orested by our father
Henry or our brother Richard; with the guardianship of lands in another person's `fee',
when we have hitherto had this by virtue of a `fee' held of us for knight's service by a
third party; and with abbeys founded in another person's `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.

(54) No one shall be arrested or imprisoned on the appeal of a woman for the death of any
person except her husband.

* (55) All fines that have been given to us unjustiy 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 (§ 61) 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.

(56) 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.
* (57) 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.

* (58) We will at once return the son of Llywelyn, all Welsh hostages, and the charters
delivered to us as security for the peace.

* (59) 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.

(60) 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.

* (61) 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 chiefjustice, 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.

* (62) 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 in the sixteenth year of our reign (i.e. 1215) 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.
* (63) 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 abovementioned 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 (i.e. 1215: the new
regnal year began on 28 May).

Source and Further Information

G. R. C. Davis, Magna Carta, Revised Edition, British Library, 1989.

Copyright © 1997, The British Library Board