Magna Carta and its Modern Legacy

In this book top scholars analyse the historic and contemporary influence of Magna Carta, challenging its common myths.

Robert Hazell (Edited by), James Melton (Edited by)

9781107533103, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 30 April 2015

286 pages, 2 b/w illus. 7 tables
22.8 x 15.2 x 1.5 cm, 0.41 kg

'This is a worthy contribution to the study of Magna Carta at the dawn of the twenty-first century. It presents the reader with novel insights into the Great Charter's history and highlights talking points in the broader conversation about its place in the constitutional thought of the future. Its critical tone may help inoculate students against the mythology of Runnymede. But the collection also makes clear that, however mixed its legacy, and however modest its 'actual, direct' influence, Magna Carta will continue to structure debate around the most pressing questions of public power and individual liberty.' J. G. Allen, The Cambridge Law Journal

Magna Carta is celebrated around the world as a symbol of limited government and constitutionalism. But in 1215 Magna Carta was a failure, abrogated within months. Why then do we celebrate this piece of parchment? To mark the 800th anniversary this book brings together top scholars from the UK, US and Australia to answer this question and analyse Magna Carta's historic and contemporary influence. Using a political science framework, Magna Carta and its Modern Legacy draws from scholarship on influence and constitutional design to explain how parchment can contain executive power. Individual chapters on Britain discuss such topics as socioeconomic rights in Magna Carta; Magna Carta and the British constitution; and public understanding of the charter. Internationally focused chapters look at Magna Carta and jury trial in America, slavery in the Caribbean, court delays in the Pacific, the proportionality principle, and judicial supremacy.

Preface
1. Magna Carta… Holy Grail? James Melton and Robert Hazell
Part I. Influence in the UK: 2. Magna Carta, the rule of law and the reform of the Constitution Vernon Bogdanor
3. Eight centuries on: who are Britain's barons now? Anthony King
4. What Magna Carta means to the modern British public Roger Mortimore
Part II. Influence around the World: 5. The troublesome inheritance of Americans in Magna Carta and trial by jury Renée Lettow Lerner
6. Magna Carta, the 'sugar colonies' and 'fantasies of empire' Derek O'Brien
7. Magna Carta frustrated? Institutional delay in the Pacific Island states of the Commonwealth David Clark
Part III. Twenty-First-Century Reflections on Magna Carta: 8. Magna Carta and modern myth-making: proportionality in the 'cruel and unusual punishments' clause Craig S. Lerner
9. Judicial supremacy: explaining false starts and surprising successes Victor Menaldo and Nora Webb Williams
10. More magna than the Magna Carta: Magna Carta's sister – the Charter of the Forest Geraldine Van Bueren
11. Michael Oakeshott, the legendary past and Magna Carta Nathalie Riendeau
Appendix: English translation of Magna Carta (1215).

Subject Areas: Constitutional & administrative law [LND]