From King John, to King George, to King Barack

Published 11:21 am Wednesday, June 17, 2015

by Stephen Warren

June 15th marked the 800th anniversary of the sealing of the Magna Carta at Runnymede. It was a peace agreement between England’s tyrannical King John and a group of rebel barons.

Chapter 39 states, “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 judgment of his equals or by the law of the land.”

John was not too happy with the agreement, writing to the Pope, “I have been forced to sign this awful thing!” The Pope quickly had it nullified. The charter lasted just ten weeks.

This led to more war. France invaded England at the request of the barons in May 1216. The charter was modified and reissued on behalf of King John’s son, Henry III, age 9, after John died of dysentery in October 1216. It was an attempt to gain support for the war. To no avail.

It was again reissued in September 1217 as part of a peace treaty between France and England. But this time more concessions were made. Along with the reissue of the Magna Carta came another charter, the Charter of the Forest. It “granted to all Men” access to common land for obtaining food, firewood and building materials. It guaranteed employment and sustenance.

It was out of the struggles over the commons that the Robin Hood tales came. The legendary sheriff of Nottingham might have been based on the real sheriff, Philip Marc, singled out for removal in the Magna Carta.

The term Magna Carta, or Great Charter, was first used in 1218 to distinguish the Charter of Liberties, the first charter, from its 1217 companion, the Charter of the Forest. Both charters were instated as English law by Edward I, in 1297. This confirmation was in order to avoid civil war after having instituted new taxes. This was the sixth confirmation, in less than a century, of one or both charters. In every case it came from political necessity, never as a gift.

Our contemporary notion of due process stems from chapter 39’s “by the law of the land.” The more expansive “due process of law” first appears in a statute under Edward III in 1354. “No free man” became “no man” in a previous Edward III statute, in 1331. “Free man” (liber homo) was itself expanded from “baron” during the process of working out the provisions of the original charter.

In “Common Sense,” January 1776, Thomas Paine called for a “Charter of the United Colonies,” in the manner of “what is called the Magna Charta of England,” that would secure “freedom and property to all men.” The charter was signed on July fourth as the Declaration of Independence. Among the king’s 28 “abuses and usurpations” listed in the Declaration are various violations of due process.

In 1791, the Bill of Rights was ratified into law. The 5th Amendment states, “No person shall… be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.” But don’t be fooled by the term person. By looking at the status of Native Americans, slaves, and women, we can see that only a small minority of human beings were considered persons. Personhood for most people came centuries later, as a result of tremendous struggle from below, long after it was granted on paper.

Discrepancies remain. Without a shred of due process, and far from any battlefield, people are routinely killed by drones. That goes for the targeted suspects, or people thought to be possible future threats, as well as whoever happens to be nearby. If a foreign government was bombing our neighborhoods the problem with this would be perfectly obvious, but since it’s our government targeting foreign communities, it’s incomprehensible.

Other non-persons are still imprisoned in Guantanamo, also without any due process. Section 1021 of the National Defense Authorization Act authorizes due process free indefinite detention on US soil. There has been no accountability for torture and rendition for torture.

So much for the Magna Carta. As Oliver Cromwell said after arbitrarily imprisoning one critic, along with the critic’s lawyer, the “Magna Farta should not control his actions which he knew were for the safety of the Commonwealth…. Magna Charta, Magna Farta!”

Stephen Warren lives in Waverly. To see a more extensive review of the Magna Carta and its legacy, or to send questions and/or comments, email him at stephenwarren000@gmail.com.