English Laws in 1200

[vetrenee]

What were the laws of Magna Carta

[Kit]

The whole Magna Carta is freely available at Project Gutenberg: There target=_blank>ftp://ftp.mirror.ac.uk/sites/metalab.unc.edu/pub/d
ocs/books/gutenberg/etext06/magna01.txt
There are 63 sections; not all of them are laws as such, but it's worth a trawl through.

[Kit]

No idea what happened to that URL: I'll have another go:
ftp://ftp.mirror.ac.uk/sites/metalab.unc.edu/pub/d
ocs/books/gutenberg/etext06/magna01.txt

[treaclefight]

each manor had its own legal system and the 'best' of these laws came to be applied universally and are the basis of our common law. those laws were in effect long before 1200AD. 1066 marks the start of an enoromous upheaval of our land law and there was a great deal of law being applied by 1200 that the magna carta will not enlighten you on. it's perhaps more helpful to regard the magna carta as a piece of our constitution, like the bill of rights, than it is to compare it to a modern act of parliament and the type law contained in that.

[FredPuli]

This document, signed under duress of the Barons, is the most overrated document in our history. It was signed primarily for the benefit of the Barons but incidentally gave a statement of a couple of rights. It is amusingly described in "1066 and All That" here's the essence of it, from there : :1)No one is to be put to death without reason ( except the common people) 2) Everyone is to be free (except ditto ) 3) Everything is to be of the same weight and measure throughout the Kingdom { lack of standard weights led to problems all over ] 4)The Courts should stay in the same place and not follow a tiresome individual called the King's Person around the country [i.e litigants should have cases tried locally and not have to go wherever the judge travelling the country had moved to that week ] 5) No person shall be fined to his utter ruin (except the king ) [The barons seized much of the King's property by way of recompense for their losses at his hands and threatened to take the rest, unless he signed the Carta ] 6) Barons were only to be tried by a jury of other barons, who would understand [ i.e everyone should be tried by his equals ]