Why is Magna Carta important today?

Magna Carta was an attempt in 1215 to codify the relationships between the three great power blocks in the land, the King and his state apparatus, the Church led by the Pope, and the Barons with their castles and great estates. It was at first a short lived peace treaty after a period of civil war, forced upon the King by the Barons. A detailed history of this period is to be found at the heading St Edmundsbury and Magna Carta.

In 1996, the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Bingham wrote, "Historically, the constitutional significance of Magna Carta has depended much less on what the charter said, than on what it was thought to have said. What it was thought to have said was the subject of constant development, with the aid of some statutory reinforcement, over succeeding centuries. It was this process which led to the English Bill of Rights, the heavy reliance placed on Magna Carta by the American colonies in their battles against the crown, the constitution of the United States and, more recently, the constitution of the Republic of India."

Some of this process is detailed below, as used by the 17th century reformers.

1628	Sir Edward Coke introduced his bill of liberties in the House of Commons, referring to "Magna Carta is such a fellow, that he will have no sovereign." The bill led to the Petition of Rights.
1679	The Habeas Corpus Act looked directly back to Clause 39 of the Charter. "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."

What does the Magna Carta mean for St Edmundsbury?

1835	The Municipal Corporations Act introduced some elements of democracy into local government and the old self-appointed corporation was abolished in Bury St Edmunds and replaced by a Council elected by the town's ratepayers.

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What is the Magna Carta Trust?

1957

The Magna Carta Trust was formed under the patronage of distinguished leaders of Church and State, including archbishops, the Lord Chancellor, the Speaker of the House of Commons, high commissioners of many commonwealth countries, the American Ambassador in London and the Chairman of the Executive Committee of the National Trust. The Chairman is the Master of the Rolls, the Trustees are the Chairmen of the Pilgrims of Great Britain, the English Speaking Union, and the Joint Commonwealth Societies Conference, the President of the Law Society, the Lord Mayor of London and the Mayors of St Albans, Canterbury and Bury St Edmunds, and the Chairman of Egham UDC. (In 1974 the local authority representatives were to change). American trustees are the President and Treasurer of the American Bar Association and the Marshall of the Baronial Order of Magna Carta. The objects of the Magna Carta Trust are The perpetuation of the principles of Magna Carta; The preservation for reverent public use of sites associated with Magna Carta; The Commemoration triennially, and on such occasions as shall be determined by the Trust, of the grant of Magna Carta as the source of the constitutional liberties of all English-speaking peoples and a common bond of peace between them. In Autumn 1957 the American Bar Association erected a memorial to Magna Carta at Runnymede under the auspices of the Trust.