remains one of the most celebrated documents in English history, and is
considered the origin of the rule of law in England and the uncodified constitution
of the United Kingdom. However, strangely enough, it is in America that the
Magna Carta is esteemed most highly. The US Constitution and Bill of Rights
owes much to the Magna Carta, and it was considered an antecedent to the values
of freedom and liberty that the American colonists espoused. In fact, the Magna
Carta Memorial at Runnymede was
erected in 1957 by the American
Bar Association, and an original
copy was borrowed in 1976 by the
Americans for use in their
bicentenary. The reason for this
exaltation is that it the Magna Carta
is thought of in the United States as
the foundation of justice and law in
England, and by extension America
The memorial at Runnymede
also.
Thus, the 1215 Magna Carta, despite being in practice a failure, has nevertheless
had a long-lasting effect on English constitutional history, through the reissues later in the 13 th Century, and has a particular resonance in America, due to its
association with justice and democracy. Regardless of misinterpretations of it,
and its practical failures, the principles espoused in the document still have a powerful legacy today, and its 800 th Anniversary is doubtlessly a worthy
commemoration.
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