How many days since
Magna Carta Signed?

What did the Magna Carta actually say?

The original Magna Carta contained 63 clauses covering a range of immediate practical grievances between King John and his barons. Most of the clauses are now obsolete — they covered specific feudal customs, fish weirs in the Thames, and arrangements for returning hostages. Only three clauses remain on the English statute book today. Clause 1 guarantees the freedom of the English Church. Clause 13 grants London and other towns their ancient liberties. Clause 29 — the most famous — states that no free man shall be imprisoned, dispossessed or harmed except by the lawful judgment of his peers or by the law of the land. This clause became the foundation for the principle of habeas corpus and, eventually, trial by jury and due process in legal systems worldwide.

How many original copies survive?

King John issued the Magna Carta on 15 June 1215 and copies were sent to sheriffs and bishops across England. Four of these original 1215 documents survive: two are held by the British Library in London, one by Lincoln Cathedral and one by Salisbury Cathedral. The Lincoln Magna Carta travelled to the United States in 1939 as part of a British Council exhibition and remained there for safekeeping during World War II, held at the Library of Congress. In 2015, all four surviving 1215 copies were brought together for the first time in 800 years at the British Library to mark the anniversary — the first and only time they have been displayed together.

Magna Carta's global influence

The Magna Carta's influence extends far beyond England. The United States Constitution and Bill of Rights were directly influenced by Magna Carta principles — John Adams described it as "the ground and foundation of English laws." The Fifth Amendment's due process clause is a direct descendant of Clause 29. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), the European Convention on Human Rights (1950) and constitutions of countries from India to Zimbabwe all incorporate principles that trace their lineage to the meadow at Runnymede in 1215. A memorial to Magna Carta stands at Runnymede, erected by the American Bar Association in 1957 — an acknowledgement by American lawyers of the English document's foundational role in their own legal tradition.