Magna Carta 1215: a glorious failure

• Author: Timothy Endicott
• Pages: 204-214

FRONTIERS OF LAW IN CHINA

VOL. 11 JUNE 2016 NO. 2

DOI 10.3868/s050-005-016-0012-2

FOCUS

THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE OF RULE OF LAW

MAGNA CARTA 1215: A GLORIOUS FAILURE

Timothy Endicott*

Abstract Along with the tradition of celebrating the importance of the Charter of 1215,

there is a long tradition of skepticism concerning its purpose (which was not to achieve

responsible government but to preserve the property of wealthy landowners), its force (it

was annulled by the Pope and repudiated by the king within a few weeks), and even its

success as a peace treaty (war broke out within a few months). The author will outline

the reasons for skepticism, because we can only see what there is to celebrate in 2015, if

we understand that the Charter of 1215 was the failed result of a reactionary armed tax

rebellion by wealthy and powerful landowners, who were not trying to make a new

constitution. What is there to celebrate? The author will address that question by asking

why the Charter of 1215 was neither void (as the Pope asserted) for repugnancy to the

King’s authority, nor voidable for duress. The author challenges the idea that the Charter

of 1215 is the foundation of the rule of law in England, arguing that the rule of law goes

back farther, and that the Charter of 1215 was very limited in its impact. But it did

promote the rule of law in two ways: by giving new specificity to legal duties and

restrictions that the king had already been subject to, and by highlighting the country’s

need for effective processes for giving effect to those duties and restrictions.

Keywords Magna Carta, Charter of Liberties, Charter of the Forest, common law, rule of

law, responsible government

I. THE SKEPTICAL VIEW................................................................................................ 205

II. BEFORE 1215 ........................................................................................................... 206

III. AFTER 1215............................................................................................................. 208

IV. AGAINST SKEPTICISM.............................................................................................. 210

V. WHY WAS NOT THE CHARTER OF 1215 VOID ON CONSTITUTIONAL GROUNDS, OR

VOIDABLE FOR DURESS?...........................................................................................211

VI. LESSONS FROM 1215 .............................................................................................. 213

* Timothy Endicott, Professor of Legal Philosophy of the Faculty of Law, University of Oxford; Fellow in

Law, Balliol College, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK. Contact: timothy.endicott@law.ox.ac.uk