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What is the Magna Carta?

The Magna Carta ("great charter" in Latin) is an important document in the history of British government. Angry English noblemen and churchmen forced King John (also called John Lackland; 1167–1216) to approve the charter on June 15, 1215. The Magna Carta ensured personal liberty and asserted the rights of the individual, stating that: "No freeman [citizen] shall be arrested and imprisoned, or dispossessed [deprived of property], or outlawed, or banished, or in any way molested [physically assaulted]; nor will be set forth against him, nor send against him, unless by the lawful judgment of his peers, and by the law of the land." The statement about "lawful judgment of his peers, and by the law of the land" is usually interpreted to mean that the Magna Carta guaranteed the right to a trial by jury—that is, the right to be tried for a crime in a court of law on the basis of evidence and judged guilty or...

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