Archive for July 17th, 2010
Steynian 416rd
Freedom: Ad Fontes
King Hank 1.0
~ WHAT ARE THE sources of freedom handed on to us from English common law? Pride of place is often reserved for the Great Charter (Magna Carta) of 1215; but that document itself derived and built upon an earlier declaration: The Charter Of Liberties of 1100, issued by Henry I on his coming to the throne.
The earlier Charter cleaned up the mess of 1066 and later, especially the big-government approach of Henry’s brother Red William, who never met a new tax, empty church see, or unreasonable exaction he didn’t like. Henry instituted circuit courts, orderly means of good government, and ruled fairly but firmly.
Far from being a dry 900 year old irrelevance, the Charter of Liberties (like the Magna Carta) are worth reading and pondering precisely because the same issues are ever with us, especially in the claims of government and rulers to be all-powerful and arbitrary. Henry hit rewind, and reaffirmed the laws and practices of his father (William the Conqueror), and (skipping King Harold) of Edward the Confessor before that.
In Their Own Words
The Charter was issued from the Norman Chapel in the Tower of London in 1100– but read and you can find echoes of our present concerns and debates:
