Reinvention of Magna Carta 1216-1616

This book challenges conventional assumptions about the afterlife of Magna Carta and tells a new story.

List of contents

1. The legal character of Magna Carta; 2. Chapter 29 in the fourteenth century; 3. Magna Carta in the Inns of Court, 1340-1540; 4. Personal liberty and the Church; 5. Royal prerogative and common law under Elizabeth I; 6. William Fleetwood and Magna Carta; 7. The resurgence of Chapter 29 after 1580; 8. Magna Carta and the rule of law, 1592-1606; 9. Sir Edward Coke and Magna Carta, 1606-15; 10. 'A year consecrate to justice': 1616; 11. Myth and reality.

About the author

Sir John Baker taught at the University of Cambridge from 1971 to 2011, latterly as Downing Professor of the Laws of England. He also served for thirty years as Literary Director of the Selden Society and was knighted for services to legal history in 2003. He is the author of Collected Papers on English Legal History (Cambridge, 2013) and Introduction to English Legal History (4th edition, 2002).

Summary

Magna Carta was largely ineffective as a constitutional document for hundreds of years until it was reinvented for practical purposes by lawyers between the 1580s and 1616. This book reveals, partly from unpublished legal sources, the steps by which this occurred, and examines the causes.

Product details

• Authors: John Baker
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press ELT
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 30.06.2018
• EAN: 9781316637579
• ISBN: 978-1-316-63757-9
• No. of pages: 620
• Series: Cambridge Studies in English Legal History; Cambridge Studies in English L; Cambridge Studies in English Legal History
• Subjects: Social sciences, law, business > Law > Miscellaneous; History of Ideas, European History, HISTORY / Europe / General, LAW / Legal History, HISTORY / Social History, Legal History