Today people everywhere are deeply concerned with their rights, their freedom, and laws that protect them against tyranny and oppression. The Magna Carta, or the Great Charter, was the first step toward constitutional liberty for English-speaking people everywhere in the world. It was signed by King John of England in 1215, and it laid the foundations for a new kind of government.

At the time of King John, there was much oppression, the courts were corrupt, and justice was not practiced. So the barons who ruled under the King decided to try to get back some of their old rights and privileges, which they believed were more fair to themselves and the people. On June 15, 1215, they and some churchmen of England gathered an army together and forced King John to sign the Magna Carta.

The original Magna Carta contained 63 articles, most of which were concerned with the rights of nobles. But some of them were reforms that led to ideas that were for the good of all men, because in it the nobles promised certain rights to the freemen under their control.

There are three articles in the Magna Carta that are important for people living today because of their influence on the development of freedom and justice under law. One article declares that no freeman shall be deprived of his life or property without a verdict of his peers(equals) or by the law of the land. You can see how this principle helps protect you against injustice or tyranny.

Another article in the Magna Carta states that justice shall not be sold, denied, nor delayed. This principle protects people who are tried in a court of law because it is intended to prevent judges from being bribed, or trials from being put off for a long time while the prisoner sits in jail.

A third article provides that federal taxes cannot be levied without the consent of the council of barons. In our own time, this principle means that we cannot be taxed unless the representatives we elect to government approve the taxes.