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Magna Carta, Latin for “Great Charter”, was sealed by King John of England at Runnymede, beside the Thames, on 15 June 1215 to make peace with rebel barons. It promised swift justice and protection from unlawful imprisonment, and put limits on the king's power in writing.

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The peace did not last. Neither side kept its promises, Pope Innocent III annulled the charter in August 1215, and the First Barons' War broke out. After John died in 1216, the advisers ruling for his nine-year-old son, Henry III, reissued a shortened version. It was issued again in 1217 and 1225, and in 1297 Edward I made it part of English statute law. Its most famous clause, number 39 in the 1215 text, promised that no free man would be imprisoned or stripped of his rights except by the lawful judgement of his equals or by the law of the land. Four copies of the 1215 charter survive: two at the British Library, one at Lincoln Castle and one at Salisbury Cathedral. Three of its clauses, as reissued in 1297, are still law in England and Wales.

Türkçe oku
Magna Carta (Latince “Büyük Ferman”), İngiltere Kralı John'un isyancı baronlarla barışmak için 15 Haziran 1215'te Thames kıyısındaki Runnymede'de mühürlediği belgedir. Belge, hızlı işleyen bir adalet ve keyfî tutuklamaya karşı güvence vaat ediyor, kralın yetkilerine yazılı sınırlar koyuyordu.

Barış uzun sürmedi. İki taraf da sözünü tutmadı; Papa III. Innocentius Ağustos 1215'te fermanı geçersiz ilan etti ve Birinci Baronlar Savaşı başladı. John 1216'da ölünce, dokuz yaşındaki oğlu III. Henry adına ülkeyi yöneten danışmanlar belgenin kısaltılmış bir hâlini yeniden yayımladı. Ferman 1217'de ve 1225'te yeniden ilan edildi; 1297'de Kral I. Edward onu İngiliz yasalarının bir parçası yaptı. 1215 metnindeki en ünlü madde olan 39. maddeye göre hiçbir özgür insan, dengi olan kişilerin yasaya uygun kararı ya da ülkenin yasaları olmadan hapsedilemez, haklarından yoksun bırakılamazdı. 1215 fermanının dört nüshası bugüne ulaştı: ikisi British Library'de, biri Lincoln Kalesi'nde, biri de Salisbury Katedrali'nde. Üç maddesi, 1297'deki hâliyle İngiltere ve Galler'de hâlâ yürürlüktedir.

Sources and further reading

Background reading: Magna Carta
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