The Magna Carta
In Our Time
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The Legacy of Henry VIII
Magna Carta was on everybody's lips from the 1220s onwards. People were copying it and reading it out in county court. Whether it made a difference is more debatable because everyone constantly said king breaking charter. But I think it did make a profound difference, though. It meant justice wasn't sold as it had been before. And above all, it just asserts the fundamental principle. The king is subject to the law and cannot act in a tyrannical way. That makes tyranny more difficult.
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