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22.16
Legal History 1220 - 1790
  
     
  The first recognized document coming out of the enforced Stone Age created by christianity that in anyway states rights and basic legal principles was the Magna Carta- regarded as the foundation stone of common law.  
 
 Key legal concept: Magna Carta (1215)
Architect
King John of England, Bishops (as Papal emissaries)
Main influence
 Codex Civis Juris (Justinian Codex 530)
Idea
 Required the king to renounce certain rights, respect certain legal procedures and accept that the will of the king could be bound by law. The king being bound to certain laws regarding the treatment of church officials and nobles, effectively granting certain civil liberties to the church and the English nobility.

 
  A popular misconception concerning the Magna Carta is that it somehow implies or sets a precedent for the basic rights of ordinary people. It does nothing of the sort.  
  What makes the Magna Carta significant is that for the first time it defines in fairly unclear terms the boundaries in law of the Monarch, the church and nobles.  
  This is significant for up until this point, only the Church or Rulers were seen to have any power, usually the church.  
  But with the Magna Carta, the powerful monarch of England was required to recognize certain legal rights of his/her own nobles concerning their property as well as the property of the church.  
  Another misconception is that modern common law principles remain based on the Magna Carta. By the end of the 17th century, most of the precedents of the Magna Carta had been nullified by new laws so that no effective law exists in England today that was in effect enacted by the Magna Carta.  
  What it remains is a symbol- a sign post that the darkest period of human history was over and it was time to re-establish the basic, however brutal, norms of civilization.  
     
 
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