To our UK Members

[Ray Newman]

Thanks for the Magna Carta!

For those not family with the Great Charta and how it applies to US law:

"n the late 18th century, the United States Constitution became the supreme law of the land, recalling the manner in which Magna Carta had come to be regarded as fundamental law. The Constitution's Fifth Amendment guarantees that "no person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law", a phrase that was derived from Magna Carta. In addition, the Constitution included a similar writ in the Suspension Clause, Article 1, Section 9: "The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion, the public safety may require it."

Each of these proclaim that no person may be imprisoned or detained without evidence that he or she committed a crime. The Ninth Amendment states that 'The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people."' The writers of the U.S. Constitution wished to ensure that the rights they already held, such as those that they believed were provided by Magna Carta, would be preserved unless explicitly curtailed. [emphasis added]

The U.S. Supreme Court has explicitly referenced Edward Coke's analysis of Magna Carta as an antecedent of the Sixth Amendment's right to a speedy trial.

[Bill in Oregon]

Thank you Ray. I was privileged to stand in a long line many years ago to see a small very early copy of the Magna Carta, roped off, in dim light, and yet from it shone an ancient beacon of rights. I pray that we don't lose them. God bless King John, whom dictators and despots have very heartily loathed all these centuries.

[gamekeeper]

Sadly the Magna Carta has been ignored by generations of British politicians and forgotten by generations of the British public.... we now have a dictator as prime minister who has virtually stopped free speech.
All I can say is "keep yer powder dry".

[jeepnik]

I don't gamble. But I'd bet less than one in one hundred high school graduates has even heard of the Magna Carta.