Magna Carta
John, by the grace of God, king of England, lord of Ireland, duke of Normandy and Aquitaine, and count of Anjou in the meadow which is called Runnymede, between Windsor and Staines, on the fifteenth day of June, 1215, signed the Great Charter in the presence of assorted heavily armed peers of the realm, who assured him it was the right thing to do.
The British Library has pictures of the Magna Carta available, and Wikipedia has a nice discussion of the document.
The Magna Carta of 1297 is permanently residing in the US National Archives.
The Avalon Project’s translation of the 1215 version with an index and definitions.
John abided by the charter for several months, before he returned to business as normal, but the principle was established – no one is above the law.
5 comments
…signed the Great Charter in the presence of assorted heavily armed peers of the realm, who assured him it was the right thing to do.
Hah! 😆 I laugh every time I think about that (or read it). It’s lost on most people I know! 😀
Heh… I sometimes (often actually) long for *the good ol’ days!* When a man was a man (and many women didn’t take any crap from said man), and always had a sword, rope and tree handy… just in case! 😉 😀
“John abided by the charter for several months, before he returned to business as normal, …” – Bryan
What is it with these guys? George W. Bush acted exactly the same way: he would agree to any restriction imposed on him by Congress or the courts, then as soon as public attention was turned elsewhere (and he was a master of distraction), return to the exact same proscribed practices. Some people… and a lot of heads of state… are just no damned good.
(Preemptive remark: in no way do I intend to ignore Obama’s tendencies in the same direction. Bush and his handlers, though, were the worst at it in my lifetime.)
Oliver Cromwell had the real solution – decapitation. When the head of the Head of State ends up in a basket, people tend to understand that “no one is above the law”.
Too many of these guys believe their own PR about being the “only one capable of making the correct decisions”, in that, they believe that whatever they decide is “the correct decision”.
Whether you are John Lackland, Dubya the Faux Cowboy, or Barry Hope & Change, the law applies to you, and has done since the Great Charter was signed.
Speaking of Bushmoron… It seems that at least one of his daughter’s doesn’t agree with *daddy*! 😆 Have you seen this?
Bush’s daughter Barbara ‘glad’ ObamaCare passed: Health care ‘should be a right for everyone.’
The fact that it was on Faux News had me PMSL! 😆
I seriously doubt he has talked to his daughters in years. I’m not surprised they would go their own way.