Magna Carta was a charter agreed to by King John of England in 1215 that granted certain rights to English noblemen, including protection from unlawful imprisonment and right to due process. While initially applying to only a small class, it came to symbolize the principle that rulers are subject to law and fundamental rights. Certain provisions guaranteeing fair trials and equal treatment under law directly influenced modern human rights laws. Over 800 years later, Magna Carta remains an important symbol of liberties and its principles have been exported worldwide through documents like the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

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2. MAGNA CARTA
Presented By: FERMILA YOUSAF
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3. Magna Carta:
The Origin of Modern Human Rights
 Magna Carta was accepted by King John of England in 1215 and granted
certain rights to English noblemen.
 Although the rights it gave, and the number of people to whom it gave
them, were few, Magna Carta became a symbol for subjecting powerful
rulers to law and fundamental rights.
 It holds an historic legacy as “the Great Charter of the Liberties” and its
influence still endures today.
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4. Magna Carta:
The Origin of Modern Human Rights
 Magna Carta has been described as a “major constitutional document” and
“the banner, the symbol, of our liberties”.
 But, most of the provisions of the original Magna Carta concerned the
property of English nobles, who forced King John to seal (agree to) the
document at Runnymede in 1215.
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5. The Words of Magna Carta – “Pure
Gold”
 Certain provisions of the Magna Carta
which remain valid contain some of the
most important rules in the history of English
law.
 Sir Edward Coke, a 17th century English
lawyer and politician, described these
provisions as “pure gold”.
 Lord Bingham, a judge of the UK’s highest
court, proclaimed that the words still “have
the power to make the blood race”.
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6. Magna Carta...
Clause 39 of the Magna Carta states:
 “No free man shall be seized or imprisoned, or stripped of his rights or
possessions, or outlawed or exiled, or deprived of his standing in any way,
nor will we proceed with force against him, or send others to do so, except
by the lawful judgment of his equals or by the law of the land.”
Magna Carta’s Clause 40 states:
 “To no one will we sell, to no one deny or delay right or justice”
(Slightly amended, these two clauses make up Article 29 of a consolidated
version of Magna Carta, which was issued in 1225.)
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7. Magna Carta...
 Together, these provisions form the origins of what became the right
to freedom from arbitrary detention and the right to a fair trial.
 Although originally intended only for a small class of people (the English
nobility), these important provisions paved the way for our modern human
rights laws, under which the State must respect and protect the rights and
liberties of people within their jurisdiction.
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8. Magna Carta and Human Rights:
Magna Carta recognized three great constitutional ideas, which we still see
today.
 First, fundamental rights can only be taken away or interfered with by due
process and in accordance with the law.
 Second, government rests upon the consent of the governed, which is
reinforced by our right to free and fair elections.
 Third, government, as well as the governed, is bound by the law, so
the Human Rights Act 1998 makes it clear that public authorities can’t
infringe our rights.
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9. Magna Carta and Human Rights:
 Advances in basic rights protection are rarely achieved without criticism or
attempts to undermine them.
 After Magna Carta was sealed, Pope Innocent III declared it “illegal, unjust,
harmful to royal rights and shameful to the English people”. Still, Magna
Carta remains important today.
 The UK’s highest court in January 2017 declared that it contained the
‘most long-standing and fundamental’ rights.
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10. Magna Carta and Human Rights:
 In the intervening 800 odd years, the ideas behind Magna Carta have been
exported throughout the world.
 The United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR)
was hailed by Eleanor Roosevelt, chair of the drafting committee, as “the
international Magna Carta of all men everywhere”
 The rights contained in the UDHR had great influence on the Human
Rights Convention, which takes effect in UK law through the Human Rights
Act 1998.
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11. Magna Carta and Human Rights:
The links between these laws and the values which underlie Magna Carta are
clear;
 Modern human rights laws show our commitment to the ancient ideas that
power must be subjected to the rule of law and must not be allowed to
violate fundamental freedoms.
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