The Magna Carta was created in 1215 by rebellious English barons to establish their rights against unfair taxes and poor management by the king. While most clauses are now irrelevant, clause 39 established that all free men are entitled to justice and fair trials. This clause became the foundation of democracy and human rights in England and influenced documents like the U.S. Declaration of Independence. It promoted ideals of freedom of expression, natural law, and human rights that inspired movements such as the Enlightenment and French Revolution. The Magna Carta was the first written recognition that all people deserve fair treatment under the law regardless of status, and its influence on establishing human rights globally cannot be denied.

1. The Great Charter
In 2015, the Magna Carta celebrates 800 years since its creation and is said
to be the first step towards equal rights for all people, the starting point to a
worldwide journey to create a fair and just society and is sometimes regarded as
the foundation of democracy in England. But has this been such an influence as it
is praised for?
The “Magna Carta” or “Great Charter” was created in 1215 to state the rights
of the 40 rebellious barons of England who were unhappy with the king because of
the taxes and the rather bad and unsuccessful management of the kingdom, the
charter was reissued many times in that same century and listed many medieval,
mainly land related clauses that are of no importance nowadays, and now in
present England only 3 of the 63 clauses remain part of English law, but there is
one clause which is the most famous and echoing of all that states that all free men
have the right to justice and fair trial and that everyone is the same under the
power of the law.
“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 other way,
nor will we proceed with force against him, or send others to do so, except by the
lawful judgement of his equals or by the law of the land. To no one will we sell, to
no one deny or delay right or justice” (Translation of the full text of the original 1215
edition of Magna Carta from Latin into modern day English, clause 39 and 40)

2. The Great Charter
This clause is the pillar to all modern democracies and human rights acts and has
echoed in many “charters of freedom” such as the United States declaration of
independence that states many facts to prove the tyranny of the then King of
England, these accusations are based on the principles of human rights that had
been first brought to light by the Magna Carta, and the United Nations universal
declaration of human rights (UDHR) which was in the fall 1948 quoted by Eleanor
Roosevelt to be “A Magna Carta for All Mankind”, her husband and former
president of the United States Franklin D. Roosevelt, an authority in the topic of
human rights and democracy said in his 1941 inaugural address “The democratic
aspiration is no mere recent phase in human history. It is human history. It
permeated the ancient life of early peoples. It blazed anew in the middle ages. It
was written in Magna Charta” (Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Third Inaugural
Address, January 20, 1941) Here he says that democratic aspiration that is based
on human rights, has been around since “the ancient life of early people” was
brought back and finally moved from head to paper in the Magna Carta.
Before the Magna Carta there was almost no established ideologies about
human rights, but after it clauses 39 and 40 started to motivate ideological
movement such as the enlightenment that greatly influenced France, England and
America, it promoted a democratic government as well as the freedom of
expression, natural laws and human rights, this lead to the French Revolution and
motivated a series of independence campaigns all through America.

3. The Great Charter
It is interesting to point out that this charter came up because of the
discontent with the existent ruler back then in England, if this discontent had not
existed the Magna Carta wouldn't have been written along with the human rights
present in it, meaning that the world would be delayed on that topic and it could
have been shaped differently as from how we know it today.
The Magna Carta deserves to be preserved as a distinct and important
document because it is the symbol of the first time people realized that everyone
deserves fair treatment and that law should be over everyone and imposed the
same way to everyone including the people in power. It’s influence cannot be
denied, it is the first written evidence of human right consciousness and without it
we would might not have our rights that we so much value today.