Part 23 (2/2)

(1253):

”But as they (the barons) had experienced his (the king's) frequent breach of promise, they required that he should ratify the Great Charter in a manner still more authentic and solemn than any which he had hitherto employed. All the prelates and abbots were a.s.sembled.

They held burning tapers in their hands. The Great Charter was read before them. They denounced the sentence of excommunication against every one who should thenceforth violate that fundamental law. They threw their tapers on the ground, and exclaimed, _May the soul of every one who incurs this sentence so stink and corrupt in h.e.l.l!_ The king bore a part in this ceremony, and subjoined, 'So help me G.o.d! I will keep all these articles inviolate, as I am a man, as I am a Christian, as I am a knight, and as I am a king crowned and anointed.'”--_Hume_, ch. 12. See also _Blackstone's Introd. to the Charters. Black. Law Tracts_, Oxford ed., p. 332. _Mackintosh's Hist.

of Eng._, ch. 3. _Lardner's Cab. Cyc._, vol. 45, p. 233-4.

The following is the form of ”the sentence of excommunication” referred to by Hume:

”_The Sentence of Curse, Given by the Bishops, against the Breakers of the Charters._

”The year of our Lord a thousand two hundred and fifty-three, the third day of May, in the great Hall of the King at Westminster, _in the presence, and by the a.s.sent, of the Lord Henry, by the Grace of G.o.d King of England_, and the Lords Richard, Earl of Cornwall, his brother, Roger (Bigot) Earl of Norfolk and Suffolk, marshal of England, Humphrey, Earl of Hereford, Henry, Earl of Oxford, John, Earl of Warwick, and other estates of the Realm of England: We, Boniface, by the mercy of G.o.d Archbishop of Canterbury, Primate of all England, F. of London, H. of Ely, S. of Worcester, E. of Lincoln, W. of Norwich, P. of Hereford, W. of Salisbury, W. of Durham, R. of Exeter, M. of Carlisle, W. of Bath, E. of Rochester, T. of Saint David's, Bishops, apparelled in Pontificals, with tapers burning, against the breakers of the Church's Liberties, and of the Liberties or free customs of the Realm of England, and especially of those which are contained in the Charter of the Common Liberties of the Realm, and the Charter of the Forest, have solemnly denounced the sentence of Excommunication in this form. By the authority of Almighty G.o.d, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, and of the glorious Mother of G.o.d, and perpetual Virgin Mary, of the blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, and of all apostles, of the blessed Thomas, Archbishop and Martyr, and of all martyrs, of blessed Edward of England, and of all Confessors and virgins, and of all the saints of heaven: We excommunicate, accurse, and from the thresholds (liminibus) of our Holy Mother the Church, We sequester, all those that hereafter willingly and maliciously deprive or spoil the Church of her right: And all those that by any craft or wiliness do violate, break, diminish, or change the Church's Liberties, or the ancient approved customs of the Realm, and especially the Liberties and free Customs contained in the Charters of the Common Liberties, and of the Forest, conceded by our Lord the King, to Archbishops, Bishops, and other Prelates of England; and likewise to the Earls, Barons, Knights, and other Freeholders of the Realm: And all that secretly, or openly, by deed, word, or counsel, _do make statutes, or observe them being made_, and that bring in Customs, or keep them when they be brought in, against the said Liberties, or any of them, the Writers and Counsellors of said statutes, and the Executors of them, and all those that shall presume to judge according to them. All and every which persons before mentioned, that wittingly shall commit anything of the premises, let them well know that they incur the aforesaid sentence, _ipso facto_, (i.e., upon the deed being done.) And those that ignorantly do so, and be admonished, except they reform themselves within fifteen days after the time of the admonition, and make full satisfaction for that they have done, at the will of the ordinary, shall be from that time forth included in the same sentence. And with the same sentence we burden all those that presume to perturb the peace of our sovereign Lord the King, and of the Realm. To the perpetual memory of which thing, We, the aforesaid Prelates, have put our seals to these presents.”--_Statutes of the Realm_, vol. 1, p. 6. _Ruffhead's Statutes_, vol. 1, p. 20.

One of the Confirmations of the Charters, by Edward I., was by statute, in the 25th year of his reign, (1297,) in the following terms. The statute is usually ent.i.tled ”_Confirmatio Cartarum_,” (Confirmation of the Charters.)

_Ch. 1._ ”Edward, by the Grace of G.o.d, King of England, Lord of Ireland, and Duke of Guyan, To all those that these presents shall hear or see, Greeting. Know ye, that We, to the honor of G.o.d, and of Holy Church, and to the profit of our Realm, have granted, for us and our heirs, that the Charter of Liberties, and the Charter of the Forest, which were made by common a.s.sent of all the Realm, in the time of King Henry our Father, shall be kept in every point without breach. And we will that the same Charters shall be sent under our seal, as well to our justices of the Forest, as to others, and to all Sheriffs of s.h.i.+res, and to all our other officers, and to all our cities throughout the Realm, together with our writs, in the which it shall be contained, that they cause the aforesaid Charters to be published, and to declare to the people that We have confirmed them at all points; and to our Justices, Sheriffs, Mayors, and other ministers, which under us have the Laws of our Land to guide, that they allow the same Charters, in all their points, in pleas before them, and in judgment; that is, to wit, the Great Charter as the Common Law, and the Charter of the Forest for the wealth of our Realm.

_Ch. 2._ ”And we will that if any judgment be given from henceforth contrary to the points of the charters aforesaid by the justices, or by any others our ministers that hold plea before them, against the points of the Charters, it shall be undone and holden for naught.

_Ch. 3._ ”And we will, that the same Charters shall be sent, under our seal, to Cathedral Churches throughout our Realm, there to remain, and shall be read before the people two times in the year.

_Ch. 4._ ”And that all Archbishops and Bishops shall p.r.o.nounce the sentence of excommunication against all those that by word, deed, or counsel, do contrary to the foresaid charters, or that in any point break or undo them. And that the said Curses be twice a year denounced and published by the prelates aforesaid. And if the same prelates, or any of them, be remiss in the denunciation of the said sentences, the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, for the time being, shall compel and distrain them to make the denunciation in the form aforesaid.”--_St. 25 Edward I._, (1297.) _Statutes of the Realm_, vol. 1, p. 123.

It is unnecessary to repeat the terms of the various confirmations, most of which were less formal than those that have been given, though of course equally authoritative. Most of them are brief, and in the form of a simple statute, or promise, to the effect that ”The Great Charter, and the Charter of the Forest, shall be firmly kept and maintained in all points.” They are to be found printed with the other statutes of the realm. One of them, after having ”again granted, renewed and confirmed”

the charters, requires as follows:

”That the Charters be delivered to every sheriff of England under the king's seal, to be read four times in the year before the people in the full county,” (that is, at the county court,) ”that is, to wit, the next county (court) after the feast of Saint Michael, and the next county (court) after Christmas, and at the next county (court) after Easter, and at the next county (court) after the feast of Saint John.”--_28 Edward I._, ch. 1, (1300.)

Lingard says, ”The Charter was ratified four times by Henry III., twice by Edward I., fifteen times by Edward III., seven times by Richard II., six times by Henry IV., and once by Henry V.;” making thirty-five times in all.--_3 Lingard_, 50, note, Philad. ed.

c.o.ke says Magna Carta was confirmed thirty-two times.--Preface_ to_ 2 _Inst_., p. 6.

Lingard calls these ”thirty-five successive ratifications” of the charter, ”a sufficient proof how much its provisions were abhorred by the sovereign, and how highly they were prized by the nation.”--_3 Lingard_, 50.

Mackintosh says, ”For almost five centuries (that is, until 1688) it (Magna Carta) was appealed to as the decisive authority on behalf of the people, though commonly so far only as the necessities of each case demanded.”--_Mackintosh's Hist. of Eng._ ch. 3. _45 Lardner's Cab. Cyc._, 221.

c.o.ke, who has labored so hard to overthrow the most vital principles of Magna Carta, and who, therefore, ought to be considered good authority when he speaks in its favor,[108] says:

”It is called Magna Carta, not that it is great in quant.i.ty, for there be many voluminous charters commonly pa.s.sed, specially in these later times, longer than this is; nor comparatively in respect that it is greater than _Charta de Foresta_, but in respect of the great importance and weightiness of the matter, as hereafter shall appear; and likewise for the same cause _Charta de Foresta_; and both of them are called _Magnae Chartae Libertatum Angliae_, (The Great Charters of the Liberties of England.) ...

”And it is also called _Charta Libertatum regni_, (Charter of the Liberties of the kingdom;) and upon great reason it is so called of the effect, _quia liberos facit_, (because it makes men free.) Sometime for the same cause (it is called) _communis libertas_, (common liberty,) and _le chartre des franchises_, (the charter of franchises.) ...

”It was for the most part declaratory of the princ.i.p.al grounds of the fundamental laws of England, and for the residue it is additional to supply some defects of the common law....

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