The sun., 1918-07-18
ON THE CHARTER THE
BARONS GOT FROM JOHN
Contention That It's pud,
Protection to An Men.

Your comment upon my recent let
ter to THE SUN respecting Magma
Charta, including the citation Of Mr..
Arthur william Holland ns an author
ity on the subject. induces me to ask
your indulgence for this further COM
munication.
First, respecting the villeins. Deal
Ing with the immortal system, Medley,
(p. 3D. truly says: There is perhaps
no portion Of our subject on which 1t
Is 80 difficult to arrive at the truth
as the actual position of the unfree
feudal tenant, that successor OF the
Saxon ceorl who, we are often told,
was degraded by the Norman lawyers
into the unfree Norman villanus, and
whose whole position has been thor
oughly obscured by the utter discrep-
ancy in the facts as we find them in
the immortal rolls, and the theories
OF all lawyers from Glanvill to Black
stone; adding that "the lawyers have
not been alone to blame in the mat
ter" but that part Of the obscurity Is
due to "the hasty cancellations Of
economic writer's" Up. S3). But certain
IT is that the villein was not a slave,
he was not bought and sold apart
from his holding" (Enc. Brit. Art.
"Manor"); his sale apart from the
property to which his services at
tached him was forbidden by law
Of the Conqueror himself (Turner,
History Of Migrants and Vagrancy,
p. 1O; he was personally no more
property than the indentured servant
Of a later day and existing down to
our own time. and in the rolls Of the
immortal courts no distinction Is made
between cases affecting freemen and
those in which villeins are concerned
MEDLEY. p. 315).
And the consideration for which the
villein rendered his service was the
privilege Of maintenance on the land
Of his lord: quid pro quo. Failing the
service, the right of maintenance
failed; and 1t is this which gives espe-
cial point to the provision of Magma
Charta presently to be recalled.
Next, respecting Mr.. Hollands article
on Magma Carta Gas he spells iD, in
the Britannica. I do not pretend to
have read everything written about
the Charter but my reading thereon
has been fairly wide. and 1 have en-
countered no other article on the sub
ject so unworthy to have emanated
from an Englishman as this Of Mr..
Holland, which enriches but little and
dignifles not at all the work in which
II appears. He obscures, not to say
discredits, the genesis Of the Charter:
belittles its provisions, impugns the
motives Of those compelling it. dis
parages its force and effect and chal-
lenges its claim to Its accorded place
in the history Of the English Constitu-
ton, as also in the history of civil lib
erty: all in a manner at times closely
akin to carping: and he lightly brushes
aside the deliberate judgment of such
sincere, patriotic and liberty loving
students as Hallam. Buckle. Stubs
and Green and those agreeing with
them.
Witness these few extracts (the first
and second being parts OF what you
quote. and the italics being mine):
I'm fact the only clauses [of the
Charterl which protect 1.-THE villensl
do SO because they are property
property OF their lords-dnd there
fore rnlmdblc."
Its benefits are confined to Jreemen,
and Of the benefits the lions share
fell to the larger landholders; the
smaller landholders getting, it is true.
some crumbs from the table 1t did
not establish trial By jurU.
or other conceptions OF a later gem
Grafton"
Although in later ages its impor-
lance was enorm ouSly mdOnifcd, it
differs only in degree, not in kind,
from other charters granted by the
Norman and early Plantagenet kings
in subsequent ages &.
II was regarded as something sdcro-
sdnct It's provisions. real
and Imaginary. formed the standards
towards which Englishmen must
strive"
Inconsistency enough. however, Mr..
Holland graciously allows that Article
60 lis a general statement that the
aforesaid customs and liberties are to
he observed by al classes, that the
effect of Articles 20 to % is that
property necessary for ones liveli-
hood must not be taken" by fines.
and that at should he noticed that
trial by ones peers as understood in
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