CHARTA, or Carta, primarily signifies a sort of paper made of the plant papyrus or biblus. Magna Charta, the great charter of the liberties of Britain, and the basis of our laws and privileges. This charter may be said to derive its origin from King Edward the Confessor, who granted several privileges to the church and state by charter. These liberties and privileges were also granted and confirmed by King Henry I. by a celebrated great charter now lost; but it was confirmed or re-enacted by King Henry II. and by King John. Henry III. the successor of this last prince, after having caused twelve men to make inquiry into the liberties of England in the reign of Henry I. granted a new charter, which was the same as the present Magna Charta. This he several times confirmed, and as often broke; till, in the 37th year of his reign, he went to Westminster Hall, and there, in presence of the nobility and bishops, who held lighted candles in their hands, Magna Charta was read, the king all the time holding his hand to his breast, and at last solemnly swearing faithfully and inviolably to observe all the things therein contained. Then the bishops extinguishing the candles, and throwing them on the ground, cried out, “Thus let him be extinguished, and stink in hell, who violates this charter.” It is observed that, notwithstanding the solemnity of this confirmation, King Henry the very next year again invaded the rights of his people, till the barons entered into a war against him; when, after various success, he confirmed this charter, and the charter of the forest, in the fifty-second year of his reign.

The great charter confirmed many liberties of the church, and redressed many grievances incident to feudal tenures, of no small moment at the time; though now, unless considered attentively and with this retrospect, they seem but of trifling concern. But besides these feudal provisions, care was also taken to protect the subject against other oppressions, then frequently arising from unreasonable amercement, from illegal distresses or other process for debts or services due to the crown, and from the tyrannical abuse of the prerogative of purveyance and pre-emption. It fixed the forfeiture of lands for felony in the same manner as it still remains; and prohibited for the future the grants of exclusive fisheries, and the erection of new bridges so as to oppress the neighbourhood. With respect to private rights, it established the testamentary power of the subject over part of his personal estate, the rest being distributed among his wife and children; it laid down the law of dower as it has continued ever since; and it prohibited the appeals of women, unless after the death of their husbands. In matters of public police and national concern, it enjoined an uniformity of weights and measures; gave new encouragements to commerce, by the protection of merchant strangers; and forbade the alienation of lands in mortmain. With regard to the administration of justice, besides prohibiting all denials or delays of it, it fixed the Court o. Common Pleas at Westminster, that the suitors might no longer be harassed with following the king’s person in all his progresses; and at the same time brought the trial of issues home to the very doors of the freeholders, by directing assizes to be taken in the proper counties, and establishing annual circuits. It also corrected some abuses then incident to the trials by wager of law and of battle; directed the regular awarding of inquests for life or member; prohibited the king’s inferior ministers from holding pleas of the crown, or trying any criminal charge, whereby many forfeitures might otherwise have unjustly accrued to the exchequer; and regulated the time and place of holding the inferior tribunals of justice, the county-court, sheriff’s torn and court-leet. It confirmed and established the liberties of the city of London, and all other cities, boroughs, towns, and ports of the kingdom. And, lastly, it protected every individual of the nation in the free enjoyment of his life, his liberty, and his property, unless declared to be forfeited by the judgment of his peers, or the law of the land.