How did the Magna Carta the Petition of Right and the English Bill of Rights influence American colonists ideas about government?

September 14, 2016

Constitution Day is observed Friday, September 16, 2016. In celebration of the ratification of the U.S. Constitution, IAALS is joining with others around the country to share perspectives on the history, impact, and promise of the Constitution. This blog is part a series of Constitution Day posts, authored by members of the O'Connor Advisory Committee to our Quality Judges Initiative, which are collected here. Join the conversation in the comments below, or on Twitter with #ConstitutionDay.

Magna Carta has rightfully been described as the signal document in the move from the “law of the ruler” to the “rule of law." Yet, my participation in the 800th Anniversary celebration confirmed my belief that Magna Carta is perhaps more respected and held in higher esteem in the former colonies than in the country of its heritage. Indeed, until last year (when a new permanent sculpture entitled “The Jury” was dedicated), the only monument to Magna Carta at Runnymede was placed there by the American Bar Association in 1957. HRH the Princess Royal participated in the rededication of the ABA Magna Carta memorial on the anniversary.

Ruminations on Magna Carta can only lead to thoughts about the rule of law, and the influence of Magna Carta on the U.S. Constitution and the constitutions of many of the states. Sir Winston Churchill said, “Here is a law which is above the King and which even he must not break. This reaffirmation of a supreme law is the great work of Magna Carta; and this alone justifies the respect in which men have held it.” Lord Denning, the Master of the Rolls, said, “Magna Carta is the greatest constitutional document of all times – the foundation of the freedom of the individual against the arbitrary authority of the despot.”

Magna Carta, or at least the understanding of it in the 18th Century, had a strong influence on the United States Constitution and on the constitutions of the various states. Several guarantees that were understood at the time of the ratification of the U.S. Constitution descended from Magna Carta, including freedom from unlawful searches and seizures, the right to a speedy trial, the right to a jury trial, the writ of habeas corpus, and protection against loss of life, liberty, or property without due process of law, were included in the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

Our Constitution is an enduring document protecting our rights and liberties. But it derived many of its provisions from the ideas of a group of rebellious English barons who imposed them on King John of England. Due to Magna Carta and the U. S. Constitution, we live in a society where the rule of law dominates over the “law of the ruler.”

February 13, 2019 by NCC Staff

On February 13, 1689, Parliament in London allowed two new monarchs to take the throne if they honor the rights of English citizens. What became known as the English Bill of Rights was an important influence on the later American Constitution.

The statement presented that day was called the Declaration of Right, and it was intended for William of Orange, the Dutch ruler, and his wife, Mary. Parliament asked William (whose mother was the daughter of the late English King Charles I) to assume the throne along with Mary, the Protestant daughter of the deposed English King James II, as long as they agreed to the terms in that document – which they did.

In its statutory form, what became known as the English Bill of Rights contains several passages that were later reflected in the United States Constitution written in Philadelphia in 1787.

The English Bill of Rights reaffirmed some rights guaranteed to subjects that dated back to the Magna Carta and reflected John Locke’s influence on the document, but it had been abridged during later conflicts in Great Britain. The English Bill of Rights listed grievances against the former Catholic ruler, James II, including a prohibition on Protestants possessing arms; the Bill allowed them to “have arms for their defense suitable to their conditions and as allowed by law.”

The Bill also stated that Parliament as the representatives of British subjects shouldn’t be censored by a King or Queen, providing “that the freedom of speech and debates or proceedings in Parliament ought not to be impeached or questioned in any court or place out of Parliament.”

The declaration also included an important statement that later became part of the American Constitution’s First Amendment, for citizens to petition a government: “That it is the right of the subjects to petition the king, and all commitments and prosecutions for such petitioning are illegal.”

The English Bill of Rights insisted that “excessive bail ought not to be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted” – two important concepts in the U.S. Constitution’s Eighth Amendment.

It objected to the quartering of troops contrary to law (matching the Constitution’s Third Amendment), opposed standing armies without Parliaments’s approval, and reaffirmed the right to a jury trial. The English Bill of Rights also stated that Parliament should meet regularly, be subject to free elections, and could block the suspension of laws by the crown.

And the English Bill of Rights reiterated a core concept that the crown couldn’t tax subjects without the consent of their representatives: “That levying money for or to the use of the Crown by pretense of prerogative, without grant of Parliament, for longer time, or in other manner than the same is or shall be granted, is illegal.”

These rights guaranteed to British subjects would later become part of the disputes between a future monarch and American colonists that led to the Revolutionary War and American independence.