MAGNA CARTA LIBERTATUM (The Great Charter of Liberties)

THE FIRST GREAT CHARTER

HENRY, by the Grace of God, King of England, Lord of Ireland, Duke of Normandy and
Aquitaine, and Earl of Anjou, to the archbishops, bishops, abbots, earls, barons, judiciaries,
foresters, sheriffs, governors, officers, bailiffs, and to all his faithful subjects, Greeting.
Know ye, that we, in the presence of God, and for the salvation of our own soul, and of the
souls of our ancestors, and of our successors, to the honour of God and the exaltation of the
Holy Church, and the amendment of our kingdom, by the counsel of our venerable fathers the
Lord Gualo, entitled a Cardinal Priest of St. Martin, Legate from the Apostolic See; Peter of
Winchester, Reinerus of St. Asaph, Joceline of Bath and Glastonbury, Simon of Exeter,
Richard of Chichester, William of Coventry, Benedict of Rochester, Henry of Llandaff, of
St. David's, of Bangor, and Sylvester of Worcester, of the Bishops; and of these noble
persons, William Mareschal Earl of Pembroke, Ranulph Earl of Chester, William de Ferrars
Earl of Derby, William Earl of Albemarle, Hubert de Burgh, our Justiciary, Savary de
Mallion, William de Bruer, the Father, William de Bruer, the Son, Robert de Courtenay, Fulke
de Brent, Reginald de Vautort, Walter de Lacy, Hugo de Mortimer, John de Monmonth,
Walter de Beauchamp, Walter de Clifford, Robert de Mortimer, William de Cantelow,
Matthew Fitz-Herbert, John Mareschal, Alan Basset, Philip de Albiniac, John Le Strange, and
others of our liegemen; have (1) In the first place granted to God, and by this our present Charter, have confirmed for us
and for our heirs for ever, that the English Church shall be free, and shall have her whole
rights, and her liberties, inviolable.
(2) We have also granted to all the free-men of our kingdom, for us and for our heirs for ever,
all the underwritten liberties to be enjoyed and held by them and by their heirs, of us and
from our heirs.
(3) If any of our earls or barons, or others who hold of us in chief by military service, shall
die, and at his death his heir shall be of full age, and shall owe a relief, he shall have his
inheritance by the ancient relief; that is to say, the heir or heirs of an earl, a whole earls
barony for one hundred pounds: the heir or heirs of a baron, a whole barony, for one hundred
pounds; the heir or heirs of a knight, a whole knights fee, for one hundred shillings at the
most: and he who owes less, shall give less, according to the ancient customs of fees.
But if the heir of any such he under age, his lord shall not have the wardship of him nor of his
land, before he shall have received his homage, and afterward such heir shall be in ward; and
when he shall come to age, that is to say, to twenty and one years, he shall have his
inheritance without relief and without fine: () yet so, that if he be made a knight, whilst he is
under age, his lands shall nevertheless remain in custody of his lord, until the term aforesaid.
(4) The warden [guardian] of the land of such heir who shall be under age, shall not take
from the lands of the heir any but reasonable issues, and reasonable customs, and reasonable
services, and that without destruction and waste of the men or goods. And if we commit the

custody of any such lands to a sheriff, or any other person who is bound to us for the issues of
them, and he shall make destruction or waste upon the ward-lands, we will recover damages
from him, and the lands shall be committed to two lawful and discreet men of the same fee,
who shall answer for the issues to us, or to him to whom we have assigned them: and if we
shall give or sell to anyone the custody of any such lands, and he shall make destruction or
waste upon them, he shall lose the custody; and it shall be committed to two lawful and
discreet men of the same fee, who shall answer to us in like manner as it is said before.
(5) But the warden, as long as he hath the custody of the lands, shall keep up and maintain the
houses, parks, [rabbit] warrens, ponds, mills, and other things belonging to them, out of their
issues; and shall restore to the heir, when he comes of full age, his whole estate, provided
with carriages and all other things, at the least such as he received it. All these things shall be
observed in the custodies of vacant archbishoprics, bishoprics, abbeys, priories, churches, and
dignities, which appertain to us, excepting that these wardships are not to be sold.
(6) Heirs shall be married without disparagement. [not to someone of a lower social status]
(7) A widow, after the death of her husband, shall immediately, and without difficulty, have
her freedom of marriage and her inheritance; nor shall she give anything for her dower, or for
her freedom of marriage, or for her inheritance, which her husband and she held at the day of
his death; and she may remain in the principal messuage of her husband, for forty days after
her husbands death, within which time her dower shall be assigned; () unless it shall have
been assigned before, or excepting his house shall be a castle; and if she departs from the
castle, there shall be provided for her a complete house in which she may decently dwell,
until her dower shall be assigned to her as aforesaid.
(8) No widow shall be compelled to marry, whilst she is willing to live without a husband;
but yet she shall give security that she will not marry without our consent, if she hold (lands)
of us, or without the consent of her lord if she hold of another.
(9) Neither we nor our bailiffs, will seize any land or rent for any debt, whilst the chattels
[moveable goods] of the debtor present sufficient for the payment of the debt, and the debtor
shall be ready to make satisfaction: nor shall the sureties of the debtor be distrained, whilst
the principal debtor is able to pay the debt; and if the principal debtor fail in payment of the
debt, not having wherewith to discharge it, or will not discharge it when he is able, then the
sureties shall answer for the debt; and if they be willing, they shall have the lands and rents of
the debtor, until satisfaction be made to them for the debt which they had before paid for him,
unless the principal debtor can shew himself acquitted thereof against the said sureties.
(10) The City of London shall have all its ancient liberties, and its free customs, as well by
land as by water. Furthermore, we will and grant that all other cities, and burghs, and towns,
and the barons of the Cinque Ports, and all ports, should have all their liberties and free
customs.
(11) None shall be distrained to do more service for a knights fee, nor for any other free
tenement [land-holding] than what is due from thence.
(12) Common Pleas [ordinary lawsuits] shall not follow our court, but shall be held in a fixed
place.
(13) Trials upon the writs of novel disseisin [recent interruption in the ownership of land],
of mort dancestre [an heir being deprived of his inheritance] and of darrein presentment
[last person to appoint a clergyman to a vacant church], shall not be taken but in their proper
counties, and in this manner: we, or our Chief Justiciary, if we should be out of the
kingdom, will send two justiciaries into each county, four times in the year; who, with four
knights of each county, chosen by the county, shall hold the aforesaid assizes within the
county on the day, and at the place appointed.

(14) And if the aforesaid assizes cannot be taken on the day of the county court, let as many
knights and freeholders, of those who were present at the connty-conrt remain behind, as
shall be sufficient to do justice, according to the great or less importance of the business.
(15) A free-man shall not be amerced [given an arbitrary fine] for a small offence, but only
according to the degree of the offence; and for a great delinquency, according to the
magnitude of the delinquency, saving his contenement: a merchant in the same manner,
saving his merchandise, and a villein shall be amerced after the same manner, saving to him
his wainage, if he shall fall into our mercy; and none of the aforesaid amercements [fines]
shall be assessed, but by the oath of honest and lawful men of the neighbourhood. Earls and
barons shall not be amerced but by their peers, and that only according to the degree of their
delinquency. No ecclesiastical person shall be amerced excepting according to the form
aforesaid, and not according to the quantity of his ecclesiastical benefice. [Contenement
livelihood; Wainage chattels needed for livelihood, implements, seed-corn and stock]
(16) Neither a town nor any person shall be distrained to build bridges or embankments,
excepting those which anciently, and of right, are bound to do it.
(17) No sheriff, constable, coroners, nor other of our bailiffs, shall hold pleas of [which
should be dealt with by] our crown.
(18) If anyone holding of us a lay fee dies, and the sheriff or our bailiff shall show our letterspatent of summons concerning the debt which the deceased owed to us, it shall be lawful for
the sheriff, or for our bailiff to attach and register the chattels of the deceased found on that
lay fee, to the amount of that debt by the view of lawful men, so that nothing shall be
removed from thence until our debt be paid to us; and the rest shall be left to the executors to
fulfil the will of the deceased; and if nothing be owing to us by him, all the chattels shall fall
to the deceased, saving to his wife and children their reasonable shares.
(19) No constable, governor, nor his bailiff, shall take the corn or other goods of anyone, who
is not of that town where his castle is, without instantly paying money for them, unless he can
obtain a respite from the free will of the seller; () but if he be of that town wherein the
castle is, he shall give him the price within three weeks.
(20) No constable [castle governor] shall distrain any knight to give him money for castleguard, if he is willing to perform it in his own person, or by another able man, if he cannot
perform it himself, for a reasonable cause: and if we have carried or sent him into the army,
he shall be excused from castle-guard, according to the time that he shall be in the army by
our command.
(21) No sheriff nor bailiff of ours, nor of any other person, shall take the horses or carts of
any, for the purpose of carriage, () without paying according to the rate anciently appointed;
that is to say, for a cart with two horses, ten-pence by the day, and for a cart with three horses,
fourteen-pence by the day.
(22) Neither we, nor our bailiffs, shall take another mans wood, for our castles or for other
uses, unless by the consent of him to whom the wood belongs.
(23) We will not retain the lands of those who have been convicted of felony, except for one
year and one day, and then they shall be given up to the lord of the fee.
(24) All kydells [fish weirs] for the future, shall be quite removed out of the Thames and the
Med way, and through all England, excepting upon the sea coast.
(25) The writ which is called prcipe, for the future shall not be granted to anyone of any
tenement, [land-holding] by which a free-man may lose his court. [right of trial in his own
lords court]

(26) There shall be one measure of wine throughout all our kingdom, and one measure of ale,
and one measure of corn, namely the quarter of London; and one breadth of dyed cloth, and
of russets, and of halberjects, namely, two ells within the selvedges. Also it shall be the same
with weights as with measures. [Russets and halberjects forms of rough cloth; Ell 45
inches]
(27) Nothing shall be given or taken [paid or accepted] for the writ of inquisition of life or
limb; but it shall be given without charge, and not denied.
(28) If any man holds of us by fee-farm, or socage, or by burgage, and holds land of another
by military service, we will not have the guardianship of his heir, nor of his lands, which are
of the fee of another, on account of that fee-farm, or socage, or burgage; nor will we have the
custody of the fee-farm, socage, or burgage, unless the fee-farm owe military service. We will
not have the custody of the mans heir, nor of the lands of anyone, which he holds of another
by military service, on account of any petty-sergeantry [minor service owed to the king]
which he holds of us by the service of giving us daggers, or arrows, or the like. [Fee-Farm
land held freehold but paying rent; Socage land held in exchange for regular payments to
the landowner; Burgage land rented from the landowner]
(29) No bailiff, for the future, shall put any man on trial, nor to an oath, upon his own simple
affirmation, without faithful witnesses produced for that purpose.
(30) No free-man shall be taken or imprisoned, or dispossessed or be outlawed, or exiled, or
in any way destroyed; nor will we condemn him, nor will we commit him to prison,
excepting by the legal judgment of his peers, or by the laws of the land.
(31) To none will we sell, to none will we deny, to none will we delay right or justice.
(32) All merchants, unless they have before been publicly prohibited, shall have safety and
security in going out of England, and in coming into England, and in staying and in travelling
through England, as well by land as by water, to buy and sell, without any unjust exactions,
according to ancient and right customs, excepting in the time of war, and if they be of a
country at war against us: and if such are found in our land at the beginning of a war, they
shall be apprehended, without injury of their bodies or goods, until it be known to us, or to
our Chief Justiciary, how the merchants of our country are treated who are found in the
country at war against us: and if ours be in safety there, the others shall be in safety in our
land.
(33) If any man hold (lands) of any escheat, as of the honour [great estates] of Wallingford,
Boulogne, Nottingham, Lancaster, or of other escheats which are in our hand, and are
baronies, and shall die, his heir shall not give any other relief, nor do any other service to us,
than he should have done to the baron, if those lands had been in the hands of the baron; and
we will hold it in the same manner that the baron held it. [Escheat - the transfer of property
of a person who dies without heirs to the Crown]
(34) Men who dwell without the forest, shall not come, for the future, before our justiciaries
of the forest on a common summons: unless they be parties in a plea, or sureties for some
person or persons who are attached for the forest.
(35) All barons who have founded abbeys, which they hold by Charters from the Kings of
England, or by ancient tenure, shall have the custody of them when they become vacant, as
they ought to have, and such as it hath been declared above.
(36) All forests which have been made in the time of King John our Father, shall be
immediately disforested; and it shall be so done with water-banks, which have been taken or
fenced in by the same John during his reign.

(37) No man shall be apprehended or imprisoned on the appeal of a woman, for the death of
any man except her husband.
(38) And if the King John our father, hath disseised or dispossessed any Welshmen of their
lands, or liberties, or other things, without a legal verdict of their peers, in England or in
Wales, they shall be immediately restored to them; and if any dispute shall arise upon this
head, then let it be determined in the Marches by the verdict of their peers: for a tenement of
England, according to the law of England; for a tenement of Wales, according to the law of
Wales: for a tenement of the Marches, according to the law of the Marches: also the Welsh
shall do the same to us and to our subjects. [Marches English land on the border with
Wales]
(39) Also all those customs and liberties aforesaid, which we have granted to be held in our
kingdom, for so much of it as belongs to us, all our subjects, as well clergy as laity, shall
observe towards their tenants as far as it concerns them.
(40) But because in some chapters in the first Charter, were contained that which seemed
weighty and doubtful; namely, concerning scutages and the assessing of aids, concerning
debts to the Jews and others, concerning of the liberty of going out and returning to our
kingdom, concerning of forests and foresters, warrens and warreners, concerning the customs
of counties, and concerning rivers and their keepers, it hath pleased the aforesaid prelates and
nobles, that they be had in respect, until we may have a full council, and then we will provide
most fully, as well for those as for other emendations which have occurred, for the common
use of all whom they shall have pertained to, and the peace and estate of us and our kingdom.
But because we have not as yet any seal, we have caused the present Charter to be sealed
with the seals of our venerable father the Lord Gualo, Cardinal Priest by the title of Saint
Martin, Legate of the Apostolic See; and of William Marshal Earl of Pembroke, the guardians
of us and of our kingdom, at Bristol the twelfth day of November, in the first year of our
reign.