Magna Carta and its Modern Legacy

Description

Magna Carta is celebrated around the world as a symbol of limited government and constitutionalism. But in 1215 Magna Carta was a failure, abrogated within months. Why then do we celebrate this piece of parchment? To mark the 800th anniversary this book brings together top scholars from the UK, US and Australia to answer this question and analyse Magna Carta's historic and contemporary influence. Using a political science framework, Magna Carta and its Modern Legacy draws from scholarship on influence and constitutional design to explain how parchment can contain executive power. Individual chapters on Britain discuss such topics as socioeconomic rights in Magna Carta; Magna Carta and the British constitution; and public understanding of the charter. Internationally focused chapters look at Magna Carta and jury trial in America, slavery in the Caribbean, court delays in the Pacific, the proportionality principle, and judicial supremacy.

Robert Hazell is Professor of Government and the Constitution at University College London. He is the Founder and Director of the Constitution Unit, an independent think tank specialising in constitutional reform that has published detailed reports on Britain's constitutional reform programme. Professor Hazell frequently appears on the BBC and other media to talk about constitutional issues, and has received the Political Studies Association's Communication Award. James Melton is a Senior Lecturer in Comparative Politics at University College London. His research focuses on comparative constitutional design, investigating the origins, stability, and enforcement of formal constitutional texts. He is a principal investigator at the Comparative Constitutions Project and co-author of the project's first book, The Endurance of National Constitutions (Cambridge University Press, 2009).

'This is a worthy contribution to the study of Magna Carta at the dawn of the twenty-first century. It presents the reader with novel insights into the Great Charter's history and highlights talking points in the broader conversation about its place in the constitutional thought of the future. Its critical tone may help inoculate students against the mythology of Runnymede. But the collection also makes clear that, however mixed its legacy, and however modest its 'actual, direct' influence, Magna Carta will continue to structure debate around the most pressing questions of public power and individual liberty.' J. G. Allen, The Cambridge Law Journal