The Magna Carta and the Expectations It Set for Anglo-American Law

The Magna Carta has an impressive legacy in modern legal thought. The Magna Carta illuminated the importance of legal principles, fair procedures, proportional punishment, official accountability, and respect for human dignity that shaped the development of the law in England and America for centuries. While only four of the original sixty-three provisions in the 1215 Magna Carta are still good law in the United Kingdom, analysis shows that at least thirty of these reflect concerns that are still central today. Though it did not provide for full equality, as it maintained many of the medieval restrictions on the freedoms of women and serfs, the Magna Carta moved legal institutions across the globe closer to the ideal of equal justice under law. The Magna Carta set high expectations for the development of Anglo-American law that continue to inspire the reform and administration of justice