Magna Carta: Eight Centuries of Freedom

"Magna Carta: Eight Centuries of Freedom" is the title of an article published on May 29 this year in the Wall Street Journal. Eight hundred years ago, in June, the first civil rights document known as the "Magna Carta" was recorded in the history of England, and step by step, the rule of law was established in that country. The voice of this revolutionary movement is still widespread today. Daniel Hannan writes that this historical document, signed by a beach in southern England, is the "most important document in human history." Hannan, a writer and member of the Conservative Party of the UK in the European Parliament, acknowledges in his article that this is a bold claim, but he consciously uses high attributes regarding the Magna Carta. According to Daniel Hannan, Lord Denning, a famous English jurist, also called the Magna Carta the "greatest document of constitutionalism" in history, which established the vision and thought of "individual freedom against the arbitrary power of a tyrant." On June 12, 1215, the idea that the law should stand above the government became the main subject of this historical document. On that day, the reigning king, known as King John, agreed that he would no longer be responsible for making laws. Over time, values such as freedom of the press, abolition of censorship, security and property rights, equal rights under the laws of the country, prisoners' rights, regular elections, respect for the importance of established contracts, and court trials became commonplace. The bishops and nobles who brought King John to the negotiating table knew well that such rights would require enforcement mechanisms. The importance of laws lies not only in being written on paper but also in the possibility of their correct interpretation and execution. For example, the former Soviet laws also guaranteed many freedoms on paper, such as freedom of speech, freedom of worship, and freedom of association. However, Soviet citizens learned that laws have no value if enforcement mechanisms are not established for them. The Magna Carta was a direct step towards the formation of the Westminster Parliament. As the famous historian William Stubbs noted, "the entire history of constitutionalism in England includes many events that go just a little beyond the event that occurred within the framework of the Magna Carta." According to Daniel Hannan, the "Magna Carta" has not only impacted the history of England but also significantly influenced the history of the United States. He recalls that following the activities of an American association in 1957, a stone memorial was erected at the site where King John signed the historic contract. This year, following the efforts of Daniel Hannan and other researchers, a statue of Queen Elizabeth II is set to be placed in the location where "freedom was born." This statue commemorates the 800-year acceptance of the rule of law by English kings. In his article, Daniel Hannan criticizes why Americans today appreciate this historic day more than the English themselves. He cites English history and writes that in the 14th and 15th centuries, various parliaments fought for the purposes of the Magna Carta, but during the period that lasted until 1603, those goals were forgotten. In the early 17th century, Parliament once again employed the goals of the Magna Carta as a tool to fight against the tyrannical Stuart kings. Edward Coke, a prominent jurist of that time, who opposed royal power, led that anti-tyranny movement. Coke argued that the king at that time should not govern alongside Parliament and endanger the old constitution written based on the Magna Carta. He drafted the Virginia Charter in 1606, which granted the then king of England the right to land ownership in America to immigrants going there to promote Christianity. Subsequently, English immigrants who migrated to Maryland in America in 1637 brought the ideas of the Magna Carta into American law. Following these events, William Penn published this "Magna Carta" in America in 1687. William Penn compared England with France and other countries and stated that in France and many other countries, only the will of princes was law, princes who collected taxes and executed people at will, but in England, every human was born with basic rights, and no one was allowed to deny their property rights. It should be noted that ideas such as property rights and individual freedoms also influenced the French Revolution. Daniel Hannan writes that the Magna Carta in the old world, meaning England, played a different role in the new world, which is America. In the old world, the Magna Carta held a high status and guaranteed the supremacy of Parliament. In the new world, however, the Magna Carta holds a status higher than Parliament and even higher than the royal crown. The consequences of these two different perspectives had a significant impact on the events of the 1770s. Hannan recalls the American Revolution, or "the war for independence," and states that eventually, following the French Revolution, the conflicts became more pronounced. The conflicts that increasingly exposed the struggle between royalists and patriots. According to Daniel Hannan, the American revolutionaries in the 18th century primarily had an English identity and believed it was their duty to resist the then king of England, George III, because he too had violated the ideas of the Magna Carta. This motivation of the freedom-loving Americans turned into the slogan "no taxation without representation." From then on, American revolutionaries were no longer willing to pay taxes and tributes to the English feudal rulers. Daniel Hannan writes that his intention in referencing these historical events is to clarify that freedoms such as freedom of speech, freedom of religion and belief, and the formation of free associations, etc., are not the natural state of advanced societies. He emphasizes that when "we talk about universal rights, we are actually just speaking respectfully." He recalls World War II and the Cold War and writes that if English speakers had not won World War II and the Cold War, we would not be able to talk about universal values today. Hannan continues that if today we talk about universal rights, it is due to "a series of military victories that English-speaking people have achieved." He writes that many copies of the Magna Carta remain in churches in England. One of them is kept in the National Archives in Washington, and another in the Australian Parliament. Only four original copies of the Magna Carta still exist. Daniel Hannan writes that one copy was displayed in New York in 1939, just as World War II was beginning. 13 million people saw the original Magna Carta at that exhibition. Hannan recalls the situation the world was in in 1939 and notes that English speakers were fighting for freedom at a time when a form of tyranny was prevailing everywhere in the world. Hannan recalls that one of the politicians of the 17th century, Pitt the Elder, called the Magna Carta the Torah of English speakers. The Magna Carta did not discover democracy; rather, the ancient Greeks used election practices. He emphasizes that the Sumerians and Egyptians also obeyed laws that were older than the laws of Moses before English speakers. However, what the Magna Carta established was constitutional and lawful governance, which an American association called "freedom under the law." The law is no longer the will and display of the greatest and strongest man of a tribe; after the establishment of the Magna Carta, the law governs over every monarchy in England. Hannan emphasizes that the rule of law is established by the people. Of course, the rule of law must have an enforcement system that considers itself a partner in the freedom of the people. A lawful government is one that is arranged for the common people and allows them to grow. Hannan also believes that a system is, in fact, an unusual regime where the laws of the country are not tools for the exercise of government power. He urgently criticizes countries that establish their laws based on abstract principles and not in pursuit of societal growth and community desires. For example, according to the laws of the Magna Carta, no one is allowed to imprison a person without cause. The rights established in the Magna Carta are considered rights in opposition to the coercion of the state, which today holds more global value. In fact, the Magna Carta embodies the necessities and social demands. Hannan believes that countries where English is spoken have an anti-tyranny tradition. He emphasizes that in the 20th century, most countries in the world were under some form of dictatorship, whether fascist or communist, and only English-speaking countries maintained liberal capitalism. In his view, constitutional laws and governance to this day have made a difference between Bermuda and Haiti, between Hong Kong and China, between Israel and Syria. Hannan concludes his article with these sentences: "Defending freedom is your and my job. It is up to us to keep the freedoms we have inherited from our parents and pass them on to our children."