Tag: Magna Carta
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Feudal Aids
The feudal tenant was expected to come to the aid of his lord in any special crisis or emergency. At first, the occasions on which these “aids” might be demanded were varied and undefined. Gradually they were limited to three. Glanvill, indeed, mentions only two: the knighting of the […]
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Civil Justice under Henry II
Developments Henry’s innovations under this head were equally important than in the Criminal Justice. See Criminal Justice under Henry II here In his reign justice, it is sometimes said, was pigeon–holed. Much attention was bestowed on the formalities of litigation; while pleas began […]
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Royal Justice in the Feudal Period
Introduction A well–known aphorism describes the King as “the sole fountain of justice.” It would be an anachronism to transport this metaphor into the thirteenth century. In John’s reign there still were, not one, but many competing jurisdictions. It was by no means certain that the […]
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Events Leading to Magna Carta
The Great Charter is too often treated as the outcome of accidental causes; its sources are traced no deeper than the personal tyrannies and blunders of King John. That monarch’s misdeeds are held to have goaded into action a widespread opposition that never rested until it had achieved […]
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Magna Carta Commentaries and Treatises
Magna Carta: Commentaries and Treatises Introduction At the beginning of the twentieth century, Charles McIlwain observed that the new histories of the Magna Carta were portraying the charter as a “document of reaction” that could only fulfill its purported greatness “when men [were] no […]
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William Sharp McKechnie
McKechnie was a lecturer on constitutional law and history in the University of Glasgow, Scotland. He was of Scot nationality. He was the author of Magna Carta: A Commentary on the Great Charter of King John, with an Historical Introduction (Glasgow: Maclehose, 1914). It had 2 editions. […]