Harvard scored a deal

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Harvard’s unofficial copy of Magna Carta is actually an original, experts say. Document issued by Edward I in 1300 was bought by law school library for just $27 in 1946 and that is now ‘one of the world’s most valuable documents.’

A Magna Carta wrongly listed as an unofficial copy for nearly 80 years has been confirmed as an original from 1300. The discovery means the document is just one of seven issued in 1300 by Edward I that still survive.

The Magna Carta issued by Edward I in 1300 and now in the library of Harvard law school. It is one of seven surviving originals from that year. Photograph: Lorin Granger/Harvard Law School

Dks01

Too bad the Magna Carta principles are being forgotten.

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What is the Magna Carta?

Magna Carta (Medieval Latin for “Great Charter”), sometimes spelled Magna Charta, is a royal charter of rights agreed to by King John of England at Runnymede, near Windsor, on 15 June 1215. First drafted by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Cardinal Stephen Langton, to make peace between the unpopular king and a group of rebel barons who demanded that the King confirm the Charter of Liberties, it promised the protection of church rights, protection for the barons from illegal imprisonment, access to swift and impartial justice, and limitations on feudal payments to the Crown, to be implemented through a council of 25 barons. Neither side stood by their commitments, and the charter was annulled by Pope Innocent III, leading to the First Barons’ War. [continues]

When I was a law student in 1980 I worked as a law clerk (for $6.00/hour!) at a law firm doing legal research and writing up court documents (to be signed by the attorneys of course) my boss told me that when researching a case it was not necessary to research the matter back to the Magna Carta.