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94 N.C. L. Rev. 1475 (2015-2016)
The Myth of Magna Carta Revisited

handle is hein.journals/nclr94 and id is 1507 raw text is: THE MYTH OF MAGNA CARTA REVISITED* R. H. HELMHOLZ** INTRODU CTION ..................................................................................... 1475 I. THE GREAT CHARTER AS MYTH ............................................ 1476 II. MEDIEVAL AND EARLY MODERN INTERPRETATION OF STATUTE LA W ............................................................................ 1480 A . Continental Examples ......................................................... 1481 B. English Exam ples ................................................................ 1486 III. STATUTORY INTERPRETATION AND LATER COMMENTARY ON MAGNA CARTA ........................................ 1490 C ON CLU SIO N ......................................................................................... 1492 INTRODUCTION Few historical documents have both received more attention and spawned a greater division of opinion than Magna Carta. On one side stands its popular reputation; on the other its reputation among most scholars. The former is the enthusiastic opinion commonly expressed by speakers at meetings and dinners held to celebrate King John's acceptance of the Great Charter at Runnymede in 1215. They praise Magna Carta's role in establishing the rule of law. The Charter is said to have provided the foundation for later assertions of the supremacy of that salutary principle in the common law of England. It also influenced the constitutional system of the early American republic, and, even today, its relevance to securing the protection of human rights has not altogether disappeared. The latter, a negative opinion that a majority of professional historians seem to share, regards Magna Carta's exalted reputation as a myth. In its origins, historians say, the Charter did little or nothing to promote good government. Nor, they add, did it serve to protect the legal rights of the great majority of English men and women. It served only the baronial class. Its glorification was a later invention, attributable to myth-making * © 2016 R. H. Helmholz. ** Ruth Wyatt Rosenson Distinguished Service Professor of Law, University of Chicago Law School.

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