Some Thoughts Raised by Magna Carta: The Popular Re-Election of Judges

Abstract

I take as my text and begin with Chapter 29 of the final version of Magna Carta of 1225, which reads as follows: "No free man shall be taken or imprisoned or disseised of any freehold or of liberties or free customs . . . except by the lawful judgment . . . of his peers or by the law of the land . . . to no one shall we sell, to no one deny or delay right or justice." This is said to be one of only three parts of the Great Charter still in force in Great Britain. But this is rightly so, for it is the heart and soul of the statute. This text ensures that a person’s property, body, and reputation will not be taken away before and without a trial in a court of law in which the judge observes the law and the due process thereof. This requires hearing the evidence and the arguments of all of the parties, after which, the judge applies the law to the facts of a case in order to reach a decision. This is the rule of law. This is the foundation of civilization.