On the Magna Carta’s 800th anniversary Robert Hazell and James Melton of the Constitution Unit have edited a volume on the Magna Carta and it’s modern legacy.
The contributors are Vernon Bogdanor, Anthony King, Roger
Mortimore, Renée Lettow Lerner, Derek O’Brien, David Clark, Craig S.
Lerner, Victor Menaldo, Nora Webb Williams, Geraldine Van Bueren,
Nathalie Riendeau
About the book:
Magna Carta is celebrated around the world as a symbol of limited
government and constitutionalism. But in 1215 Magna Carta was a failure,
abrogated within months. Why then do we celebrate this piece of
parchment? To mark the 800th anniversary this book brings together top
scholars from the UK, US and Australia to answer this question and
analyse Magna Carta’s historic and contemporary influence. Using a
political science framework, Magna Carta and its Modern Legacy draws
from scholarship on influence and constitutional design to explain how
parchment can contain executive power. Individual chapters on Britain
discuss such topics as socioeconomic rights in Magna Carta; Magna Carta
and the British constitution; and public understanding of the charter.
Internationally focused chapters look at Magna Carta and jury trial in
America, slavery in the Caribbean, court delays in the Pacific, the
proportionality principle, and judicial supremacy.
- Includes a roster of leading scholars in political science disciplines
- Global scope examines the influence of the Magna Carta not only in the United Kingdom but also in the United States, the Caribbean, and the Pacific
- Challenges the conventional wisdom that the Magna Carta’s impact has been wholly beneficial
Related Links
- Link to Cambridge Univeristy Press website
- A blog by James Meltion celebrating the birth (and death) of Magna Carta
Get in touch
The Constitution Unit
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Tel: +44 (0)20 7679 4977
Fax: +44 (0)20 7679 4969
Email: Constitution@ucl.ac.uk
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