The Magna Carta and the Constitution - Essay Example

The Magna Carta and the Constitution There are many provisions and concepts in the US Constitution that was derived from the Magna Carta. To understand these concepts better, it would be necessary to cite that the main principle of Magna Carta was to limit the power of a King as what the document mandated King John when he signed the “Great Charter” on the field of Runnymede on June 15, 1215 which limited his power and made him subjected to certain laws (National Archives and Records Administration).

This limitation on the power of the ruler is present in the Constitution of the US and many countries in the form of Bill of Rights. Magna Carta also protected certain rights of the King’s subjects which includes due process. The Magna Carta also provided the framework of the idea of a “law” that cannot be altered by a ruler or any of his any acts which is now embedded in the Constitution of the United States and many countries.The Bill of RightsPerhaps this is the most important concept of the Magna Carta that was adopted by the Constitution.

In the original document (Magna Carta), it was worded as “we will not deny or defer to any man either justice or right (Magna Carta). In the Constitution, this “justice or right” is elaborated as the inalienable right of speech (first Amendment), right to worship, assembly, petition for redress, to be free from illegal search and seizure etch (Hazeltine). Restriction of a ruler to alter basic lawsAnother very important feature of the Magna Carta that was adopted or embedded in the Constitution is the guarantee of these inalienable rights by prohibiting the ruler, or the President or any of his legislative acts to alter or make any law/s that will undermine these inalienable rights.

These rights are protected by the Supreme Court whereby any acts or laws made or enacted that will undermine these inalienable rights can be invalidated.The right to due processThe inalienable rights of the subjects or citizens are guaranteed further by the concept of the right to due process contained in the Magna Carta which is embedded in the present Constitution. The right to due process meant that no rights, can be deprived from the subjects or citizens without the process of being heard by a competent court (Gedicks).

Specifically, this right is enunciated in the Magna Carta as “No free man shall be seized or imprisoned, or stripped of his rights or possessions, or outlawed or exiled, or deprived of his standing in any other way, nor will we proceed with force against him, or send others to do so, except by the lawful judgment of his equals or by the law of the land” (The Magna Carta).In effect, Magna Carta did not only enumerate our inalienable rights (right to speech, press, worship, redress, bear arms, etch).

Magna Carta also installed the mechanism to guarantee and protect these rights from being undermined through the act of the President or Congress by preventing them to pass any laws that will circumvent the enjoyment of these rights. These rights were protected further that these rights just cannot be taken away from us (such as the right to liberty when one faces imprisonment because of a criminal charge) without the due process.Work CitedGedicks, Frederick. “An Originalist Defense of Substantive DueProcess: Magna Carta, Higher-Law Constitutionalism, and the Fifth Amendment”.

Emory Law Journal, Vol. 58, pp. 585-673, 2009. Web. http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1072284. January 09, 2011.Hazeltine, H. D.  “The influence of Magna Carta on American Constitutional Development”. Web. The Forum at the online library of Liberty. 2012. http://oll.libertyfund.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=604&Itemid=284. January 09, 2011National Archives and Records Administration. “The Magna Carta”. Web. http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/featured_documents/magna_carta/.

January 09, 2011.The Text of Magna Carta. Fields of Runnymede. June 15, 1215