Magna Cart Distinction Between Social Classes

Distinction between Social/Economical Classes The Magna Carta provided the first recognition of individual rights for the people of Britain. It recognized that the law applied equally to everyone, even the king. Through the Magna Carta’s statements of liberties, it sought to prevent the king from exploiting his power in arbitrary ways and it made clear that the king was subject to the law, not above it. This limited the king’s power, protecting the rights of the citizens. It was a revolutionary response by a ruling class of barons who were not much different from the authoritarian monarch they despised. The Magna Carta gave life to the concept that individuals had rights against the previously unlimited power of the state. It was the barons (king’s subjects) who presented a
Each baron, as lord of his manor was invested with the authority to hear disputes involving his tenants (men and women) who agreed to work the land in exchange for shelter and security. The king’s power was challenged by the lower classes establishing a “common law” that created a body of rights and procedures by which the tension separating arbitrary royal power from the principle of equality under the law erupted during the struggle between King and his baronial magnate. The king had his power limited, granting liberties and rights to the people. This agreement between barons and the king tried to settle issues between parties and attempted to set a standard for behaviour of the king’s government towards the rest of Britain- his free subjects. Through this, subordinate members of the political system (nobles, bishops, large corporations) were combining to