[agere_contra]

50. We will entirely remove from their bailiwicks, the relations of Gerard of Athee (so that in future they shall have no bailiwick in England); namely, Engelard of Cigogne, Peter, Guy, and Andrew of Chanceaux, Guy of Cigogne, Geoffrey of Martigny with his brothers, Philip Mark with his brothers and his nephew Geoffrey, and the whole brood of the same.

Someone slipped a bill-of-attainder in at #50!

[agere_contra]

45. We will appoint as justices, constables, sheriffs, or bailiffs only such as know the law of the realm and mean to observe it well.

Hmm, nothing about wise latina women.

[ZULU]

They must have done something really bad. Perhaps they sucked up to John and screwed the barons.

There is much that is quaint and at times incomprehensible to us in this document. It reflects a lost age. On the other hand, the parts about Trial by Jury and not punishing someone without following the law of the land, and no taxation without the approval of Parliament are legal ideas we still hold dear to day.

But the most important part of the document, from my perspective, is the fact that the SUBJECTS of a monarch, for the FIRST TIME in relatively recent history, took an abusive tyrant to task and forced him to recognize their rights.