Sưu tầm và giới thiệu: Nguyễn Minh Tuấn
Magna Charta (Tiếng Latinh: Magna Carta) là bản đại hiến chương của Anh quốc, được ban hành năm 1215. Nội dung của bản hiến chương này là hạn chế quyền lực của nhà
vua, đồng thời thừa nhận một số quyền tự do của con người.
Xung quanh vấn đề ý nghĩa và giá trị của Magna Charta hiện nay cũng có nhiều quan điểm trái ngược nhau. Có tác giả cho rằng đây là văn bản pháp lý vĩ đại, là bản hiến pháp thành văn đầu tiên của nhân
loại (Ví dụ: quan điểm của nhóm tác giả Danny Danziger & John Gillingham, trong cuốn sách "Năm 1215 năm của Magna Carta - 1215: The Year of Magna
Carta", xuất bản năm 2004, từ trang 278f. hoặc quan điểm của các tác giả Maurice Percy Ashley u. a., Neville Williams,
Christopher Hibber viết phần từ Magna Charta đến Cách mạng Pháp (Von der
Magna Charta zur Französischen Revolution) in trong Tập 2 của Bộ sách
gồm 3 tập: Những mốc phát triển chính của lịch sử (Meilensteine der
Geschichte) xuất bản năm 1971). Nhưng cũng có ý kiến cho rằng thực ra Magna Charta chỉ là bản sao từ bản Hiến chương tự do của vua Henry I trước đó năm 1100 và
thực tế Magna Charta ở thời trung cổ cũng không có ý nghĩa đáng kể, ngoại trừ vai trò là biểu
tượng cho những khát vọng "quyền lực của nhà vua phải bị giới hạn
bởi Luật" trong thời kỳ nội chiến ở Anh. (Chẳng hạn như quan điểm của Clanchy, M.T, trong cuốn sách: Clanchy, M.T, Early Medieval England Folio
Society, 1997, p139). Có nhiều tác giả còn bổ sung thêm rằng Magna Charta dù quan trọng nhưng không thể được coi là Hiến pháp thành văn đầu tiên của nhân loại được, đó chỉ đơn thuần là một trong hàng loạt các đạo luật khởi đầu ở Anh đề cập đến việc bảo vệ quyền con người như Habeas Corpus (Luật cấm bắt giam người trái pháp luật, được Nghị viên Anh thông qua năm 1679 dưới thời vua Charles II), Petition of Right (Luật khiếu nại về quyền, được Nghị viện Anh thông qua năm 1628 qui định một người chỉ có thể bị tống giam khi có phán quyết của Tòa án hoặc lệnh bắt giữ của cơ quan hành chính [writ]), English Bill of Rights (Luật
về quyền của Anh quốc được Nghị viên Anh thông qua năm 1689 qui định về quyền bầu cử Nghị viện và quyền tự do ngôn luận trong hoạt động của Nghị viên) và Act of Settlement (Luật
về thiết lập trật tự, được Nghị viện thông qua năm 1701 bãi bỏ chế độ cha truyền con nối của nhà vua [Removal
from the succession] ở Anh) (Xem thêm bài phát biểu của Lord Woolf, Thẩm phán Tòa án Tối cao của Anh và xứ Wales: Judiciary of England and Wales, Speeches, tại địa chỉ website:http://www.judiciary.gov.uk/media/speeches/2005/magna-carta-precedent-recent-constitutional-change đăng ngày 15/7/2005, truy cập gần nhất ngày 6/3/2011).
Dưới đây là bản dịch Tiếng Anh Magna Charta 1215 (những thuật ngữ cổ được chú giải) của dự án nghiên cứu lịch sử pháp luật thế giới Avalon thuộc Đại học Yale tại địa chỉ: http://avalon.law.yale.edu/medieval/magframe.asp, đăng năm 1996, truy cập gần nhất ngày 6/3/2011.
Preamble:
John, by the grace of God, king of England, lord of
Ireland, duke of Normandy and Aquitaine, and count of Anjou, to the
archbishop, bishops, abbots, earls, barons, justiciaries, foresters,
sheriffs, stewards, servants, and to all his bailiffs and liege
subjects, greetings. Know that, having regard to God and for the
salvation of our soul, and those of all our ancestors and heirs, and
unto the honor of God and the advancement of his holy Church and for the
rectifying of our realm, we have granted as underwritten by advice of
our venerable fathers, Stephen, archbishop of
Canterbury, primate of all England and cardinal of the holy Roman
Church, Henry, archbishop of Dublin, William of London,
Peter of Winchester, Jocelyn of Bath
and Glastonbury, Hugh of Lincoln, Walter
of Worcester, William of Coventry, Benedict
of Rochester, bishops; of Master Pandulf, subdeacon
and member of the household of our lord the Pope, of brother Aymeric
(master of the Knights of the Temple in England), and of the
illustrious men William Marshal, earl of Pembroke, William,
earl of Salisbury, William, earl of Warenne, William,
earl of Arundel, Alan of Galloway (constable of
Scotland), Waren Fitz Gerold, Peter Fitz
Herbert, Hubert De Burgh (seneschal of
Poitou), Hugh de Neville, Matthew Fitz Herbert,
Thomas Basset, Alan Basset, Philip
d'Aubigny, Robert of Roppesley, John
Marshal, John Fitz Hugh, and others, our
liegemen.
1. In the first place we have granted to God,
and by this our present charter confirmed for us and our heirs forever
that the English Church shall be free, and shall have her rights entire,
and her liberties inviolate; and we will that it be thus observed;
which is apparent from this that the freedom of elections, which is
reckoned most important and very essential to the English Church, we, of
our pure and unconstrained will, did grant, and did by our charter
confirm and did obtain the ratification of the same from our lord, Pope
Innocent III, before the quarrel arose between us and our barons: and
this we will observe, and our will is that it be observed in good faith
by our heirs forever. We have also granted to all freemen of our
kingdom, for us and our heirs forever, all the underwritten liberties,
to be had and held by them and their heirs, of us and our heirs forever.
2. If any of our earls or barons, or others
holding of us in chief by military service shall have died, and at the
time of his death his heir shall be full of age and owe "relief", he
shall have his inheritance by the old relief, to wit, the heir or heirs
of an earl, for the whole baroncy of an earl by L100; the heir or heirs
of a baron, L100 for a whole barony; the heir or heirs of a knight,
100s, at most, and whoever owes less let him give less, according to the
ancient custom of fees.
3. If, however, the heir of any one of the
aforesaid has been under age and in wardship, let him have his
inheritance without relief and without fine when he comes of age.
4. The guardian of the land of an heir who
is thus under age, shall take from the land of the heir nothing but
reasonable produce, reasonable customs, and reasonable services, and
that without destruction or waste of men or goods; and if we have
committed the wardship of the lands of any such minor to the sheriff, or
to any other who is responsible to us for its issues, and he has made
destruction or waster of what he holds in wardship, we will take of him
amends, and the land shall be committed to two lawful and discreet men
of that fee, who shall be responsible for the issues to us or to him to
whom we shall assign them; and if we have given or sold the wardship of
any such land to anyone and he has therein made destruction or waste, he
shall lose that wardship, and it shall be transferred to two lawful and
discreet men of that fief, who shall be responsible to us in like
manner as aforesaid.
5. The guardian, moreover, so long as he has
the wardship of the land, shall keep up the houses, parks, fishponds,
stanks, mills, and other things pertaining to the land, out of the
issues of the same land; and he shall restore to the heir, when he has
come to full age, all his land, stocked with ploughs and wainage,
according as the season of husbandry shall require, and the issues of
the land can reasonable bear.
6. Heirs shall be married without
disparagement, yet so that before the marriage takes place the nearest
in blood to that heir shall have notice.
7. A widow, after the death of her husband,
shall forthwith and without difficulty have her marriage portion and
inheritance; nor shall she give anything for her dower, or for her
marriage portion, or for the inheritance which her husband and she held
on the day of the death of that husband; and she may remain in the house
of her husband for forty days after his death, within which time her
dower shall be assigned to her.
8. No widow shall be compelled to marry, so
long as she prefers to live without a husband; provided always that she
gives security not to marry without our consent, if she holds of us, or
without the consent of the lord of whom she holds, if she holds of
another.
9. Neither we nor our bailiffs will seize any
land or rent for any debt, as long as the chattels of the debtor are sufficient to repay the
debt; nor shall the sureties of the debtor be distrained so long as the principal debtor is able to
satisfy the debt; and if the principal debtor shall fail to pay the
debt, having nothing wherewith to pay it, then the sureties shall answer
for the debt; and let them have the lands and rents of the debtor, if
they desire them, until they are indemnified for the debt which they
have paid for him, unless the principal debtor can show proof that he is
discharged thereof as against the said sureties.
10. If one who has borrowed from the Jews
any sum, great or small, die before that loan be repaid, the debt shall
not bear interest while the heir is under age, of whomsoever he may
hold; and if the debt fall into our hands, we will not take anything
except the principal sum contained in the bond.
11. And if anyone die indebted to the Jews,
his wife shall have her dower and pay nothing of that debt; and if any
children of the deceased are left under age, necessaries shall be
provided for them in keeping with the holding of the deceased; and out
of the residue the debt shall be paid, reserving, however, service due
to feudal lords; in like manner let it be done touching debts due to
others than Jews.
12. No scutage not aid shall be imposed on our kingdom, unless
by common counsel of our kingdom, except for ransoming our person, for
making our eldest son a knight, and for once marrying our eldest
daughter; and for these there shall not be levied more than a reasonable
aid. In like manner it shall be done concerning aids from the city of
London.
13. And the city of London shall have all
it ancient liberties and free customs, as well by land as by water;
furthermore, we decree and grant that all other cities, boroughs, towns,
and ports shall have all their liberties and free customs.
14. And for obtaining the common counsel of
the kingdom anent the assessing of an aid (except in the three cases
aforesaid) or of a scutage, we will cause to be summoned the
archbishops, bishops, abbots, earls, and greater barons, severally by
our letters; and we will moveover cause to be summoned generally,
through our sheriffs and bailiffs, and others who hold of us in chief,
for a fixed date, namely, after the expiry of at least forty days, and
at a fixed place; and in all letters of such summons we will specify the
reason of the summons. And when the summons has thus been made, the
business shall proceed on the day appointed, according to the counsel of
such as are present, although not all who were summoned have come.
15. We will not for the future grant to
anyone license to take an aid from his own free tenants, except to
ransom his person, to make his eldest son a knight, and once to marry
his eldest daughter; and on each of these occasions there shall be
levied only a reasonable aid.
16. No one shall be distrained for
performance of greater service for a knight's fee, or for any other free
tenement, than is due therefrom.
17. Common pleas shall not follow our
court, but shall be held in some fixed place.
18. Inquests of novel disseisin, of mort d'ancestor, and of darrein presentment shall not be held elsewhere than in
their own county courts, and that in manner following; We, or, if we
should be out of the realm, our chief justiciar, will send two
justiciaries through every county four times a year, who shall alone
with four knights of the county chosen by the county, hold the said assizes in the county court, on the day and in the
place of meeting of that court.
19. And if any of the said assizes cannot be
taken on the day of the county court, let there remain of the knights
and freeholders, who were present at the county court on that day, as
many as may be required for the efficient making of judgments, according
as the business be more or less.
20. A freeman shall not be amerced for a slight offense, except in accordance with
the degree of the offense; and for a grave offense he shall be amerced
in accordance with the gravity of the offense, yet saving always his
"contentment"; and a merchant in the same way, saving his "merchandise";
and a villein shall be amerced in the same way, saving his "wainage" if
they have fallen into our mercy: and none of the aforesaid amercements
shall be imposed except by the oath of honest men of the neighborhood.
21. Earls and barons shall not be amerced
except through their peers, and only in accordance with the degree of
the offense.
22. A clerk shall not be amerced in respect
of his lay holding except after the manner of the others aforesaid;
further, he shall not be amerced in accordance with the extent of his
ecclesiastical benefice.
23. No village or individual shall be
compelled to make bridges at river banks, except those who from of old
were legally bound to do so.
24. No sheriff, constable, coroners, or
others of our bailiffs, shall hold pleas of our Crown.
25. All counties, hundred, wapentakes, and
trithings (except our demesne manors) shall remain at the old rents, and
without any additional payment.
26. If anyone holding of us a lay fief shall
die, and our sheriff or bailiff shall exhibit our letters patent of
summons for a debt which the deceased owed us, it shall be lawful for
our sheriff or bailiff to attach and enroll the chattels of the
deceased, found upon the lay fief, to the value of that debt, at the
sight of law worthy men, provided always that nothing whatever be thence
removed until the debt which is evident shall be fully paid to us; and
the residue shall be left to the executors to fulfill the will of the
deceased; and if there be nothing due from him to us, all the chattels
shall go to the deceased, saving to his wife and children their
reasonable shares.
27. If any freeman shall die intestate, his chattels shall be distributed by the
hands of his nearest kinsfolk and friends, under supervision of the
Church, saving to every one the debts which the deceased owed to him.
28. No constable or other bailiff of ours
shall take corn or other provisions from anyone without immediately
tendering money therefor, unless he can have postponement thereof by
permission of the seller.
29. No constable shall compel any knight to
give money in lieu of castle-guard, when he is willing to perform it in
his own person, or (if he himself cannot do it from any reasonable
cause) then by another responsible man. Further, if we have led or sent
him upon military service, he shall be relieved from guard in proportion
to the time during which he has been on service because of us.
30. No sheriff or bailiff of ours, or other
person, shall take the horses or carts of any freeman for transport
duty, against the will of the said freeman.
31. Neither we nor our bailiffs shall take,
for our castles or for any other work of ours, wood which is not ours,
against the will of the owner of that wood.
32. We will not retain beyond one year and
one day, the lands those who have been convicted of felony, and the
lands shall thereafter be handed over to the lords of the fiefs.
33. All kydells for the future shall be
removed altogether from Thames and Medway, and throughout all England,
except upon the seashore.
34. The writ which is called praecipe shall not for the future be issued to anyone,
regarding any tenement whereby a freeman may lose his court.
35. Let there be one measure of wine
throughout our whole realm; and one measure of ale; and one measure of
corn, to wit, "the London quarter"; and one width of cloth (whether
dyed, or russet, or "halberget"), to wit, two ells within the selvedges;
of weights also let it be as of measures.
36. Nothing in future shall be given or
taken for awrit of inquisition of life or limbs, but freely it shall be
granted, and never denied.
37. If anyone holds of us by fee-farm,
either by socage or by burage, or of any other land by knight's service, we
will not (by reason of that fee-farm, socage, or burgage), have the
wardship of the heir, or of such land of his as if of the fief of that
other; nor shall we have wardship of that fee-farm, socage, or burgage,
unless such fee-farm owes knight's service. We will not by reason of any
small serjeancy which anyone may hold of us by the service of rendering
to us knives, arrows, or the like, have wardship of his heir or of the
land which he holds of another lord by knight's service.
38. No bailiff for the future shall, upon
his own unsupported complaint, put anyone to his "law", without credible
witnesses brought for this purposes.
39. No freemen shall be taken or imprisoned
or disseised or exiled or in any way destroyed, nor will
we go upon him nor send upon him, except by the lawful judgment of his
peers or by the law of the land.
40. To no one will we sell, to no one will
we refuse or delay, right or justice.
41. All merchants shall have safe and
secure exit from England, and entry to England, with the right to tarry
there and to move about as well by land as by water, for buying and
selling by the ancient and right customs, quit from all evil tolls,
except (in time of war) such merchants as are of the land at war with
us. And if such are found in our land at the beginning of the war, they
shall be detained, without injury to their bodies or goods, until
information be received by us, or by our chief justiciar, how the
merchants of our land found in the land at war with us are treated; and
if our men are safe there, the others shall be safe in our land.
42. It shall be lawful in future for anyone
(excepting always those imprisoned or outlawed in accordance with the
law of the kingdom, and natives of any country at war with us, and
merchants, who shall be treated as if above provided) to leave our
kingdom and to return, safe and secure by land and water, except for a
short period in time of war, on grounds of public policy- reserving
always the allegiance due to us.
43. If anyone holding of some escheat (such as the honor of Wallingford, Nottingham,
Boulogne, Lancaster, or of other escheats which are in our hands and are
baronies) shall die, his heir shall give no other relief, and perform
no other service to us than he would have done to the baron if that
barony had been in the baron's hand; and we shall hold it in the same
manner in which the baron held it.
44. Men who dwell without the forest need
not henceforth come before our justiciaries of the forest upon a general
summons, unless they are in plea, or sureties of one or more, who are
attached for the forest.
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.
46. All barons who have founded abbeys,
concerning which they hold charters from the kings of England, or of
which they have long continued possession, shall have the wardship of
them, when vacant, as they ought to have.
47. All forests that have been made such in
our time shall forthwith be disafforsted; and a similar course shall be
followed with regard to river banks that have been placed "in defense"
by us in our time.
48. All evil customs connected with forests
and warrens, foresters and warreners, sheriffs and their officers, river
banks and their wardens, shall immediately by inquired into in each
county by twelve sworn knights of the same county chosen by the honest
men of the same county, and shall, within forty days of the said
inquest, be utterly abolished, so as never to be restored, provided
always that we previously have intimation thereof, or our justiciar, if
we should not be in England.
49. We will immediately restore all
hostages and charters delivered to us by Englishmen, as sureties of the
peace of faithful service.
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.
51. As soon as peace is restored, we will
banish from the kingdom all foreign born knights, crossbowmen,
serjeants, and mercenary soldiers who have come with horses and arms to
the kingdom's hurt.
52. If anyone has been dispossessed or
removed by us, without the legal judgment of his peers, from his lands,
castles, franchises, or from his right, we will immediately restore them
to him; and if a dispute arise over this, then let it be decided by the
five and twenty barons of whom mention is made below in the clause for
securing the peace. Moreover, for all those possessions, from which
anyone has, without the lawful judgment of his peers, been disseised or
removed, by our father, King Henry, or by our brother,
King Richard, and which we retain in our hand (or which
as possessed by others, to whom we are bound to warrant them) we shall
have respite until the usual term of crusaders; excepting those things
about which a plea has been raised, or an inquest made by our order,
before our taking of the cross; but as soon as we return from the
expedition, we will immediately grant full justice therein.
53. We shall have, moreover, the same
respite and in the same manner in rendering justice concerning the
disafforestation or retention of those forests which Henry our father
and Richard our brother afforested, and concerning the wardship of lands
which are of the fief of another (namely, such wardships as we have
hitherto had by reason of a fief which anyone held of us by knight's
service), and concerning abbeys founded on other fiefs than our own, in
which the lord of the fee claims to have right; and when we have
returned, or if we desist from our expedition, we will immediately grant
full justice to all who complain of such things.
54. No one shall be arrested or imprisoned
upon the appeal of a woman, for the death of any other than her husband.
55. All fines made with us unjustly and
against the law of the land, and all amercements, imposed unjustly and
against the law of the land, shall be entirely remitted, or else it
shall be done concerning them according to the decision of the five and
twenty barons whom mention is made below in the clause for securing the
pease, or according to the judgment of the majority of the same, along
with the aforesaid Stephen, archbishop of Canterbury, if he can be
present, and such others as he may wish to bring with him for this
purpose, and if he cannot be present the business shall nevertheless
proceed without him, provided always that if any one or more of the
aforesaid five and twenty barons are in a similar suit, they shall be
removed as far as concerns this particular judgment, others being
substituted in their places after having been selected by the rest of
the same five and twenty for this purpose only, and after having been
sworn.
56. If we have disseised or removed Welshmen
from lands or liberties, or other things, without the legal judgment of
their peers in England or in Wales, they shall be immediately restored
to them; and if a dispute arise over this, then let it be decided in the
marches by the judgment of their peers; for the tenements in England
according to the law of England, for tenements in Wales according to the
law of Wales, and for tenements in the marches according to the law of
the marches. Welshmen shall do the same to us and ours.
57. Further, for all those possessions from
which any Welshman has, without the lawful judgment of his peers, been
disseised or removed by King Henry our father, or King Richard our
brother, and which we retain in our hand (or which are possessed by
others, and which we ought to warrant), we will have respite until the
usual term of crusaders; excepting those things about which a plea has
been raised or an inquest made by our order before we took the cross;
but as soon as we return (or if perchance we desist from our
expedition), we will immediately grant full justice in accordance with
the laws of the Welsh and in relation to the foresaid regions.
58. We will immediately give up the son of
Llywelyn and all the hostages of Wales, and the charters delivered to us
as security for the peace.
59. We will do towards Alexander,
king of Scots, concerning the return of his sisters and his hostages,
and concerning his franchises, and his right, in the same manner as we
shall do towards our owher barons of England, unless it ought to be
otherwise according to the charters which we hold from William
his father, formerly king of Scots; and this shall be according to the
judgment of his peers in our court.
60. Moreover, all these aforesaid customs
and liberties, the observances of which we have granted in our kingdom
as far as pertains to us towards our men, shall be observed by all of
our kingdom, as well clergy as laymen, as far as pertains to them
towards their men.
61. Since, moveover, for God and the
amendment of our kingdom and for the better allaying of the quarrel that
has arisen between us and our barons, we have granted all these
concessions, desirous that they should enjoy them in complete and firm
endurance forever, we give and grant to them the underwritten security,
namely, that the barons choose five and twenty barons of the kingdom,
whomsoever they will, who shall be bound with all their might, to
observe and hold, and cause to be observed, the peace and liberties we
have granted and confirmed to them by this our present Charter, so that
if we, or our justiciar, or our bailiffs or any one of our officers,
shall in anything be at fault towards anyone, or shall have broken any
one of the articles of this peace or of this security, and the offense
be notified to four barons of the foresaid five and twenty, the said
four barons shall repair to us (or our justiciar, if we are out of the
realm) and, laying the transgression before us, petition to have that
transgression redressed without delay. And if we shall not have
corrected the transgression (or, in the event of our being out of the
realm, if our justiciar shall not have corrected it) within forty days,
reckoning from the time it has been intimated to us (or to our
justiciar, if we should be out of the realm), the four barons aforesaid
shall refer that matter to the rest of the five and twenty barons, and
those five and twenty barons shall, together with the community of the
whole realm, distrain and distress us in all possible ways, namely, by
seizing our castles, lands, possessions, and in any other way they can,
until redress has been obtained as they deem fit, saving harmless our
own person, and the persons of our queen and children; and when redress
has been obtained, they shall resume their old relations towards us. And
let whoever in the country desires it, swear to obey the orders of the
said five and twenty barons for the execution of all the aforesaid
matters, and along with them, to molest us to the utmost of his power;
and we publicly and freely grant leave to everyone who wishes to swear,
and we shall never forbid anyone to swear. All those, moveover, in the
land who of themselves and of their own accord are unwilling to swear to
the twenty five to help them in constraining and molesting us, we shall
by our command compel the same to swear to the effect foresaid. And if
any one of the five and twenty barons shall have died or departed from
the land, or be incapacitated in any other manner which would prevent
the foresaid provisions being carried out, those of the said twenty five
barons who are left shall choose another in his place according to
their own judgment, and he shall be sworn in the same way as the others.
Further, in all matters, the execution of which is entrusted,to these
twenty five barons, if perchance these twenty five are present and
disagree about anything, or if some of them, after being summoned, are
unwilling or unable to be present, that which the majority of those
present ordain or command shall be held as fixed and established,
exactly as if the whole twenty five had concurred in this; and the said
twenty five shall swear that they will faithfully observe all that is
aforesaid, and cause it to be observed with all their might. And we
shall procure nothing from anyone, directly or indirectly, whereby any
part of these concessions and liberties might be revoked or diminished;
and if any such things has been procured, let it be void and null, and
we shall never use it personally or by another.
62. And all the will, hatreds, and
bitterness that have arisen between us and our men, clergy and lay, from
the date of the quarrel, we have completely remitted and pardoned to
everyone. Moreover, all trespasses occasioned by the said quarrel, from
Easter in the sixteenth year of our reign till the restoration of peace,
we have fully remitted to all, both clergy and laymen, and completely
forgiven, as far as pertains to us. And on this head, we have caused to
be made for them letters testimonial patent of the lord Stephen,
archbishop of Canterbury, of the lord Henry,
archbishop of Dublin, of the bishops aforesaid, and of Master Pandulf
as touching this security and the concessions aforesaid.
63. Wherefore we will and firmly order that
the English Church be free, and that the men in our kingdom have and
hold all the aforesaid liberties, rights, and concessions, well and
peaceably, freely and quietly, fully and wholly, for themselves and
their heirs, of us and our heirs, in all respects and in all places
forever, as is aforesaid. An oath, moreover, has been taken, as well on
our part as on the part of the barons, that all these conditions
aforesaid shall be kept in good faith and without evil intent. Given
under our hand - the above named and many others being witnesses - in
the meadow which is called Runnymede, between Windsor and Staines, on
the fifteenth day of June, in the seventeenth year of our reign.