[235]. Chapter 38 of Magna Carta, according to a plausible interpretation of an admittedly obscure passage, seems to insist on the necessity of such an accusation by the jury:—“non ... sine testibus fidelibus ad hoc inductis.”
[236]. For fuller details see infra under chapter 36, and supra p. 108.
[237]. These three Petty Assizes are mentioned by name in c. 18 of the Great Charter, and under that heading the entire subject is more fully discussed. See infra.
PART IV.
HISTORICAL SEQUEL TO MAGNA CARTA.
I. Re-issues and Confirmations of the Great Charter.
While King John had accepted the reforms contained in Magna Carta unwillingly and insincerely, the advisers of his son accepted them in good faith. Three re-issues of the Charter were granted in 1216, in 1217, and in 1225, and these were followed by many confirmations, a full account of which would involve a complete political and legal history of England. The scheme of this Historical Introduction is restricted to the narration of such facts as have a direct bearing on the genesis and contents of the Charter of John. Yet no account of Magna Carta would be complete without some notice of the more important alterations contained in these three re-issues.
On 28th October, 1216, Henry of Winchester, was crowned at Gloucester before a small assemblage.[[238]] The young King took the usual oath as directed by the Bishop of Bath, and he also performed homage to the Pope’s representative Gualo, for the King of England was now the vassal of Rome. At a Council held at Bristol, on 11th November, William Marshal, Earl of Pembroke, was appointed Rector regis et regni; and, next day, the Charter was re-issued in the King’s name. This was a step of extreme importance, marking the acceptance by those in power for the time being of the programme of the baronial opposition.
The Charter in its new form was really a manifesto issued by the moderate men who rallied round the throne of the young King; it may be viewed in two aspects, as a declaration by the Regent and his co-adjutors of the policy on which they accepted office, and as a bid for the support of the barons who still adhered to the faction of the French prince. Its issue was, indeed, dictated by the crucial situation created by the presence in England of Prince Louis of France supported by a foreign army and by a large faction of the English barons who had sworn homage to him as their king. It was, therefore, framed in terms likely to conciliate such of the opposition as were still open to conciliation. Yet the new Charter could not be a verbatim re-issue of the old one. Vital alterations were required by the altered circumstances.[[239]] It was no longer the expression of a reluctant consent by the government of the day to the demands of its enemies, but rather a set of rules deliberately accepted by that government for its own guidance. The chief tyrant against whom the original provisions had been directed was now dead, and certain forms of tyranny, it was confidently hoped, had died with him. Restraints now placed on the Crown’s prerogatives would only hamper the free action of the men who framed them, not of their political opponents. The new beneficent government must not suffer for the sins of the old evil one. The Regent, while willing to do much for the cause of conciliation, could not afford to paralyze his own efficiency at a time when foreign invaders were in possession of one-half of England, from which it would require a supreme effort to dislodge them. In especial, the Crown, in its urgent need for money wherewith to pay the wages of its mercenaries, must suffer no unnecessary restraints upon its powers of taxation. The existing civil war made it imperative that the government should retain a free hand in exacting feudal services and in levying scutages. Moderate-minded men would readily acquiesce in the wisdom of this policy; while it was useless to modify it in the hope of conciliating the extreme party who had thrown in their lot irretrievably with Prince Louis.
The Charter of 1216 is, therefore, notable for its omissions. The chief among these may be arranged under five groups.[[240]] (1) Restraints placed in 1215 on the taxing power of the Crown now disappeared. The chapters which forbade the king to increase the “farms” or fixed rents of the counties and hundreds, those which defined the king’s relations with the Jews, and those which restricted the lucrative rights derived from the rigorous enforcement of the forest laws, were discarded. An even more important omission was that of the clause which abolished the Crown’s rights to increase feudal contributions arbitrarily without consent of the Common Council.
(2) One clause specially valued by the national Church was also omitted. John’s grant of liberty of election by the canons of the chapters was quietly ignored; although the vague declaration that the Church “should be free” was allowed to remain.