The Norman Conquest of England (1066) The Bayeux Tapestry is an embroidered cloth more than 200 feet in length. Commissioned in the 1070s, it depicts the events of the Norman Conquest of England beginning with a visit by Prince Harold of England to the ducal court of Normandy and ending with the Norman victory at the Battle of Hastings. The Tapestry is a rich and enigmatic work that has both enlightened and baffled researchers for centuries. The original is housed in a museum at Bayeux, Normandy. A copy is held in Reading, England. The Museum of Reading offers a scene-by-scene explanation of the Tapestry at the following link.: Scene-by-Scene Bayeux Tapestry http://www.bayeuxtapestry.org.uk/BayeuxContents.htm

Magna Carta (1215) Magna Carta, or the Great Charter of Liberties, is one of the foundational documents of constitutional government in the English-speaking world. Forced upon King John by his rebellious barons, the charter guaranteed the life, liberty, and property of the English nobility against the exercise of arbitrary power by the king. However, subsequent generations, both in England and abroad, have viewed it as a touchstone for the political liberty of people everywhere. The guarantees of Magna Carta were central to American constitutional claims during the Revolutionary Era and remain an essential part of legal discourse to this day.

Text of Magna Carta with Glossary http://avalon.law.yale.edu/medieval/magframe.asp

Background on Magna Carta http://www.bl.uk/treasures/magnacarta/basics/basics.html

Photographic Viewer of 1215 Copy of Magna Carta Held by British Library http://www.bl.uk/treasures/magnacarta/document/index.html

National Archives & Records Administration, “Magna Carta and Its American Legacy” http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/featured_documents/magna_carta/legacy.html

Henry de Bracton De legibus et consuetudinibus Angliae (On the Laws and Customs of England) was the most enduring legacy of Henry de Bracton, a thirteenth-century English judge. Compiled between the 1220s and 1250s, the work attempted for the first time to present an overview of English law. It is as memorable for its depth of treatment as for its breadth.

Background and Photographs of the Manuscript http://bracton.law.harvard.edu/ManuscriptEdPage.htm

Text of the Document in English and Latin http://bracton.law.harvard.edu/Common/SearchPage.htm

Statute of Westminster (1285) In 1285, Edward I approved the Statute of Westminster. The law consisted of fifty chapters concerning the administration of royal justice. Chapter XXIV, “Writs in Consimili Casu,” helped consolidate and systematize the writ system.: Statute of Westminster (1285) [Make the pdf ‘Statute of Westminster 1285’ downloadable.]

Divine Right of Kings The first Stuart kings, more than any English monarchs before them, invoked the divine right of kingship to justify their claims of royal absolutism. In 1598, James I published The Trew Law of Free Monarchies as a principled defense of divine right monarchy. In the same year, he completed the Basilikon Doron (The Kingly Gift), a book of practical advice rooted in divine right theory, which he addressed to his son and heir Henry. Henry would die before his father, leaving his younger brother Charles to inherit the throne and his father’s divine right pretensions.

The Trew Law of Free Monarchies http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.03.0071%3Asection%3D4%3Asubsection%3D2

Excerpts of the Basilikon Doron http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.03.0071%3Asection%3D3%3Asubsection%3D2

Calvin’s Case (1609) Calvin’s Case concerned the status of Scots in England upon the accession of James VI of Scotland to the English throne in 1603. English jurist Edward Coke ruled that Scots born prior to James’s accession were aliens in England, whereas Scots born after were English subjects. The decision contains an important discussion of the relationship between natural law and the common law of England.: Text of Calvin’s Case (1609) http://oll.libertyfund.org/?option=com_staticxt&staticfile=show.php%3Ftitle=911&chapter=106337&layout=html&Itemid=27

Dr. Bonham’s Case (1610) In Dr. Bonham’s Case, Sir Edward Coke struck down an act of parliament that conferred upon a private body—the London College of Physicians—the power to try and impose penal sanctions on individuals. Coke memorably ruled, “the Common Law doth controll Acts of Parliament, and somtimes shall adjudge them to be void: for when an Act of Parliament is against Common right and reason, or repugnant, or impossible to be performed, the Common Law will controll it, and adjudge such Act to be void.” The decision in Bonham’s Case established a precedent for the principle of judicial review in America.: Text of Dr. Bonham’s Case (1610) http://oll.libertyfund.org/?option=com_staticxt&staticfile=show.php%3Ftitle=911&chapter=106343&layout=html&Itemid=27

Petition of Right (1628) In response to King Charles I’s practice of extorting forced loans from his subjects by billeting troops in the homes of those who refused, parliament presented the Petition of Right to the king. The document, which restated traditional political liberties dating back to Magna Carta, was authored by Sir Edward Coke. Second only to Magna Carta as a seminal constitutional document, it influenced political thought in both Britain and America.: Text of the Petition of Right (1628) http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/pathways/citizenship/rise_parliament/transcripts/petition_right.htm

The Putney Debates on the Constitution of England From October 28 to November 9, 1647, soldiers and civilians alike met in London to debate proposed constitutional changes, ranging from a reformed monarchy to full democracy. It was at the Putney Debates that the Levellers emerged as a force to be reckoned with during the English Civil War.

Online Companion to the Putney Debates Exhibition at St. Mary’s Church, Putney http://www.putneydebates.com/The%20Levellers.html

Introduction to Prominent Levellers http://www.putneydebates.com/The%20Levellers.html

Execution of Charles I In January 1649, parliament tried and condemned King Charles I to death for violating the fundamental law of England. Although Charles denied the jurisdiction of the court to try an anointed king, he was nevertheless condemned. On the scaffold Charles continued to challenge the proceedings against him, insisting, “A Subject and a Soveraign, are clean different things.”

Death Warrant of Charles I http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/pathways/citizenship/rise_parliament/docs/charles_warrant.htm

Speech of Charles I Upon the Scaffold http://books.google.com/books?id=gudbAAAAQAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false

Religious Persecution The Library of Congress explores the brutality and pervasiveness of religious persecution in Europe through the online exhibit “Religion and the Founding of the American Republic.”: Religion and the Founding of the American Republic http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/religion/rel01.html

Habeas Corpus Act of 1679 The Habeas Corpus Act of 1679, passed during the reign of Charles II, required royal judges to issue writs of habeas corpus and established penalties for their refusal to do so. The act would be adopted almost verbatim by colonial assemblies.: Text of the Habeas Corpus Act of 1679 http://www.legislation.gov.uk/aep/Cha2/31/2/contents

The English Bill of Rights The Glorious Revolution of 1689 brought an end to nearly a century of turbulent Stuart rule and initiated a period of parliamentary ascendancy in government. The Bill of Rights of 1689 set clear limits on the power of the Crown to act without the consent of parliament. Specifically, the Crown might not pass laws or levy taxes without parliamentary consent. The guarantees of the English Bill of Rights resonated across the Atlantic and were cited to justify separation from England during the American Revolution.

Text of the English Bill of Rights http://avalon.law.yale.edu/17th_century/england.asp

Background on the English Bill of Rights http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/takingliberties/staritems/510billofrights.html

John Locke’s Second Treatise of Government Locke’s Second Treatise, published in 1689, captured the political spirit of the Glorious Revolution and justified the overthrow of James II. Locke argued that all political power is derived from the people through a twofold social contract. First, people leave their free and independent state of nature by agreeing to enter into civil society with one another. They then institute political society through a political contract whereby they agree to a particular form of government. If the rulers chosen by the people abuse their power, the people reserve the natural right to replace them. Locke’s theories of political accountability and the primacy of man’s rights to life, liberty, and property had a lasting impact on the development of political thought in Great Britain and America.: Text of the Second Treatise of Government http://oll.libertyfund.org/?option=com_staticxt&staticfile=show.php%3Ftitle=222

Government by Charter Colonial government was, from the outset, rooted in written compacts. Each colony had its own charter enumerating the rights of its settlers and spelling out the terms under which settlers could acquire title to land, participate in public affairs, and even how they might worship. Because no rights other than those specifically guaranteed could be lawfully claimed, the charters were crucially important in every colony. By the eighteenth century, Americans regarded their charters as political contracts in the constitutional sense that they recognized and confirmed the natural rights of people with respect to life, liberty, and property. Here are some examples.

First Charter of Virginia (1606) http://avalon.law.yale.edu/17th_century/va01.asp

Mayflower Compact (1620) http://avalon.law.yale.edu/17th_century/mayflower.asp

Charter of Massachusetts Bay (1629) http://avalon.law.yale.edu/17th_century/mass03.asp

Charter of Maryland (1632) http://avalon.law.yale.edu/17th_century/ma01.asp

Fundamental Orders of 1639 (Connecticut) http://avalon.law.yale.edu/17th_century/order.asp

Agreement of the Settlers at Exeter in New Hampshire (1639) http://avalon.law.yale.edu/17th_century/nh06.asp

Fundamental Agreement of Colony of New Haven (1639) http://avalon.law.yale.edu/17th_century/ct01.asp

Plantation Agreement at Rhode Island (1640) http://avalon.law.yale.edu/17th_century/ri01.asp

Fundamental Constitution of Carolina (1669) http://avalon.law.yale.edu/17th_century/nc05.asp

William Penn’s Charter of Liberty (1682) http://avalon.law.yale.edu/17th_century/pa03.asp

Massachusetts Body of Liberties (1641) The Massachusetts Body of Liberties of 1641 was a legal code that anticipated by a century and a half most of the essential guarantees that would be enshrined in the United States Bill of Rights. Drafted in large part by Massachusetts lawyer Nathaniel Ward, the Body of Liberties guaranteed due process of law and the right of jury trial, prohibited double jeopardy, and banned cruel and unusual punishments.: Text of the Massachusetts Body of Liberties http://www.winthropsociety.com/liberties.php

The Spirit of Laws (1748) Baron de Montesquieu’s work, The Spirit of Laws, was very influential in the American colonies. It advanced the theory that laws must be consistent with the character of the people they serve and with the environment they occupy. In a chapter on the Constitution of England, Montesquieu argued that key to the survival of any free republic is the existence of checks and balances to prevent abuses of power. Giving as an example Britain’s constitutional monarchy, he wrote, “Here, then, is the fundamental constitution of the government we are treating of. The legislative body being composed of two parts, they check one another by the mutual privilege of rejecting. They are both restrained by the executive power, as the executive is by the legislative. . . These three powers should naturally form a state of repose or inaction: but, as there is a necessity for movement in the course of human affairs, they are forced to move, but still in concert.”: Checks and Balances in The Spirit of Laws, Book XI, Ch. VI http://oll.libertyfund.org/?option=com_staticxt&staticfile=show.php%3Ftitle=837&chapter=71392&layout=html&Itemid=27

Commentaries on the Laws of England (1753) William Blackstone’s Commentaries on the Laws of England compiled and harmonized the common law of England in a four-volume treatise that was widely read by legal practitioners and ordinary people alike. In particular, the Introduction and Book I presented Blackstone’s view of the common law as the guarantor of personal and political liberty.: Text of the Commentaries on the Laws of England (1753) http://oll.libertyfund.org/index.php?option=com_staticxt&staticfile=show.php%3Ftitle=2140&Itemid=27

Freedom of Speech in the American Colonies The trial of John Peter Zenger was one of the earliest and most high-profile tests of liberty in the American Colonies. New York printer John Zenger was accused of seditious libel for articles he had printed in his newspaper criticizing Governor William Crosby. Represented by one of the most able attorneys in the colonies, Zenger was acquitted and the principle of press freedom was vindicated. An account of the trial may be found in this contemporary pamphlet.: “A Brief Narrative of the Case and Tryal of John Peter Zenger” (1736) http://oll.libertyfund.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1569&Itemid=264