Magna Carta, 800 anos
http://diplomatizzando.blogspot.com.br/2015/06/magna-carta-800-anos-coloquio-no-irel.html
informo a seguir sobre um artigo que publiquei um ano atrás, antecipando sobre as comemorações deste ano e transmitindo minha opinião sobre como o Brasil, sobretudo suas elites políticas, ainda está muito aquém dos princípios e valores da Magna Carta
“Os 800 anos da Magna Carta”,
jornal O Estado de S. Paulo (14/07/2014)
Relação de Originais n. 2625; Publicados n. 1135.
Transcrevo a seguir o texto em inglês moderno da Magna Carta, para os curiosos sobre seu conteúdo "medieval", destacando estes parágrafos:
[1] (...) We furthermore grant and give to all the freemen of our
realm for ourselves and our heirs in perpetuity the liberties written below to
have and to hold to them and their heirs from us and our heirs in perpetuity.
[11] Common pleas are not to follow our court
but are to be held in a certain fixed place.
[29] No freeman is to be taken or imprisoned or
disseised of his free tenement or of his liberties or free customs, or outlawed
or exiled or in any way ruined, nor will we go against such a man or send against
him save by lawful judgement of his peers or by the law of the land. To no-one
will we sell or deny of delay right or justice.
Magna Carta Translation
[Preamble] Edward by the grace of God King of
England, lord of Ireland and duke of Aquitaine sends greetings to all to whom
the present letters come. We have inspected the great charter of the lord
Henry, late King of England, our father, concerning the liberties of England in
these words:
Henry by the grace of God King of England, lord
of Ireland, duke of Normandy and Aquitaine and count of Anjou sends greetings
to his archbishops, bishops, abbots, priors, earls, barons, sheriffs, reeves,
ministers and all his bailiffs and faithful men inspecting the present charter.
Know that we, at the prompting of God and for the health of our soul and the
souls of our ancestors and successors, for the glory of holy Church and the
improvement of our realm, freely and out of our good will have given and
granted to the archbishops, bishops, abbots, priors, earls, barons and all of
our realm these liberties written below to hold in our realm of England in
perpetuity.
[1] In the first place we grant to God and
confirm by this our present charter for ourselves and our heirs in perpetuity
that the English Church is to be free and to have all its rights fully and its
liberties entirely. We furthermore grant and give to all the freemen of our
realm for ourselves and our heirs in perpetuity the liberties written below to
have and to hold to them and their heirs from us and our heirs in perpetuity.
[2] If any of our earls or barons, or anyone
else holding from us in chief by military service should die, and should his
heir be of full age and owe relief, the heir is to have his inheritance for the
ancient relief, namely the heir or heirs of an earl for a whole county £100,
the heir or heirs of a baron for a whole barony 100 marks, the heir or heirs of
a knight for a whole knight’s fee 100 shillings at most, and he who owes less
will give less, according to the ancient custom of (knights’) fees.
[3] If, however, the heir of such a person is
under age, his lord is not to have custody of him and his land until he has
taken homage from the heir, and after such an heir has been in custody, when he
comes of age, namely at twenty-one years old, he is to have his inheritance
without relief and without fine, saving that if, whilst under age, he is made a
knight, his land will nonetheless remain in the custody of his lords until the
aforesaid term.
[4] The keeper of the land of such an heir who
is under age is only to take reasonable receipts from the heir’s land and
reasonable customs and reasonable services, and this without destruction or
waste of men or things. And if we assign custody of any such land to a sheriff
or to anyone else who should answer to us for the issues, and such a person
should commit destruction or waste, we will take recompense from him and the
land will be assigned to two law-worthy and discreet men of that fee who will
answer to us or to the person to whom we assign such land for the land’s
issues. And if we give or sell to anyone custody of any such land and that
person commits destruction or waste, he is to lose custody and the land is to
be assigned to two law-worthy and discreet men of that fee who similarly will
answer to us as is aforesaid.
[5] The keeper, for as long as he has the
custody of the land of such (an heir), is to maintain the houses, parks,
fishponds, ponds, mills and other things pertaining to that land from the
issues of the same land, and he will restore to the heir, when the heir comes
to full age, all his land stocked with ploughs and all other things in at least
the same condition as when he received it. All these things are to be observed
in the custodies of archbishoprics, bishoprics, abbeys, priories, churches and
vacant offices which pertain to us, save that such custodies ought not to be
sold.
[6] Heirs are to be married without
disparagement.
[7] A widow, after the death of her husband, is
immediately and without any difficulty to have her marriage portion and her
inheritance, nor is she to pay anything for her dower or her marriage portion
or for her inheritance which her husband and she held on the day of her
husband’s death, and she shall remain in the chief dwelling place of her
husband for forty days after her husband’s death, within which time dower will
be assigned her if it has not already been assigned, unless that house is a
castle, and if it is a castle which she leaves, then a suitable house will
immediately be provided for her in which she may properly dwell until her dower
is assigned to her in accordance with what is aforesaid, and in the meantime
she is to have her reasonable necessities (estoverium) from the common
property. As dower she will be assigned the third part of all the lands of her
husband which were his during his lifetime, save when she was dowered with less
at the church door. No widow shall be distrained to marry for so long as she
wishes to live without a husband, provided that she gives surety that she will
not marry without our assent if she holds of us, or without the assent of her
lord, if she holds of another.
[8] Neither we nor our bailiffs will seize any
land or rent for any debt, as long as the existing chattels of the debtor
suffice for the payment of the debt and as long as the debtor is ready to pay
the debt, nor will the debtor’s guarantors be distrained for so long as the
principal debtor is able to pay the debt; and should the principal debtor
default in his payment of the debt, not having the means to repay it, or should
he refuse to pay it despite being able to do so, the guarantors will answer for
the debt and, if they wish, they are to have the lands and rents of the debtor
until they are repaid the debt that previously they paid on behalf of the
debtor, unless the principal debtor can show that he is quit in respect to
these guarantors.
[9] The city of London is to have all its
ancient liberties and customs. Moreover we wish and grant that all other cities
and boroughs and vills and the barons of the Cinque Ports and all ports are to
have all their liberties and free customs.
[10] No-one is to be distrained to do more
service for a knight’s fee or for any other free tenement than is due from it.
[11] Common pleas are not to follow our court
but are to be held in a certain fixed place.
[12] Recognisances of novel disseisin and of
mort d’ancestor are not to be taken save in their particular counties and in
the following way. We or, should we be outside the realm, our chief justiciar,
will send our justices once a year to each county, so that, together with the
knights of the counties, that may take the aforesaid assizes in the counties;
and those assizes which cannot be completed in that visitation of the county by
our aforesaid justices assigned to take the said assizes are to be completed
elsewhere by the justices in their visitation; and those which cannot be
completed by them on account of the difficulty of various articles (of law) are
to be referred to our justices of the Bench and completed there.
[13] Assizes of darrein presentment are always
to be taken before our justices of the Bench and are to be completed there.
[14] A freeman is not to be amerced for a small
offence save in accordance with the manner of the offence, and for a major
offence according to its magnitude, saving his sufficiency (salvo contenemento
suo), and a merchant likewise, saving his merchandise, and any villain other
than one of our own is to be amerced in the same way, saving his necessity
(salvo waynagio) should he fall into our mercy, and none of the aforesaid
amercements is to be imposed save by the oath of honest and law-worthy men of
the neighbourhood. Earls and barons are not to be amerced save by their peers
and only in accordance with the manner of their offence.
[15] No town or free man is to be distrained to
make bridges or bank works save for those that ought to do so of old and by
right.
[16] No bank works of any sort are to be kept up
save for those that were in defense in the time of King H(enry II) our
grandfather and in the same places and on the same terms as was customary in
his time.
[17] No sheriff, constable, coroner or any other
of our bailiffs is to hold pleas of our crown.
[18] If anyone holding a lay fee from us should
die, and our sheriff or bailiff shows our letters patent containing our summons
for a debt that the dead man owed us, our sheriff or bailiff is permitted to
attach and enroll all the goods and chattels of the dead man found in lay fee,
to the value of the said debt, by view of law-worthy men, so that nothing is to
be removed thence until the debt that remains is paid to us, and the remainder
is to be released to the executors to discharge the will of the dead man, and
if nothing is owed to us from such a person, all the chattels are to pass to
the (use of) the dead man, saving to the dead man’s wife and children their
reasonable portion.
[19] No constable or his bailiff is to take corn
or other chattels from anyone who not themselves of a vill where a castle is
built, unless the constable or his bailiff immediately offers money in payment
of obtains a respite by the wish of the seller. If the person whose corn or
chattels are taken is of such a vill, then the constable or his bailiff is to
pay the purchase price within forty days.
[20] No constable is to distrain any knight to
give money for castle guard if the knight is willing to do such guard in person
or by proxy of any other honest man, should the knight be prevented from doing
so by just cause. And if we take or send such a knight into the army, he is to
be quit of (castle) guard in accordance with the length of time the we have him
in the army for the fee for which he has done service in the army.
[21] No sheriff or bailiff of ours or of anyone
else is to take anyone’s horses or carts to make carriage, unless he renders
the payment customarily due, namely for a two-horse cart ten pence per day, and
for a three-horse cart fourteen pence per day. No demesne cart belonging to any
churchman or knight or any other lady (sic) is to be taken by our bailiffs, nor
will we or our bailiffs or anyone else take someone else’s timber for a castle
or any other of our business save by the will of he to whom the timber belongs.
[22] We shall not hold the lands of those
convicted of felony save for a year and a day, whereafter such land is to be
restored to the lords of the fees.
[23] All fish weirs (kidelli) on the Thames and
the Medway and throughout England are to be entirely dismantled, save on the
sea coast.
[24] The writ called ‘praecipe’ is not to be
issued to anyone in respect to any free tenement in such a way that a free man
might lose his court.
[25] There is to be a single measure for wine
throughout our realm, and a single measure for ale, and a single measure for
Corn, that is to say the London quarter, and a single breadth for dyed cloth,
russets, and haberjects, that is to say two yards within the lists. And it
shall be the same for weights as for measures.
[26] Henceforth there is to be nothing given for
a writ of inquest from the person seeking an inquest of life or member, but
such a writ is to be given freely and is not to be denied.
[27] If any persons hold from us at fee farm or
in socage or burgage, and hold land from another by knight service, we are not,
by virtue of such a fee farm or socage or burgage, to have custody of the heir
or their land which pertains to another’s fee, nor are we to have custody of
such a fee farm or socage or burgage unless this fee farm owes knight service.
We are not to have the custody of an heir or of any land which is held from
another by knight service on the pretext of some small serjeanty held from us
by service of rendering us knives or arrows or suchlike things.
[28] No bailiff is henceforth to put any man on
his open law or on oath simply by virtue of his spoken word, without reliable
witnesses being produced for the same.
[29] No freeman is to be taken or imprisoned or
disseised of his free tenement or of his liberties or free customs, or outlawed
or exiled or in any way ruined, nor will we go against such a man or send against
him save by lawful judgement of his peers or by the law of the land. To no-one
will we sell or deny of delay right or justice.
[30] All merchants, unless they have been
previously and publicly forbidden, are to have safe and secure conduct in
leaving and coming to England and in staying and going through England both by
land and by water to buy and to sell, without any evil exactions, according to
the ancient and right customs, save in time of war, and if they should be from
a land at war against us and be found in our land at the beginning of the war,
they are to be attached without damage to their bodies or goods until it is
established by us or our chief justiciar in what way the merchants of our land
are treated who at such a time are found in the land that is at war with us,
and if our merchants are safe there, the other merchants are to be safe in our
land.
[31] If anyone dies holding of any escheat such
as the honour of Wallingford, Boulogne, Nottingham, Lancaster or of other
escheats which are in our hands and which are baronies, his heir is not to give
any other relief or render any other service to us that would not have been
rendered to the baron if the barony were still held by a baron, and we shall
hold such things in the same way as the baron held them, nor, on account of
such a barony or escheat, are we to have the escheat or custody of any of our
men unless the man who held the barony or the escheat held elsewhere from us in
chief.
[32] No free man is henceforth to give or sell
any more of his land to anyone, unless the residue of his land is sufficient to
render due service to the lord of the fee as pertains to that fee.
[33] All patrons of abbeys which have charters
of the kings of England over advowson or ancient tenure or possession are to
have the custody of such abbeys when they fall vacant just as they ought to
have and as is declared above.
[34] No-one is to be taken or imprisoned on the
appeal of woman for the death of anyone save for the death of that woman’s
husband.
[35] No county court is to be held save from
month to month, and where the greater term used to be held, so will it be in
future, nor will any sheriff or his bailiff make his tourn through the hundred
save for twice a year and only in the place that is due and customary, namely
once after Easter and again after Michaelmas, and the view of frankpledge is to
be taken at the Michaelmas term without exception, in such a way that every man
is to have his liberties which he had or used to have in the time of King
H(enry II) my grandfather or which he has acquired since. The view of
frankpledge is to be taken so that our peace be held and so that the tithing is
to be held entire as it used to be, and so that the sheriff does not seek
exceptions but remains content with that which the sheriff used to have in
taking the view in the time of King H(enry) our grandfather.
[36] Nor is it permitted to anyone to give his
land to a religious house in such a way that he receives it back from such a
house to hold, nor is it permitted to any religious house to accept the land of
anyone in such way that the land is restored to the person from whom it was
received to hold. If anyone henceforth gives his land in such a way to any
religious house and is convicted of the same, the gift is to be entirely
quashed and such land is to revert to the lord of that fee.
[37] Scutage furthermore is to be taken as it
used to be in the time of King H(enry) our grandfather, and all liberties and
free customs shall be preserved to archbishops, bishops, abbots, priors,
Templars, Hospitallers, earls, barons and all others, both ecclesiastical and
secular persons, just as they formerly had.
All these aforesaid customs and liberties which
we have granted to be held in our realm in so far as pertains to us are to be
observed by all of our realm, both clergy and laity, in so far as pertains to
them in respect to their own men. For this gift and grant of these liberties
and of others contained in our charter over the liberties of the forest, the
archbishops, bishops, abbots, priors, earls, barons, knights, fee holders and
all of our realm have given us a fifteenth part of all their movable goods.
Moreover we grant to them for us and our heirs that neither we nor our heirs
will seek anything by which the liberties contained in this charter might be
infringed or damaged, and should anything be obtained from anyone against this
it is to count for nothing and to be held as nothing.
With these witnesses: the
lord S(tephen) archbishop of Canterbury, E(ustace) bishop of London, J(ocelin)
bishop of Bath, P(eter) bishop of Winchester, H(ugh) bishop of Lincoln,
R(ichard) bishop of Salisbury, W. bishop of Rochester, W(illiam) bishop of
Worcester, J(ohn) bishop of Ely, H(ugh) bishop of Hereford, R(anulf) bishop of
Chichester, W(illiam) bishop of Exeter, the abbot of (Bury) St Edmunds, the
abbot of St Albans, the abbot of Battle, the abbot of St Augustine’s
Canterbury, the abbot of Evesham, the abbot of Westminster, the abbot of
Peterborough, the abbot of Reading, the abbot of Abingdon, the abbot of
Malmesbury, the abbot of Winchcombe, the abbot of Hyde (Winchester), the abbot
of Chertsey, the abbot of Sherborne, the abbot of Cerne, the abbot of
Abbotsbury, the abbot of Milton (Abbas), the abbot of Selby, the abbot of
Cirencester, H(ubert) de Burgh the justiciar, H. earl of Chester and Lincoln,
W(illiam) earl of Salisbury, W(illiam) earl Warenne, G. de Clare earl of
Gloucester and Hertford, W(illiam) de Ferrers earl of Derby, W(illiam) de
Mandeville earl of Essex, H(ugh) Bigod earl of Norfolk, W(illiam) earl Aumale,
H(umphrey) earl of Hereford, J(ohn) constable of Chester, R(obert) de Ros,
R(obert) fitz Walter, R(obert) de Vieuxpont, W(illiam) Brewer, R(ichard) de
Montfiquet, P(eter) fitz Herbert, W(illiam) de Aubigné, G. Gresley, F. de Braose,
J(ohn) of Monmouth, J(ohn) fitz Alan, H(ugh) de Mortemer, W(illiam) de
Beauchamp, W(illiam) de St John, P(eter) de Maulay, Brian de Lisle, Th(omas) of
Moulton, R(ichard) de Argentan, G(eoffrey) de Neville, W(illiam) Mauduit,
J(ohn) de Baalon and others. Given at Westminster on the eleventh day of
February in the ninth year of our reign.
We, holding these aforesaid gifts and grants to
be right and welcome, conceed and confirm them for ourselves and our heirs and
by the terms of the present (letters) renew them, wishing and granting for
ourselves and our heirs that the aforesaid charter is to be firmly and inviably
observed in all and each of its articles in perpetuity, including any articles
contained in the same charter which by chance have not to date been observed.
In testimony of which we have had made these our letters patent. Witnessed by
Edward our son, at Westminster on the twelfth day of October in the
twenty-fifth year of our reign. (Chancery warranty by John of) Stowe.
Translation by Professor
Nicholas Vincent, Copyright Sotheby's Inc. 2007
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