"A quarrel between the barons and the King 800 years ago might seem to have little relevance to us today. However, one of the greatest ideas which this country has contributed to the world, the idea of the rule of law, can be traced back to Magna Carta. Even the Crown is subject to the law of the land. Today judges sitting in the Administrative Court, hearing applications for judicial review, give practical effect to the rule of law every day.
Although it may seem surprising it is...
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"A quarrel between the barons and the King 800 years ago might seem to have little relevance to us today. However, one of the greatest ideas which this country has contributed to the world, the idea of the rule of law, can be traced back to Magna Carta. Even the Crown is subject to the law of the land. Today judges sitting in the Administrative Court, hearing applications for judicial review, give practical effect to the rule of law every day.
Although it may seem surprising it is also possible to trace the lineage of the concept of human rights back to Magna Carta. This is why, when the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted by the United Nations in 1948, Eleanor Roosevelt, who chaired the drafting committee, described it as an “international Magna Carta” for all of humanity. However, we have come a long way since 1215. At that time many people were denied basic rights; some were even serfs. In contrast, the Universal Declaration proclaims, in Article 1, that “all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights."
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