June 15 is an important day in history -- Magna Carta Day. The Magna Carta was the document that gets credited with establishing the rule of law, as opposed to the rule of whomever is in power. Here's what history.com says about it:
The charter consisted of a preamble and 63 clauses and dealt mainly with feudal concerns that had little impact outside 13th century England. However, the document was remarkable in that it implied there were laws the king was bound to observe, thus precluding any future claim to absolutism by the English monarch. Of greatest interest to later generations was clause 39, which stated that “no free man shall be arrested or imprisoned or disseised [dispossessed] or outlawed or exiled or in any way victimised…except by the lawful judgment of his peers or by the law of the land.” This clause has been celebrated as an early guarantee of trial by jury and of habeas corpus and inspired England’s Petition of Right (1628) and the Habeas Corpus Act (1679).
I'll be toasting a shot of gin this evening in honor of the day, and I hope you'll celebrate in your own way. BTW, that imported bottle of gin cost a dollar more this year than last year. So much for the Brexit effect, at least at the liquor store.
Previously at this blog: Happy Magna Carta Day 2016.
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