0Hi guys,02br 02br 00hopefully anyone can have a glimpse at my essay, since I would like to read it out to the class today. Thanks in advance!02br 02br 01b00The Magna Charta02b02br 02br 001)02br 02br 00These Excerpts from the Magna Charta (1215) suggest that there must have been numerous objectionable practises characteristic of the king’s use of royal power.02br 02br 00The 1201sup00th02sup00 paragraph of the Magna Charta proves that kings used to arbitrarily impose scutages and aids to fill their treasury. As it is explicitly mentioned that – under certain circumstances – the king may levy only reasonable aids, it is quite likely that before he could demand as much money as he wanted (para. 12, l. 3).02br 02br 00Probably the king as well constricted every city’s liberties and especially the right of free customs in order to profit by business done in the cities (para. 13, ll. 2-3).02br 02br 00Beyond that the king would apparently amerce freemen without taking into consideration the actual offence they commited, otherwise the author would not have considered it necessary to point out that people need to be amerced according to the gravity of their offence. Besides the king used to take away the offender’s wainage. Here again, it becomes quite clear that almost everyone was exposed to the king’s arbitrariness.02br 02br 00“Justice and Right” were fairly relative those days. The paragraph 38 suggests that many people had been found guilty without any reliable witnesses providing evidence for their pretended offence. Hence no official is allowed anymore to “put anyone to trial merely on his own testimony” (para. 38, ll. 1-2). In addition the king presumeably used to imprison, outlaw or banish people without being called to account by anyone.02br 02br 00Greetz, Sebastian0-
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