I missed the birthday!

Yesterday, I've just learned, was the 794th anniversary of the signing of the Magna Carta. It was signed on June 15th, 1215.

Much of it was about the rights and powers of the Barons and the limitations of the king, or dealt with weights and measures, but clause 39 should be printed and pasted all over parliament, law courts and police stations:

No free man shall be seized or imprisoned, or stripped of his rights or possessions, or outlawed or exiled, or deprived of his standing in any other way, nor will we proceed with force against him, or send others to do so, except by the lawful judgement of his equals or by the law of the land.

Perhaps in those days it did not apply to slaves/surfs/villeins, but we are all free now before the law and must be protected from powerful bodies (corporate or council now rather than Barons) and the power of the state (Big government now, rather than the king).

If we are looking for a national day for England, while April 23rd is a good candidate, June 15th could have a better claim to fame, - a permanent reminder that we should be free from arbitrary judgement, and left unpunished if we do not break the law.