--- title: Magna Carta Signed 1215: How it Relates to the Constitution description: Happy 800th birthday, Magna Carta! canonical: https://time.com/3912768/magna-carta-constitution-history/ author: Lily Rothman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-06-15T13:00:00.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-01T09:08:29.720Z article:section: History og:title: Magna Carta Signed 1215: How it Relates to the Constitution og:description: Happy 800th birthday, Magna Carta! og:url: https://time.com/3912768/magna-carta-constitution-history/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt71014a0e3da5f845/69885382e53aba67ad4de10c/magna.jpeg?branch=production&width=614&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 614 og:image:height: 345 og:image:alt: Magna Carta. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Magna Carta Signed 1215: How it Relates to the Constitution twitter:description: Happy 800th birthday, Magna Carta! twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt71014a0e3da5f845/69885382e53aba67ad4de10c/magna.jpeg?branch=production&width=614&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Celebrating Magna Carta's 800th Birthday > Sponsored content. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-sub-2026q3/newsletters?i=319d67ce-ce53-495a-9578-9c2249c87775&cr=time-sub-2026q3-v1) * TIME Subscriptions: [time.com/subscribe-agent](/c/time-sub-2026q3/subscribe?i=319d67ce-ce53-495a-9578-9c2249c87775&cr=time-sub-2026q3-v1) ## Video: The Magna Carta's Influence, 800 Years Later [Watch (HLS stream): The Magna Carta's Influence, 800 Years Later](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/wG9vfsWa.m3u8) (2:12)  _Published 2015-06-15. This Monday marks the 800th anniversary of the creation of the Magna Carta, a foundational document in western civilization._  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Jun 15, 2015 1:00 PM UTC  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Jun 15, 2015 1:00 PM UTC Eight hundred years ago on this day, June 15, King John signed a document that changed the course of history. The Magna Carta limited his own powers and set forth the rights of the people, forming the backbone of English common law. The anniversary celebration has been going on for months. The British Library is [soliciting](http://www.bl.uk/my-digital-rights/vote-now) suggestions for a Magna Carta “for the digital age.” The National Archives of the United States is [exhibiting](http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/featured%5Fdocuments/magna%5Fcarta/) a 13th-century copy of the document, and is even [planning](http://www.archives.gov/dc-metro/events/#magna-carta-cake) to print an image of it onto a birthday cake. There are[ online quizzes](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/goodlife/11649197/Are-you-a-Magna-Carta-expert.html) and [think pieces](http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/06/07/from-runnymeade-to-paul-revere-magna-carta-s-shadow-stretches-back-800-years.html) and [in-depth analyses](http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/04/20/the-rule-of-history). There’s even an [embroidery version](http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2015/may/14/hand-stitched-magna-carta-wikipedia-page-explores-the-fabric-of-democracy) that was created for the occasion. Which should be no surprise. After all, when Magna Carta turned 750 in 1965, the world went similarly all-out. As TIME reported, “scores of bewigged and berobed British judges” and “dignitaries of foreign lands” made pilgrimage to London to honor the document. Among those dignitaries were some from the U.S., which was cause for the magazine to remind readers of the many links between Magna Carta and the U.S. Constitution: --- > “” --- Other modern principles of law that could be traced to Magna Carta included just compensation and due process. Even though most of the actual provisions of Magna Carta have since been struck from the British books ([for example:](http://time.com/vault/issue/1969-06-06/page/76/) the testimony of a woman could only be used to imprison a man for murder if the victim were her husband) those big ideas are still valuable today. But just because those constitutional principles stand firm 800 years later doesn’t mean nothing has changed: some in Britain are [advocating](http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/after-800-years-britain-finally-asks-do-we-need-a-written-constitution/2015/06/07/6097b50c-e908-11e4-8581-633c536add4b%5Fstory.html) that it’s time for them to have a written constitution, too. **_Read the full story, here in the TIME Vault:_** [What Happened at Runnymede](http://time.com/vault/issue/1965-06-25/page/64) ## Transcript This is the Magna Carta one of the most influential documents in Western civilization, and often cited as the foundation for our understanding of civil liberties. And on June 15th this document turn 800 years old. What started out as a document of specific complaints from a group of [ UNKNOWN ], has turned into an international symbol of liberty. Without which, we might not have the rights we value so much today. The name Magna Carta means great charter in Latin. At first, that was just a reference to its length, but over the past eight centuries. It has also come to stand for the significance of the document. There are only four copies of the original documents left. And all four of them were brought together earlier this year to mark the eight hundredth anniversary of the charter's sealing. And the document's actual text has been more or less phased out of English law. There's only three provisions from the Magna Carta still on the books, the Freedom of the Church of England, the Rights of London, and most significantly, the right to be judged according to the Law of the Land, not the caprice of a monarch. Much of the Magna Carta deals with archaic concerns like fishing traps on the river Thames, but when the tyrannical King John of England reluctantly signed it in 1215, it created the basis for limiting royal authority under common law. That was a powerful concept at the time. As Dan Hannon, a British member of European parliament wrote in the Wall Street Journal, above the king brooded something more powerful yet Something you couldn't see or hear or touch or taste but that bound the sovereign as surely as it bound the poorest wretch in the kingdom. The ideals laid out in 1215 can be found in documents from the US Declaration of Independence. And constitution to the United Nations international declaration of human rights. This documents principles stretched across the world along with the British empire and persisted in colonized countries long after they declared independence. Figures like Mahat Maghandi and Nelson Mandala referenced the Magna Carta while championing their causes. Today it's influence might be more popularly known thanks to Jay- Z, but for anyone who believes our leaders aren't above the law of the land, you've got the Magna Carta to thank for that. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3912768/magna-carta-constitution-history/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3912768/magna-carta-constitution-history/"},"headline":"Celebrating Magna Carta's 800th Birthday","datePublished":"2015-06-15T13:00:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-01T09:08:29.720Z","description":"Common law has come a long way since King John","url":"https://time.com/3912768/magna-carta-constitution-history/","keywords":["Law","politics"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt71014a0e3da5f845/69885382e53aba67ad4de10c/magna.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lily Rothman","jobTitle":"Rothman is managing editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt71014a0e3da5f845/69885382e53aba67ad4de10c/magna.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Magna Carta.","caption":"Magna Carta.","creditText":"Universal History Archive / Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/law/","name":"Law"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3912768/magna-carta-constitution-history/","name":"Celebrating Magna Carta's 800th Birthday"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"The Magna Carta's Influence, 800 Years Later","description":"This Monday marks the 800th anniversary of the creation of the Magna Carta, a foundational document in western civilization.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/wG9vfsWa/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-06-15T15:39:34.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/wG9vfsWa.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3912768/magna-carta-constitution-history/","duration":"PT2M12S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3912768/magna-carta-constitution-history/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```