--- 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: 2026-02-22T08:00:43.919Z 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=1440&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 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=1440&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Celebrating Magna Carta's 800th Birthday  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Jun 15, 2015 1:00 PM UTC  Magna Carta Magna CartaUniversal History Archive / Getty Images  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) ```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":"2026-02-22T08:00:43.919Z","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"}}]}] ```