--- title: The Magna Carta's Influence, 800 Years Later | TIME description: This Monday marks the 800th anniversary of the creation of the Magna Carta, a foundational document in western civilization. canonical: https://time.com/video/wG9vfsWa/ og:title: The Magna Carta's Influence, 800 Years Later og:description: This Monday marks the 800th anniversary of the creation of the Magna Carta, a foundational document in western civilization. og:url: https://time.com/video/wG9vfsWa/ og:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/wG9vfsWa/poster.jpg?width=720 og:type: video.other twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Magna Carta's Influence, 800 Years Later twitter:description: This Monday marks the 800th anniversary of the creation of the Magna Carta, a foundational document in western civilization. twitter:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/wG9vfsWa/poster.jpg?width=720 --- # The Magna Carta's Influence, 800 Years Later > Sponsored content. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. ## 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._ --- Jul 27, 2023 6:25 PM UTC --- ## More From This Series [All Videos](https://time.com/video/) [Tiananmen: The Legacy 25 Years Later](/video/zuTzxNSa/) ### Tiananmen: The Legacy 25 Years Later [World Wide Web Inventor Calls For Online Magna Carta](/video/41Hd7cxH/) ### World Wide Web Inventor Calls For Online Magna Carta [TIME Explains: Sandy One Year Later](/video/8Z1CXWET/) ### TIME Explains: Sandy One Year Later --- ## 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":"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/video/wG9vfsWa/","duration":"PT2M12S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/video/wG9vfsWa/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}} ```