Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, "McKinley, William" to "Magnetism, Terrestrial" Volume 17, Slice 3

Magna Carta is an elaboration of the accession charter of Henry I., and is based upon the Articles of the Barons. It is, however, very much longer than the former charter and so...

McKINLEY, WILLIAM MADISON (Wisconsin, U.S.A.) McKINNEY (Texas, U.S.A.) MADOU, JEAN BAPTISTE MACKINTOSH, SIR JAMES MADOZ, PASCUAL MACKLIN, CHARLES MADRAS (Indian presidency) MACK...

Some statements of the law of sympathy suggest that it is absolute in its application. It is true that the current of magical power is sometimes held to be transmitted along lin...

of magic which has yet appeared. They hold that, implicitly at any rate, magic is everywhere distinguished from other systems of social facts; in order to be magical an act or b...

day, and perhaps to the great part of the inhabitants of the world, seems to be a thing of gradual growth. (i) In the earlier stages there was probably no animistic feature abou...

the heir of any of his vassals. Previously John, disregarding the custom of the past, had taken as much as he could extort. Henceforward he who inherits a barony must pay £100,...

a fixed place. This had already been to some extent the practice when this class of cases was heard; it was now made the rule. From this time suitors in this court were not put...

committee is to be formed of twenty-five barons. Then if the king or any of his servants do wrong and complaint is made to four of the twenty-five, they are to ask for redress....

recognized feudal aids, shall be levied except by the consent of the general council of the nation (_commune concilium regni nostri_), while the three recognized aids shall only...

enjoy freedom of election. This follows the precedent set in the accession charter of Henry I. and in other early charters, although it had no place in the Articles of the Baron...

is necessary for raising an aid or a scutage. Individual summonses must be sent to the prelates and greater barons, while the lesser barons will be called together through the s...

increasing by their agency the amount of money annually due to him from the various counties and hundreds. The custom was for the king to get a fixed sum from the sheriff of eac...

Chapters LII. and LIII. are those in which the king promises to make amends for the injuries he has done to his barons in the past. He will restore lands and castles to those wh...

be given in full. "No freeman shall be arrested, or detained in prison, or deprived of his freehold, or outlawed, or banished, or in any way molested; and we will not set forth...

of performing castle-guard, if they are willing to perform this service. Castle-guard was the liability incumbent on the holders of some estates to serve in the garrison of the...

Chapters XLVII. and XLVIII. deal again with the great grievance of the royal forests. John undertakes to disforest all forests which have been made in his time, and also to give...

We now come to an important series of articles which deal with abuses in the administration of justice. Henry II. made the royal courts of law a lucrative source of revenue, but...

Chapters LVI. and LVII. deal with the grievances of Welshmen. Restoration of property is promised to them practically in the same way as to Englishmen. Welsh law is to be used i...

writ was one transferring cases concerning the ownership of property from the courts of the feudal lords to those of the king. This custom, which owes its origin to Henry II., m...

Chapters XLI. and XLII. give permission to merchants, both English and foreign, to enter and leave the kingdom, except in time of war. They are not to pay "evil tolls." The priv...

and also to other creditors. This, however, is only to be done after certain liabilities have been met out of the estate, including the services due to the lord of the land.

over to the lords of such lands and not kept by the king beyond a year and a day. In cases of treason the king had a right to the forfeited lands, but he was not allowed to esta...

Now for a short time the document leaves the great questions at issue between the king and the barons, and two chapters are devoted to protecting the people generally against th...

granted freely without payment of any kind. This kind of writ allowed a man to refer the question of his guilt or innocence to the verdict of his neighbours instead of proving h...

woman, except on a charge of causing the death of her husband. As a woman could not prove her case in the judicial combat, it was felt that the earlier practice gave her an unfa...

bridges, unless they are bound to do so by ancient custom. John had oppressed his subjects in this way before he visited a district for purposes of sport, and the hardship was a...

king must not hold the pleas of the crown. This was intended to remove an old and serious evil, as the sheriffs had earned a very bad reputation by their methods of administerin...

land when these fall into the possession of minors. In the past John had evidently stretched his authority and seized lands over which others had really the right of wardship.