Chapter XXXIX. is more important and the English rendering of it may

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 against him, nor send against him, unless by the lawful judgment of his peers and by the law of the land." The object of this was clearly to restrain John from arbitrary proceedings against his free subjects. The principle of judgment by one's peers is asserted, and is obviously the privilege of every class of freemen, not of the greater lords alone.