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Article: Magna Carta exhibit worth the price.(Local)(Editorial)
- Article from:
- The Virginian-Pilot (Norfolk, VA)
- Article date:
- August 22, 2006
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2006 The Virginian Pilot-Ledger Star. All rights reserved. Reproduced with the permission of the Dialog Corporation by Gale Group. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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For such a monumental document, the Magna Carta can seem to be crammed with petty things: estate taxes, debts to Jews, a widow's rights to property, fines and penalties.
"No constable or other royal official shall take corn or other movable goods from any man without immediate payment, unless the seller voluntarily offers postponement of this."
According to the British Library - which provided that translation of the Magna Carta's original Latin - the charter's enduring power derives as much from how it was written as from what it says.
"In fact it contains few sweeping statements of principle, but is a series of concessions wrung from the unwilling King John by ...