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Article: Magna Carta expected to fetch fortune, Early copy said to be worth record $30 million
- Article from:
- Charleston Daily Mail
- Article date:
- December 7, 2007
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 2007 Charleston Daily Mail. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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NEW YORK - In the year 1215, a group of English barons handed
King John a document written on parchment. Put your royal seal on
this, they said. John did, and forever changed the relationship
between the monarchy and those it governed.
The document was the Magna Carta, a declaration of human rights
that would set some of the guiding principles for democracy as it is
known today.
While that original edict was initially ignored and John died the
next year, its key ideas were included in other variations over the
next few decades, most notably the right of Habeas Corpus, which
protects citizens against unlawful imprisonment. More than 800 years
later, about 17 copies survive, and one of those, ...