Magna Carta

- a thread in response to this

1.
Chapter (not 'Article') 61 was in original Magna Carta of 1215

This is the @britishlibrary's English translation of the original at https://www.bl.uk/magna-carta/articles/magna-carta-english-translation

There is nothing in it about putting the Chapter in a shop window to avoid closure during a coronavirus lockdown

2.
Chapter 61 provided for a security power to be given to 25 barons

"The barons shall elect twenty-five of their number to keep, and cause to be observed with all their might, the peace and liberties granted and confirmed to them by this charter."

Nobody else

3.
Chapter 61, however, was removed from the Great Charter of 1215

It was removed in, well, 1216

So not only does it not mention shop windows, and only protect barons, but it did not last a year

4.
There is no sensible explanation for why a provision that was only in force 1215-6 and then only granted a power to 25 barons would have the effect in 2020 of preventing a shop being closed under public health regulations if it is placed in a shop window

5.
It is also not 'the' Magna Carta, @britishlivesUk, thank you

Like with Domesday Book, by convention there is no definite article

6.
(For newer followers, one purpose of this account since the anniversary of Magna Carta in 2115 has been to combat daftness about this (overrated) legal instrument

My insistence on there not being 'the' is not serious - it is my playful derision of those who take it seriously)

7
Yet

There is a serious point here

The lack of a constitutionalist tradition in UK means that so many people invoke "Magna Carta" and "Bill of Rights" in support of the daftest propositions

8.
Americans can point to their constitutional protections in accessible portable documents

We cannot

And so we get this olde Englishe mythe making instead

9.
Finally

In punishment for tweeting about Magna Carta, I can assure you I have had inflicted every possible joke and pun about Magna Carta, from Hancock to Caine to ice creams

Please no more: I am sure there is a right against this torture somewhere in Magna Carta...

/ends
ps

ok, I surrender

Here is my fellow Brummie commentator on Magna Carta, Anthony Aloysius Hancock
Wait until these 'patriots' discover that Magna Carta was not even written in English
No good reason whatsoever

I only insist as a mild playful protest against taking anything about Magna Carta seriously

(Something about there not being definite articles in Latin I think) https://twitter.com/daniel_koczy/status/1323317309679767558
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