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The Magna Carta
Society
A Summary of Evidence
Introduction
There is good reason to think that
the Treaties of Rome, Maastricht and Amsterdam are
illegal in the United Kingdom. Further, we argue that
their ratification, the enactment of the European
Communities Act 1972, and all consequential laws,
directives, regulations and judicial decisions which
purport to draw authority from that Act were and are
illegal in this sovereign kingdom.
We argue that the signatories to
those treaties on behalf of the United Kingdom exceeded
their powers; that, since and including the passage of
the 1972 Act, successive executives have systematically
compromised the constitution of this sovereign nation
and that all such actions are illegal and prima facie
acts of treason; and that we have the right to seek
redress by petitioning the hereditary House of Lords,
which has an obligation to take such a petition to The
Queen, who has an obligation to resolve the matter
within forty days.
Further, we argue that the United
Kingdom’s membership of the European Union is null and
void, that it can and should be so declared, and that
all consequential laws, regulations, directives and
judicial decisions fall with such a declaration.
Our justification for such awesome
statements starts with Magna Carta, 1215, which gave
sovereign recognition to already long-standing
Anglo-Saxon common law, rights and customs. Some 150
years earlier William the Conqueror had made the first
attempts to codify those rights and customs, which
ultimately go back at least to the time of King Alfred
and beyond.
Magna Carta is variously described as
a covenant, contract or treaty. It is not an Act of
Parliament. As we understand it, Magna Carta cannot be
repealed by parliament. As a contract between sovereign
and subjects, it can be breached only by one party or
the other, but even in the breach it still stands. It is
a mutual, binding agreement of indefinite duration. Any
breach merely has the effect of giving the offended
party rights of redress.
The present Queen referred to Magna
Carta as a peace treaty in a speech in New Zealand in
1997.
So, Magna Carta is an affirmation of
common law based on principles of natural justice. These
principles - and the document itself - pre-date
Parliament.
To summarise our understanding of
these principles and customs:
*Common law is the will and custom of
the people.
*Statute law is the will of
parliament. Statute can and does give expression to
common law, but that common law cannot be disregarded by
parliament, nor can it be repealed. It can only be
extended - "improved" is the word used, but it
is open to misuse.
*Parliament is made by the law, and
is not above it.
*No Parliament can bind its
successors.
*Parliament is answerable to the
people, is elected by the people to protect their
interests for a maximum of five years, after which time
power is returned to the people who may grant it to
another parliament for a further five years - and so on
ad infinitum.
(Thus is the sovereignty of the
people established over parliament.)
*No Briton, including members of the
police and armed forces, is above the law. We are all
subjects of the crown first.
"The rights or…liberties of
Englishmen…consist primarily in the free enjoyment of
personal security, of personal liberty, and of private
property…To vindicate these rights, when actually
violated or attacked, the subjects of England are
entitled, in the first place, to the regular
administration and free course of justice in the courts
of law; next, to the right of petitioning the king and
parliament for redress of grievances; and lastly to the
right of having and using arms for self-preservation and
defence.
"And all these rights and
liberties it is our birthright to enjoy entire; unless
where the laws of our country have laid them under
necessary restraints…so gentle and moderate…that no
man of sense or probity would wish to see them
slackened."
Blackstone
(1723-1780) Commentaries on the Laws of England
Magna Carta recognised that rights
and customs were of equal importance to the people, and
both were equally protected:
"And the city of London shall have all its
ancient liberties and free customs…furthermore, we
decree and grant that all other cities, boroughs, towns,
and ports shall have all their liberties and free
customs.
"If anyone has been dispossessed
or removed by us, without the legal judgment of his
peers, from his lands, castles, franchises, or from his
right, we will immediately restore them to him; and if a
dispute arise over this, then let it be decided by the
five and twenty barons of whom mention is made below in
the clause for securing the peace."
Thus, Magna Carta recognised the
authority of the House of Lords, established its
constitutional role, and its composition for all time. A
quorum is 25 hereditary peers:
"All fines made with us unjustly
and against the law of the land, and all amercements,
imposed unjustly and against the law of the land, shall
be entirely remitted, or else it shall be done
concerning them according to the decision of the five
and twenty barons whom mention is made below in the
clause for securing the peace, or according to the
judgment of the majority of the same, …provided always
that if any one or more of the aforesaid five and twenty
barons are in a similar suit, they shall be removed as
far as concerns this particular judgment, others being
substituted in their places after having been selected
by the rest of the same five and twenty for this purpose
only, and after having been sworn."
Article 61 of Magna Carta - the
famous enforcement clause - specifically establishes
majority voting, and requires four of the quorum of
barons to take any grievances or petitions to the
monarch, and admonishes the people to rise up against
the monarch if and when such grievances are not
corrected:
"Since…we have granted all
these concessions, desirous that they should enjoy them
in complete and firm endurance forever, we give and
grant to them the underwritten security, namely, that
the barons choose five and twenty barons of the kingdom,
whomsoever they will, who shall be bound with all their
might, to observe and hold, and cause to be observed,
the peace and liberties we have granted and confirmed to
them by this our present Charter, so that if we, or our
justiciar, or our bailiffs or any one of our officers,
shall in anything be at fault towards anyone, or shall
have broken any one of the articles of this peace or of
this security, and the offence be notified to four
barons of the foresaid five and twenty, the said four
barons shall repair to us…and, laying the
transgression before us, petition to have that
transgression redressed without delay. And if we shall
not have corrected the transgression…within forty
days, reckoning from the time it has been intimated to
us…the four barons aforesaid shall refer that matter
to the rest of the five and twenty barons, and those
five and twenty barons shall, together with the
community of the whole realm, distrain and distress us
in all possible ways, namely, by seizing our castles,
lands, possessions, and in any other way they can, until
redress has been obtained as they deem fit…and when
redress has been obtained, they shall resume their old
relations towards us. And let whoever in the country
desires it, swear to obey the orders of the said five
and twenty barons for the execution of all the aforesaid
matters, and along with them, to molest us to the utmost
of his power; and we publicly and freely grant leave to
everyone who wishes to swear, and we shall never forbid
anyone to swear. All those, moreover, in the land who of
themselves and of their own accord are unwilling to
swear to the twenty five to help them in constraining
and molesting us, we shall by our command compel the
same to swear to the effect foresaid. And if any one of
the five and twenty barons shall have died or departed
from the land, or be incapacitated in any other manner
which would prevent the foresaid provisions being
carried out, those of the said twenty five barons who
are left shall choose another in his place according to
their own judgment, and he shall be sworn in the same
way as the others. Further, in all matters, the
execution of which is entrusted, to these twenty five
barons, if perchance these twenty five are present and
disagree about anything, or if some of them, after being
summoned, are unwilling or unable to be present, that
which the majority of those present ordain or command
shall be held as fixed and established, exactly as if
the whole twenty five had concurred in this; and the
said twenty five shall swear that they will faithfully
observe all that is aforesaid, and cause it to be
observed with all their might. And we shall procure
nothing from anyone, directly or indirectly, whereby any
part of these concessions and liberties might be revoked
or diminished; and if any such things has been procured,
let it be void and null, and we shall never use it
personally or by another."
Although the Magna Carta pre-dates
parliament by some 50 years it was subsequently enacted
in 1297 with the passage of Edward 1’s Confirmation of
the Great Charter Act, which included the words:
"And we will that if any
judgement be given henceforth contrary to the points
aforesaid by the justices or by any other (of) our
ministers that hold plea before them against the points
of the charters it shall be undone and holden for nought."
The text later includes words to the
effect that the "charter of liberties shall be kept
on every point."
This admonition was repeated at the
Coronation of the young Henry III:
"…it shall be lawful for
everyone in our realm to rise against us and use all the
ways and means they can to hinder us…that each and
every one shall be bound by our command…so that they
shall in no way give attention to us but that they shall
do everything that aims at our injury and shall in no
way be bound to us until that in which we have
transgressed and offenced shall have been by a fitting
satisfaction brought again in due state….this having
been done let them be obedient to us as they were
before."
Bracton’s great constitutional work
written some time between 1235 and 1259, said: "…the
law makes the King. Let the King therefore bestow upon
the law what the law bestows upon him, namely dominion
and power, for there is no King where will rules and not
law."
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