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What rights did the Magna Carta protect for free men?

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John John of England, from an early 14th-century illumination.

The Magna Carta, signed by King John in 1215, established the principle that the sovereign is subject to the rule of law rather than above it. While the document addressed specific feudal grievances, it is historically significant for providing protections for "free men" against arbitrary royal power.123

The most enduring protection for free men is found in clause 39 of the 1215 charter, which states:

No free man shall be arrested or imprisoned or disseised or outlawed or exiled or in any way victimised, neither will we attack him or send anyone to attack him, except by the lawful judgment of his peers or by the law of the land.4

This clause serves as the foundational expression of due process in Anglo-American jurisprudence. By ensuring that individuals could not be punished or deprived of their rights without legal justification, the charter established a vital precedent for individual liberty and protection against state oppression.43