How did the Petition of Right of 1628 draw on Magna Carta?

The Petition of Right (1628) was drafted by Parliament to reassert the rule of law against the actions of King Charles I, specifically drawing upon the principles established in the Magna Carta.1

Parliament viewed the King’s imposition of forced loans and the subsequent imprisonment of those who refused to pay as direct violations of the spirit of the Magna Carta. Specifically, the Petition relied on the Magna Carta’s foundational protections, which mandated that the monarch could not levy taxes without common consent or imprison a free man without cause.1

During the lead-up to the Petition, legal arguments—notably in Darnel’s case—explicitly invoked clause 39 of the Magna Carta, which guarantees that no person shall lose their liberty without due process of law. By drafting the Petition, Parliament sought to codify these medieval precedents, compelling the crown to recommit to the rights of free men and the constitutional limitations on royal authority.21