for eight centuries it's been hailed as the document which gave birth to English democracy and Justice four copies of the magara still exist one of the two in the British library is so badly damaged it's illegible but the Royal seal of approval curtailed the Monarch's power it was written in Latin but the English translation contains Words which are still enshrined in law today but the most important thing about Magna Carta was that it established the principle of the rule of law no free man shall be seized or imprisoned or stripped of his rights or outlawed or exiled except by the Judgment of his equals or by the law of the land and that Clause is really at the heart of Magna Carter's Fame today and yet this was a deal between a tyrannical King and Powerful Barons it didn't apply to Ordinary People King John had imposed heavy taxes on his Barons in order to pay for his expensive foreign if they refused to pay he punished them severely or seized their property the Barons demanded that King John obey the law when he refused they captured London and JN was forced to negotiate the two sides met at runny me to hammer out a peace treaty they'd all be amazed at how their great Charter is still revered today this Monument was paid for by American lawyers after all the magnet Carter was valid for just 10 weeks the the pope declared that King JN had signed it under Jess and had it annulled so how come a failed treaty has become such a worldwide symbol of democracy that the current Monarch will be among those celebrating its 800th anniversary the Magna Carta was revised and Rewritten over the years its principles were adopted by America's founding fathers in their Declaration of Independence and Bill of Rights so much so that the country has loaned copies of both documents to the British Library it inspired the universal Declaration of Human wres and has been quoted by Gandhi and Mandela but critics say modern politicians don't always respect its principles the war on terror has led to prolonged detention without trial all these things do not sit comfortably with the spirit of Magna carter and it does give an example where throughout the world not just America not just the United Kingdom politicians name check Magna carter uh when perhaps they should be living its Spirit a little more than that and while David Cameron will join the 800th anniversary celebrations he's also considering withdrawing Britain from the European convention and scrapping the Human Rights Act there is something that we need to learn from again from the charter which is that if you want other people to respect rights you have also got yourself to respect those rights I happen to believe that although it's not perfect both the convention and the Human Rights Act are working pretty well the Magna carter started a debate on our rights as Citizens which will continue long into the future inwoods Sky News runny me