U.S. Constitution

Constitution

The Foundation of the U.S. Constitution -- English Law

Fundamental to the U.S. Constitution are concepts that established in Britain from 12th century onward. Although America began as a nation in resistance to the English monarchy, this did not prevent its founders from seeking legal inspiration from the Mother Country's concepts and structure of government. The earliest example of the development of checks upon monarchial rule is perhaps in the 1066 Ordinance of William I, when the Norman conqueror agreed to uphold the existing feudal laws and customs of the land, rather than replacing them all outright. "The Anglo-Saxon shire courts and 'hundred' courts (which administered defense and tax, as well as justice matters) remained intact, as did regional variations and private Anglo-Saxon jurisdictions" ("William I 'The Conqueror," the Normans. Kings and Queens of England, Royal Government of the UK). This desire to balance the rights of the feudal knights with that of an absolute monarch was later and much more significantly codified in the Magna Carta.

The Magna Carta was not intended to become one of the most influential documents upon democracy and American legal history ever created. When it was first penned in 1215, America was an unknown territory to the English barons who wished to establish their rights and prevent the abuses of an "avaricious and unpopular" King John ("Magna Carta and American Law," the Baronial Order of Magna Charta, 2003). After John's death, it fell to the background until interest in the Magna Carta revived in the 1600s during a political struggle between Parliament and the English Crown. Through a happy historical accident, this was also a time when many of the charters of the American colonies were being negotiated. The Quaker William Penn, for example, claimed rights under the Magna Carta when he was put on trial in England for an act of what we would now call religiously inspired civil disobedience (Penn was a Quaker). Thus Pennsylvania included Magna Carta protections within its framework in 1682 ("Magna Carta and American Law," the Baronial Order of Magna Charta, 2003).

The later Americans colonists "claimed the right to trial by jury and no taxation without representation because Magna Carta gave them those rights," and resisted the Stamp Acts and other legislation that "shifted jurisdiction for many offenses to the Admiralty courts, where there is no jury trial" ("Magna Carta and American Law," the Baronial Order of Magna Charta, 2003). Also, the Magna Carta, as it was created to resist monarchial tyranny, formed a source of ideological inspiration for the American Revolution. The Magna Carta's protections were built into many of the new constitutions written by the states, often in the wording of the original document. In one 1819 case, the state of Maryland's inclusion of the words of the Magna Carta prohibiting deprivation of life, liberty, or property save by law or trial by one's peers, figured in a decision by the Supreme Court, as it deemed the protection of the rights of the individual superior to the state's right to the "arbitrary exercise of the powers of government" ("Magna Carta and American Law," the Baronial Order of Magna Charta, 2003).

The U.S. Constitution also included many of those Magna Carta rights from the first state constitutions. Equally important in developing the rights delineated in the Bill of Rights was another 17th century English document, the 1689 English Bill of Rights, which limited power of the monarch, mandated free elections, gave the citizens the right to petition laws they deemed unjust, and created the concept of a system of checks and balances by instituting Parliamentary checks on the monarch's power and authority ("Origins and Foundations of American Government," Everyday Civics, Virginia Department of Education). "The clause in the English Bill of Rights prohibiting excessive bail and cruel and unusual punishments was taken over, virtually word for word, in the Virginia Bill of Rights of 1776 and ultimately became the 8th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States" ("Bill of Rights," American Presidency, 2006)

The specific clauses of the 1689 English Bill of Rights that are still evident in American civic life also include stipulations that parliaments are to be held frequently. This meant that the king could not dismiss Parliament to enforce his own singular authority, just as Congress has regular sessions, and just as the president's legislative acts (including appropriations) must be approved through Congress. The English Bill of Rights also allowed for freedom of speech and debate in Parliament and gave Parliament the all-important 'powers of the purse' so crucial to maintaining a standing army.