The Magna Carta, signed by a medieval monarch of England, led to the establishment of constitutional rule and laws of governance. The outfall of the Magna Carta took shape over a period of many successive centuries, carving the path for many rights movements.

The charter was signed by King John of England on June 15, 1215 in Runnymede. In 1066AD, the Normans conquered England and set up a sophisticated central administration. The result was that English society was transformed within a century and the English crown head became the most powerful monarch on either side of the Channel.

In April 1199, King John ascended the English throne after his brother Richard II usurped the throne from his nephew Arthur of Brittany. King John's reign was a reign of turmoil. In those days, the King owned all the land and forests in the country. The land was given over to the tenants who were called 'barons'. They wielded political influence at the court because of their royal tenancy. The barons were given the land to cultivate in fees to the King and bound under an oath of allegiance to the monarch and a commitment to provide to the King a fixed number of knights, or mounted men-at-arms for military service. The barons would parcel the estate into smaller tracts and distribute these to the subtenants able to serve as knights.

The King would impose different taxes, levies and duties on the barons and deploy many other ruses to exact fines from them or from their descendants after death! It was King John who imposed the income tax on his populace. These extortional measures created a wave of discontent amongst the baron. They banded together and rose against the King, taking over London on June 10 1215.

Another issue which agitated King John's reign was his uneasy relationship with Pope Innocent III. The Church was the mightiest entity of the day and the Pope, as its head, was the one who ruled even over the Kings. All ecumenical appointments in the Church were made with the approval of the Pope. When the office of the Archbishop of Canterbury, the highest position in the English Church, fell vacant and the King's choice of the new incumbent led to serious differences between the Pope and King John.

Traditionally, the monarch would make appointment with the approval of the monks of Canterbury, who were under Pope's command. King John insisted upon appointing his own nominee, Bishop John de Gray as Archbishop of Canterbury over Pope's objections. The Pope declared the choice invalid, ex-communicated the King in 1209 and closed the English churches. For years there was no religious ceremony in England. Large-scale migration to France took place consequently. The Pope also encouraged the King of France to invade England.

Finally King John retracted and accepted Pope Innocent III as overlord of England and his nominee Stephen Langton as the Archbishop of Canterbury, hoping it would discourage King Philip of France from invading England. But the French continued to expel the English. The English armies were defeated by the French King Philip in Northern France. This defeat did not desist King John from yet another military campaign for which he announced imposition of more taxes on the barons. This created a revolt in England.

The barons' revolt posed a challenge to the monarchy. They captured London in May 1215 and a cloud of civil war loomed. King John was left with only seven barons to support him. The new Archbishop of Canterbury persuaded the barons to base their demands upon respect for the established order and customs. The barons proposed a system of checks and balances in the governance that would sustain the Kingly strength but would prevent an irresponsible king to pervert it towards its decline. The King pretended to make peace for the time being. He met a committee of 25 barons at Runnymede on June 15, 1215, and signed the Magna Carta to the witness of 12 Bishops and 19 Abbots and in public view.

The Magna Carta was a remarkable achievement in those days when the King was a powerful force.

The Magna Carta specified the following codes:

• Freedom of Church to appoint its clergy.

• Affirmation of feudal laws covering land ownership by the King.

• Rights of tenants.

• Powers of the Towns and Merchants. Fair Trade & Anticorruption Measures.

• Affirmation of Law & Justice. Judicial Rights.

• Responsibilities of the Government Officials and Qualifications for Government Offices.

• Royal Forests.

• Firing of Royal Officials.

• Commitment by the King to honour the terms of the charter.

The wily King John renounced the charter as soon as the barons left London and plunged England into a constitutional chaos. Surprisingly, Pope Innocent III, who had earlier excommunicated King John, supported the King as he considered the Charter as an indignity to the King and Church's authority over the King. However the King suddenly died on October 18, 1216. His son Henry III became the next King whose Regent, William Marshal, reissued the Magna Carta in his name in November 1216 with a few changes, reducing baronial apprehensions. A shorter version of the charter was issued in 1225 AD. By the end of Henry's rule in 1272 AD, the Magna Carta had become a settled part of English legal practice, although controversies still lingered.

Edward I, finally reissued Magna Carta in 1297AD, confirming Henry III's earlier version of 1225AD. Some of the clauses of 1297 version of Magna Carta are still enforce in English law. By 1295AD, the first national assembly had taken shape as a result of the many deliberations on different clauses of the original Magna Carta. This established the representation principle although this assembly was a feudal assemblage of nominated barons, bishops, abbots and the archbishop of the time (we in our times saw a sprinkling of such assembly in the shape of Zia-ur-Haq's Majlis-i-Shoora).

According to Winston Churchill, during the hundred years following the Runnymede signing of first Magna Carta, it was issued and reissued 39 times with a few substantial alterations, but retaining its original characteristics. During the 15th and 16th Century, the Tudor Kings reversed the tide of liberty unleashed by the Magna Carta and centralised royal powers. King James I tried to establish the dictatorship of the crown like in other European countries. The people of England rose against the Kingly Constitutional excesses and the judiciary protested. Charles I signed Petition of (Peoples) Rights which accepted limits on kingly powers but he was beheaded after he disregarded it!

The original Magna Carta represented a gain for the barons but not for the ordinary people. Subsequently it did inspire many movements for constitutional forms, including the US Bill of Rights and the French Revolution. Close at home in Pakistan, Magna Carta could be an inspiration for the authors of the Charter of Democracy (COD), if or when they attain power to rule or serve the people.