Thursday, July 8, 2010

Special issue: The Meaning and Legacy of the Magna Carta

The current issue of PS: Political Science & Politics carries a Symposium: The Meaning and Legacy of the Magna Carta. From the Editor's Introduction by Kent Worcester, Marymount Manhattan College:
The six essays of this symposium address different aspects of the meaning and legacy of the Magna Carta-"the Great Charter" in Latin. Although social scientists and legal scholars routinely describe the Magna Carta as foundational for concepts of justice and liberty, the charter itself is rarely assigned in political science classes or scrutinized by political theorists. The aim of the symposium is twofold: first, to affirm the document's historical rootedness and intellectual richness, and, second, to explore the ways in which the Magna Carta's text and reputation have informed the development of common law and modern politics. The Magna Carta was the product of times very different from our own, yet it continues to be cited by jurists and human rights activists around the globe. This symposium makes the case for why political scientists should take an interest in the Magna Carta, not just as a cultural icon, but as a durable political text.
Table of contents:

The Meaning and Legacy of the Magna Carta
Kent Worcester

The Liberty of the Church and the Road to Runnymede: John of Salisbury and the Intellectual Foundations of the Magna Carta
Cary J. Nederman

Jus Tempus in the Magna Carta: The Sovereignty of Time in Modern Politics and Citizenship
Elizabeth F. Cohen

Forgers of Law and Their Readers: The Crafting of English Political Identities between the Norman Conquest and the Magna Carta
Bruce R. O'Brien

With a Little Help from a Friend: Habeas Corpus and the Magna Carta after Runnymede
Justin J. Wert

Slavery and the Magna Carta in the Development of Anglo-American Constitutionalism
Justin Buckley Dyer

Photo: Magna Carta.