420 Outlines of European History The provi- sions of the Charter and its importance Permanent value of the Charter The Great Charter is perhaps the most famous document in the history of government ; ^ its provisions furnish a brief and comprehensive statement of the burning governmental questions of that period. The nobles who concluded this great treaty with a tyrannous ruler saw that it was to their interest to have the rights of the common freeman safeguarded as well as their own. The king promises to observe the rights of his vassals, and the vassals in turn agree to observe the rights of their men. The towns are not to be oppressed. The merchant is not to be deprived of his goods for small offenses, nor the farmer of his wagon and implements. The king is to impose no tax, besides the three stated feudal aids,^ except with the consent of the great council of the nation. This is to include the prelates and greater barons and all who hold directly of the king. There is no more notable clause in the Charter than that which provides that no freeman is to be arrested, or imprisoned, or deprived of his property, unless he be immediately sent before a court of his peers for trial. To realize the importance of this, we must recollect that in France, down to 1789, — nearly six hundred years later, — the king exercised such unlimited powers that he could order the arrest of any one he pleased, and could imprison him for any length of time without bringing him to trial or even informing him of the nature of his offense. The Great Charter provided further that the king should permit merchants to move about freely and should observe the privileges of the various towns ; nor were his officers longer to be allowed to exercise despotic powers over those under them. In spite of his solemn confirmation of the Charter, John, with his accustomed treachery, made an unsuccessful attempt to break his promises in the Charter ; but neither he nor his suc- cessors ever succeeded in getting rid of the document. Later there were times when the English kings evaded its provisions 1 Extracts from the Great Charter are given in the Readings^ chap. xi. 2 These were payments made when the lord knighted his eldest son, gave his eldest daughter in marriage, or had been captured and was waiting to be ransomed.
