The UK’s constitution is uncodified, meaning that there is no one document that sets out its fundamental principles and precedents according to which it is governed. Eight centuries after the Grand Charter was signed, Daniel Regan asks, is it time for a new Magna Carta?
June 2015 marks the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta, widely recognised as one of the founding documents of England’s legal system. Since 2013, LSE’s Institute of Public Affairs (IPA) has been reassessing the Grand Charter’s legacy and examining its contemporary significance through a unique crowdsourcing initiative, ConstitutionUK. Its aim: to draft the first codified constitution for the country.
The project has provided some fascinating perspectives on how the Charter is perceived, how it relates to Britain’s place in the world and, indeed, the broader question of what it means to be British in the 21st century.
Over the past two years, the team has travelled across the UK, engaging with people from all walks of life to hear what they have to say about how our country should be governed. One highlight was our celebration of democracy, the Constitutional Carnival at LSE. We also held open meetings around the country, including Glasgow, Liverpool, Nottingham, Portsmouth and Cambridge, and sought views online, launching a major crowdsourcing platform in January as a way to encourage debate and discussion.
Eight centuries after the Grand Charter, ConstitutionUK asked Britons to reassess the nature of the political order and to consider whether it is time for a new Magna Carta. Online at constitutionuk.com, ten topics were laid down for the public to debate. These included broad constitutional questions such as: Is there still a place for the British monarchy in 2015? What rights should citizens have and should those rights be protected in the constitution? Should we remain part of the EU? What are British values and should they be written down in a constitution? The public were asked to generate ideas, to comment, debate and vote on these issues and more, which all fed into a new constitutional text for the UK.
The project has given us insight into how British people feel about the legacy of Magna Carta and about the nature of the political system today. The discussions reveal something of a schism between those Britons who are largely happy with the status quo and those who are eager to see fundamental change in our political system.
Of those who are happy with the status quo, many are proud of the legacy of Magna Carta, of the Bill of Rights, of Britain’s contribution to human rights and of the dissemination of those rights and values through the imperial system. In contrast, those who seek to change the present system often reject this understanding of the legacy of Magna Carta. They dispute the view of Britain as a bastion of human rights and see the imposition of these values on the empire neither as a legacy to be proud of, nor as something that should be part of Britain’s future.
What is interesting about these divisions is the questions they raise about values and ultimately about identity. What does it mean to be British in the 21st century? Can one be proud of the legacy of Magna Carta, yet anti-imperialist? Can one be British and at the same time European? What about identifying as republican; does that negate a claim to “Britishness”? What, indeed, does it mean to be Scottish, Welsh, Irish, French or any other nationality?
The way in which people answer these questions often points to the reality that social and cultural identity is as much the product of our familial, educational and social experience as it is of our belonging to some grand national unity.
The question “What does it mean to be British?” is not simply asking us to interpret our past or our present; it is also about how we wish to shape our future. Similarly, questions about the legacy of Magna Carta may reveal little about its historical impact and more about how we perceive that impact today: the vision of Britishness we wish to carve for the 21st century.
These are important questions that often remain unexplored in mainstream channels. Whether the majority of British people seek an entirely new identity through a new constitutional charter remains to be seen. But thanks to this unique crowdsourcing initiative, the IPA has provided – for the first time at LSE – a public platform on a large scale where questions about society, identity, values and the structure of our political system can be examined and debated.
Daniel Regan is Political and Public Engagements Officer at LSE’s Institute of Public Affairs.
Picture courtesy of Wikipedia.
Alumni viewpoint
As a foundation document of the British system of government, Magna Carta’s impact has been felt far and wide over the 800 years of its existence. The former colonies of Great Britain, including most of the democracies across the Commonwealth Caribbean, have been influenced by some of the principles enunciated in it, such as trial by jury, the writ of habeas corpus and curtailment of the powers of the Crown in its overseas realms, to mention a few.
The 800th anniversary of the sealing of Magna Carta by King John at Runnymede will be observed in the United Kingdom by the Magna Carta 800th Anniversary Committee on 15 June.
In the Commonwealth Caribbean, we will also mark the date. The Constitutional Affairs and Parliamentary Studies Unit of the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of the West Indies (UWI) Trinidad has been working to raise awareness about the document’s significance throughout the Commonwealth Caribbean, having been awarded a research grant by the Committee to promote Magna Carta.
The Analysis of the Impact and Influence of Magna Carta on the Commonwealth Caribbean project has been designed to accomplish three objectives: to serve as a Commonwealth Caribbean link to the Magna Carta 800th Anniversary Committee; to provide a platform leading up to the commemoration of the 800th anniversary by holding a series of public lectures throughout the Commonwealth Caribbean; and to raise the level of awareness throughout the Commonwealth Caribbean of Magna Carta in relation to democracy and human rights.
Sir Robert Worcester, chairman of the 800th Anniversary Committee (and former LSE professor and governor) launched the project on 18 October 2014 with a lecture at the UWI St Augustine Campus. Over the past eight months we have held events around the Commonwealth Caribbean, with eminent luminaries including retired judge Sir Brian Alleyne, former Attorney General Parnel Campbell QC, St Lucian Ambassador to the OECS Dr June Soomer, Sir Marston Gibson, Chief Justice of Barbados, and Sir Dennis Byron, Chief Justice of the Caribbean Court of Justice.
We have been particularly interested in exploring issues around Magna Carta and its application to the Commonwealth Caribbean in respect of the link to human rights and the rule of law, and it has been fascinating examining how this document relates to our present-day constitutions. It may be 800 years old, but Magna Carta is as relevant today across the world as it has always been.
Dr Hamid Ghany (PhD Government 1987) is Co-ordinator of the Constitutional Affairs and Parliamentary Studies Unit at the University of the West Indies Faculty of Social Science and leads UWI’s Magna Carta project.
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