Signing of the Magna Carta
The charter, foreshadowed by the Charter of Liberties in 1100 in which King Henry I had specified particular areas wherein his powers would be limited and presented forcefully to King John by his barons, required the monarch to proclaim certain liberties. For example it contains explicit acceptance by the king that no "freeman" (non-serf) could be punished except through the law of the land, a right which is still in existence today. The charter first passed into law in 1225; a 1297 version still remains on the statute books of England and Wales.
