On June 15th
this year Western Democracies celebrate the 800th Anniversary of the
signing of Magna Carta in 1215. Just
what does a document written in Latin by Feudal Barons 800 years ago have to do
with our New Zealand of today?
Good
question. Any study of the history of that time informs us that it was
primarily a struggle between whether a King could impose his sovereign will,
especially in the field of taxation and law, without any justification or consultation
of the people. The Barons, feudal
landlords objected strongly, and in essence forced King John to accept the
provisions they demanded.
Let us not
run away with the idea that it at once gave the freedoms we enjoy today immediately
to the “common” people. Fundamentally it
was written by the Barons for the Barons, but this one document cracked the
walls of feudalism, and subsequent generations prised open those cracks further,
which led consequently, to the gaining of the right of every person to vote in
free elections without fear or favour.
Magna Carta
was re issued over the centuries resulting in change. Those changes have in
essence brought forth Western Democracy, in a practical evolutionary Charter
adopting to new circumstances; but still retaining the critical essentials of
individual freedoms. One of its greatest strengths is that it remains the basis
of very different democratic systems, especially so in electing the many varied
types of “Parliaments”.
We in this country
need to take a very good look at our own position as it relates to democracy in
our elections,. No longer can we elect ALL OUR MPs to Parliament under the present
M.M.P. situation. We have given away that right and now we are, in practical
terms, half way along the road to dictatorship. In reality that is what an appointment process of non elected Members
to our House of Representatives is all about.
Especially
so, when those LIST MPs are just party political appointees with no loyalty to
any electorate and merely serve to ensure numbers for each Political Party.
Magna Carta
unlike the Treaty of Waitangi, cannot be re written for the convenience of any
particular group, whose aims are to gain both political and economic
domination. For 800 years it has evolved
from a document signed by a few on the banks of the River Thames at a place
called Runnymede. For centuries it was
barely marked, but now it is commemorated by Nations who respect the rule of
law and democratic rights. Fittingly on
the hill above Runnymede is another memorial to the RAF and Commonwealth countries,
whose service men and women died in the
1939/45 War.
It would be
far more beneficial for our school children to be taught the impact that Magna
Carta has had on the history of democracy, and on our development as a modern
nation; than using the Treaty of Waitangi to promote division and separatism in
New Zealand.
It has been
said that “If you do not know history you are like a leaf that does not know it
is part of a tree”.
PS - please take a
little time out and read Magna Carta's history!
Brian Arrandale is a keen scholar and writer with a background in farming
and management.
1 comment:
Good and timely article. I read through Magna Carta a few days ago. Most of the 67 clauses relate to situations long gone but three articles remain in English law. They are:
I. FIRST, We have granted to God, and by this our present Charter have confirmed, for Us and our Heirs for ever, that the Church of England shall be free, and shall have all her whole Rights and Liberties inviolable. We have granted also, and given to all the Freemen of our Realm, for Us and our Heirs for ever, these Liberties under-written, to have and to hold to them and their Heirs, of Us and our Heirs for ever.
IX. THE City of London shall have all the old Liberties and Customs which it hath been used to have. Moreover We will and grant, that all other Cities, Boroughs, Towns, and the Barons of the Five Ports, as with all other Ports, shall have all their Liberties and free Customs.
XXIX. NO Freeman shall be taken or imprisoned, or be disseised of his Freehold, or Liberties, or free Customs, or be outlawed, or exiled, or any other wise destroyed; nor will We not pass upon him, nor condemn him, but by lawful judgment of his Peers, or by the Law of the land. We will sell to no man, we will not deny or defer to any man either Justice or Right
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