Magna Carta

noun

Mag·​na Car·​ta ˈmag-nə-ˈkär-tə 

variants or less commonly Magna Charta

1

: a charter of liberties to which the English barons forced King John to give his assent in June 1215 at Runnymede

2

: a document constituting a fundamental guarantee of rights and privileges

Examples of Magna Carta in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The United States grew from seedbeds in Athens, Rome, and Jerusalem, and especially in the English traditions of accountable government, from Magna Carta to the Glorious Revolution. —The Editors, National Review, 16 Oct. 2023

Slowing down government The National Environmental Policy Act, passed by Congress in 1969 and signed into law by President Richard Nixon on January 1, 1970, was considered the Magna Carta of environmental protection law. —Nathaniel Meyersohn, CNN, 12 Aug. 2023

Like Justice Gorsuch, scheduled to teach in Padua again that summer, Justice Kavanaugh would teach his two-week class abroad — at a university in Surrey, southwest of London, with accommodations for his family nearby in Runnymede, on the River Thames, where Magna Carta was signed. —Jo Becker, New York Times, 30 Apr. 2023

Pacific Legal Foundation Invoking the Magna Carta Katyal tried to appeal to the conservative justices in particular by references to history dating back to 1272 and the invocation of the court's recent rulings overturning Roe v. Wade and expanding gun rights. —CBS News, 27 Apr. 2023

He’s bought originals of the Declaration of Independence and Magna Carta for public display and helped renovate the Kennedy Center and the Library of Congress. —Gregory S. Schneider, Washington Post, 17 Apr. 2023

Even the Magna Carta—a bedrock document in the development of Western democracy—was agreed to by England’s King John after people rebelled against wars and taxes. —Abdallah Fayyad, The Atlantic, 11 June 2020

For 50 years, the NEPA law has served as an environmental Magna Carta, obligating Americans to anticipate impacts before embarking on any major development projects involving the federal government, whether through funding, permitting or the work itself. —Bruce Finley, The Denver Post, 9 Feb. 2020

At the time England’s Magna Carta first ushered in the concept of democratic choice, there were barely 300 million people in the world. —David A. Andelman, CNN, 20 Dec. 2022

See More

Word History

Etymology

Middle English, from Medieval Latin, literally, great charter

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Legal Definition

Magna Carta

noun

Mag·​na Car·​ta

variants or Magna Charta

ˈmag-nə-ˈkär-tə 

: a charter of liberties signed under duress by King John of England in 1215 that influenced the development of many important modern legal and constitutional principles (as due process)

Etymology

Medieval Latin, literally, great charter