Magna Carta Across the Atlantic

Portrait of John Wilkes by Hogarth (1763)

In the Riesenfeld Center's current exhibit, "Magna Carta, 800 Years: Rights and the Rule of Law," several items highlight the political dialogue between England and the American colonies on the eve of revolution. Colonists sought to assert what they saw as their essential English rights against an overreaching British government, and those asserted rights expanded in the 18th century. Some had early origins - the colonial slogan "No taxation without representation," referred to a principle of consent to taxation that traced back to Magna Carta. That argument found some favor in England, just as opposition to broad search warrants, and support for free political speech and expanded religious freedom, echoed across the Atlantic in sympathetic circles.

Political radical and nonconformist John Wilkes (1725-97), was one English figure who became a symbol of rights and liberty on both sides of the Atlantic. Starting as an incendiary journalist, Wilkes went on to a political career that saw him successively expelled from the Commons, exiled from England and imprisoned. As a savvy and ambitious politician, Wilkes took up the discourse of liberty and rights as adeptly as anyone in the period. During his career he resisted broad arrest warrants - also a colonial grievance - and defended his own privilege as a member of Parliament against arrest for libel. Partly in response to his enemies, he also supported the publication of direct reports of Parliamentary debates, and the cause of freer speech eventually won out. At his height and after, the popular slogan "Wilkes, Liberty and No. 45!" captured Wilkes's deep appeal as an opposition figure.

In America, Wilkes was popular prior to the war and had support from the likes of John Adams, John Hancock and James Otis. William Hogarth's satirical portrait of Wilkes, depicting him as a devilish figure holding a tall pole with a cap on top, has become his iconic image. The objects in his hand are the liberty pole and Phrygian cap, symbols of freedom that were likewise used in the colonies in opposition to British rule. One of our current exhibit books, Magna Carta, Opposed to Assumed Privilege… (1771), shows these symbols stamped on its spine, and it is no coincidence. The book treats the controversy over printing Parliamentary debates, and Wilkes's role in it. Invoking Magna Carta in the book's title was a first calculated appeal, to which the elegant blue morocco binding, with liberty poles and caps, added another recognizable sign for those in the know.

   - Ryan Greenwood, Curator of Rare Books and Special Collections

Magna Charta, Opposed to Assumed Privilege (London, 1771)

 

Library Celebration, April 29th - Last Day of Classes and Law Day!

What could be better than the last day of classes?  Or celebrating Law Day two days early?  How about cake, cookies, chips and drinks into the bargain?

Come celebrate the last day of classes next Wednesday, April 29th, from 12 - 2pm in the library lobby.  Enjoy good food and good company, and take a deserved break before finals.

Law Day and Last Day of Classes Celebration

April 29th, 12 - 2pm
Law Library Lobby

You've worked hard all year.  It's not too early to come celebrate!

(Law Day is also coming early, but it's another good chance to celebrate Magna Carta and all things constitutional!)

Magna Carta and the Historians

Fleta; seu commentarius juris Anglicani
(London, 1647).

One of the notable books in the Riesenfeld Center’s current exhibit, “Magna Carta, 800 Years: Rights and the Rule of Law,” is a medieval treatise on English law known as Fleta. Our copy is of the first printed edition (1647), edited by famous English scholar, historian, lawyer and polymath John Selden (1584-1654). Although not a direct commentary on Magna Carta, Fleta offers insight into English law during the reign of Edward I (1272-1307), under whom Magna Carta was enrolled as statutory law in 1297. The treatise borrows from and abridges a slightly earlier treatise on English law, Bracton's De legibus, though Fleta was much less well known. In fact, Selden’s edition was based on a single complete medieval manuscript of Fleta, held today at the British Library.

The few medieval treatises on English law were valuable to historians and constitutionally-minded lawyers in the early modern period, and Fleta was no exception. Sir Edward Coke (1552-1634), the great lawyer who championed English common law and its medieval heritage as the enduring source of English liberties, cited Fleta as a venerable authority. Like Bracton’s De legibus, Fleta was taken by Coke and associates as a witness to the antiquity and essential continuity of English laws and courts, and to some of their development. In his Institutes of the Laws of England (1642), Coke invoked Fleta repeatedly to explain and lend support to the guarantees found in Magna Carta. Coke’s interpretation of Magna Carta, in turn, guided the early modern reception of the text and helped resurrect the message of individual rights and limited government that it still carries today.

Like Coke, Selden made use of Fleta in its major surviving manuscript (known as BL, Cotton MS Julius B.viii). Its owner, Robert Cotton (1571-1631), amassed the greatest private collection of medieval manuscripts to his time in England. This included two of the four existing manuscript copies of the 1215 Magna Carta (today also at the British Library). Cotton then made his collection freely available to Selden and other scholars, and there were important political overtones to their antiquarian activity. Figures like Coke and Selden were seen to use Cotton's library to support the rights of Parliament, in opposition to royalist arguments favoring the broad prerogative of the king. Royalist fears were not unfounded, and it was not long after Coke, Selden and others forced Charles I to sign the Petition of Right (1628) - a landmark English constitutional document - that Charles successfully closed, and then confiscated Cotton's library in 1630. Cotton died a year later, upon which the collection was restored to his heirs. Certainly, libraries and their scholars had a key role to play in early modern historical and political debate over English law and government.     

Our copy of Selden's Fleta was once owned by an associate of Selden, antiquarian and MP Sir Roger Twysden (1597-1672). As a law-minded conservative, Twysden was critical of royal prerogative and defended English rights and laws, though he was also fined and imprisoned as a royalist during the Civil War. Twysden's annotations to the text show that he, too, consulted the manuscript, and attempted to correct Selden in a number of places. His emendations do not much change the substance of the passages, but they suggest Twysden's meticulous comparison of manuscript against printed text. It is not a skill as useful in our age of infinite texts, but it was at a time when single text and sacred text were closely linked, and the stakes of historical interpretation were high. 

   - Ryan Greenwood, Curator of Rare Books and Special Collections

New Tumblr Posts!

Portrait of Queen Caroline, from Lord Brougham
Considered as a Lawyer (Boston, 1868).

Before we continue with highlights from our Magna Carta exhibit and other collection items related to it, check out some of the great items over on our Tumblr site. As another way to show off collection items, and to leave a quick, easily browsable visual record, the Tumblr site has proved a great complement to the blog - and to our collection - since its start in early October.  Kudos to Barbara Berdahl for the great work!

Some quick highlights: letters and photos from our outstanding Clarence Darrow Archive, the London Times obituary of Winston Churchill from January 25, 1965 (thanks to Professor David Weissbrodt for this item!), and images from our extensive trial collection (including the trial of Charles I, Major John Andre, spy and accomplice of Benedict Arnold, and the successful insanity defense of Jonathan Martin).  Others range from a fascinating example of an extra-illustrated biography of Henry Brougham, a copy of one of our Magna Carta exhibit items with an interesting 19th-c. newspaper clipping, a New York State Constitution showing William Seward's seat in the NY Senate, and neat items related to suffrage.  Come follow us on Tumblr as well!  

   - Ryan Greenwood, Curator of Rare Books and Special Collections

Our Magna Cartas: Early Printed Editions

At the center of our new exhibit, "Magna Carta, 800 Years: Rights and the Rule of Law," stands the Riesenfeld Center's collection of early printed editions of Magna Carta. The Law Library owns a remarkable fourteen editions of the "Great Charter" printed before 1600, and eight are in the exhibit. These include a copy of Magna Carta owned by important English abolitionist Granville Sharp, and a copy printed by Elizabeth Pickering, the first woman to print books in England.  

The boke of Magna Carta with diuers other statutes...
London: Robert Redman, 1534.

Magna Carta was among the first law books printed in England, though it was not the first. That distinction goes to the Abbreviamentum statutorum, printed by Machlinia and Lettou around 1481. Several other English law books saw print before Magna Carta, but the "Great Charter," as fundamental English statutory law, did not remain in manuscript long into the 16th century. It was first printed in 1508 by Richard Pynson, while the Library’s collection begins with the second, Pynson's edition of 1514. Pynson was prolific: he had relocated to London from Rouen, and enjoyed a period of preeminence as a printer of English law, eventually producing 139 editions. The Magna Carta collection at the Library likewise includes editions by the printers Petyt and Berthelet, as well as copies by noted printers Robert Redman (husband of Elizabeth Pickering) and John Rastell. Both of the latter competed with Pynson as leading English law printers of the earlier 16th century before the emergence of Richard Tottell. All of our early editions of Magna Carta are printed in small formats, for use by students and practitioners as ready reference to valid law.

The Library's Magna Carta collection was assembled by Arthur C. Pulling, the noted law librarian after whom the rare books collection is named. Between 1912 and his departure in the early 1940s, Pulling acquired the core of the current rare collection, with a particular focus on English and early American law. He followed several bibliographies in his rare book collecting - notably Joseph Beale's Bibliography of Early English Law Books (1926) - and sent extensive "want" lists to booksellers near and far. His well-used and annotated copy of Beale, showing the acquisition of what may amount to half the titles listed, is still on our shelves. Without question, the scope of Pulling's acquisitions was impressive and historically important, and it made Minnesota's rare law collection one of the nation's strongest.

Pulling's meticulous work resulted in a series of Magna Cartas that are unique, and that shed light on the early history of the document as printed text. First published in Latin, Magna Carta was translated into English by the interesting George Ferrers in the 1530s and printed in English several times before 1550, including Elizabeth Pickering's edition of 1540-41, and the beautiful black-and-red 1539 edition, also in the collection. A number of our copies bear early and multiple ownership marks and annotations; some have what could be called 'scratch writing,' and even designs. In one, the royal English coat of arms is incompletely traced on blank leaves, while another shows a wolf-like creature drawn on the rear cover. All of these may bear witness to the books' frequent use by students and frequent change of hands after first reaching the market. Although the students who first owned them are long gone, the volumes are fascinating and hold research possibilities for students today.

   - Ryan Greenwood, Curator of Rare Books and Special Collections

Magna Carta. London: Richard Pynson, 1514.  Tracing the watermark.

  

Magna Carta Open House: Wednesday, February 25th

This year marks the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta, a world treasure and one of the richest symbols of individual rights and government limited by law.

To celebrate the 800th anniversary, the Riesenfeld Center is mounting a year-long exhibition devoted to the great document and its legacy, based on the Center's outstanding collections of historical English and early American law books.  

All are invited to an open house next Wednesday, February 25th, for the opening of the exhibition: 

"Magna Carta, 800 Years: Rights and the Rule of Law"

Wednesday, February 25th, in the Riesenfeld Center (N30)

Open House: 10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.

Snacks and refreshments will be served through the day.

The exhibition, drawn from the outstanding collections of historical law housed in the Riesenfeld Center, traces Magna Carta from its medieval beginnings, to its reception in early America and the constitutional framework that it inspired and shaped.  The exhibition showcases over 75 rare books and pamphlets, at the center of which is Magna Carta itself, which the Library holds in 14 editions printed before 1600.  Through the exhibit we invite visitors to explore the rich legacy and historical contexts of Magna Carta, and the tradition of rights and the rule of law.      

Magna Carta Winners!

Magna Carta. London: Richard Pynson, 1519.

We have winners of the quiz and poetry contests from last week's Magna Carta lobby celebration! Thanks to all who stopped by and participated - choosing among a few excellent poems was not easy (and of course our choices were subjective). There were also a number of perfect scores on the quiz, which required a drawing. Congratulations to Peter McElligott ('15) and Emily Scholtes ('16), who won prizes in the quiz contest. A special thanks to those who gathered their creative talents and poured them out in poetry submissions, and particularly Josh Zamzow ('15) and Beth Binczik ('16) for their winning entries. They are below, with the authors' permission. King John (well, at least the barons) would be proud!

                       ----

bench by bar and court by court

he habeased his corpus, he pled his tort

john's liberties now applied to all

supplicants both great and small

barristers and solicitors (both dong and ding)

hearken back to john our king

magna'ed cartas and righted bills

we use them for our cases still

- Joshua Zamzow

Power hungry English king

Sign and we shall stop fighting

Repudiate, implore the pope

But once you sign there is no hope

Power hungry English king

Sign and we shall stop fighting.

- Beth Binczik