Magna Carta

On 15 June 1215, in a meadow at Runnymede, John of England sealed the Great Charter under duress from an alliance of rebellious barons. The document compelled the king to respect certain feudal rights, established that no free man could be imprisoned without the lawful judgment of his peers, and bound the crown to the rule of law. John repudiated it within weeks and Pope Innocent III voided it; later kings reissued it, and it became the foundational text of English constitutional liberty.