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Georgetown Law Library

Magna Carta: History & Legacy

This is a short guide for those who want to explore the origins and influence of Magna Carta in this 800th Anniversary year.

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Annotated Magna Carta Imprints

To commemorate the 800th Anniversary of Magna Carta Georgetown Law Library has digitized five annotated imprints of the statutory compilation - Magna Carta cum Statutis. This title was printed multiple times in the 16th and early 17th centuries and was often used by English lawyers and law students to study Magna Carta and subsequent statutes. The text of Magna Carta in these compilations was not that of the original 1215 version but of the 1297 statutory reissue of Edward I, hence the widely held view in early modern England that Magna Carta was the 'first statute'. All five of these imprints have annotations throughout in law-french, then the professional language of English law, in contemporary hands. They are freely offered for use in studying the perceptions of Magna Carta in this pivotal moment in British-American history when the first American settlements were about to be colonized.

Georgetown Law Library Annotated Magna Carta Imprints