Guides: Magna Carta Research Guide: Treatises

Key to Icons

In the shadow of the great charter: common law constitutionalism and the Magna Carta
Robert M. Pallitto
In the Supreme Court's 2008 ruling on whether Guantanamo detainees could be barred from U.S. courts, Justice Anthony Kennedy cited the U.S. Constitution, but he also linked the decision to the Magna Carta. Why would he invoke a document signed by an English king in the 13th century? To address this, as Robert Pallitto does in this clarifying book, is to probe the history of modern civil liberties, and to explore the process by which judges decide individual rights cases.

Georgetown Law Library call number: KF4749 .P35 2015

Magna Carta uncovered
Anthony Arlidge and Igor Judge
This book tells the enthralling, ultimately inspirational, story of Magna Carta in a concise and readable fashion and will captivate laymen and lawyers alike.

Georgetown Law Library call number: KD3946 .A75 2014 INTL

The Magna Carta manifesto: liberties and commons for all
Peter Linebaugh
Peter Linebaugh draws on primary sources to construct a wholly original history of the Great Charter and its scarcely-known companion, the Charter of the Forest, which was created at the same time to protect the subsistence rights of the poor.

Georgetown Law Library call number: JN147 .L56 2008

Magna Carta: through the ages
Ralph V. Turner
Magna Carta holds a special place in the popular imagination of the English. This, the first major book to explore the great political vision that lay behind it, uncovers the mystery of its origins, and charts its enduring relevance through the centuries.

Magna Carta: manuscripts and myths
Claire Breay
This book explores the context in which Magna Carta was issued to discover what it really meant to its creators and how it came to be an iconic historical document.

Georgetown Law Library call number: KD3946 .B72 2002 INTL

Magna Carta
J.C. Holt
This classic study of Magna Carta, the Great Charter, offers the most authoritative analysis of England's most famous constitutional text. The book sets the events of 1215 and the Charter itself in the context of the law, politics and administration of England and Europe in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.

Georgetown Law Library call number: JN147 .H64 1992

The book of Magna Carta
Geoffrey Hindley
As civil liberties and the rule of law are increasingly brought into question throughout the world, leading medieval historian Geoffrey Hindley breathes vivid life into the story behind the signing of Magna Carta, and reveals the undiminished significance of this ancient document in today’s world.

Georgetown Law Library call number: JN147 .H56 1990