Magna Charta and Other Great Charters of England

Whilst the greatest effort has been made to ensure the quality of this text, due to the historical nature of this content, in some rare cases there may be minor issues with legibility. To the time of the granting of this won derful statute, the people of England had no other rights than custom, and such additional privileges as the kings in their own peculiar way saw fit from time to time to grant to them. There was no established and recog nized law other than custom. There was no parliament. There was no body of men em powered to make laws, either with or without the king's permission. Everybody regarded the administration of the law as being vested in the king, and when he was kind and wise, the people were happy under his govern ment, as they were during the reign of Ed ward the Confessor; but when he was over bearing and domineering, as was William the Conqueror, the opposite status existed, and as a consequence created much misery.