Ideas that rule the world – Magna Carta

Abstract

The thesis considers a problem of the outstanding monument of law mythologization - Magna Carta. The specificity in the perception of this document in the Anglo-Saxon and Continental traditions is noted. We are talking about the peculiarity of a person to perceive the phenomena around us stereotypically, casually, avoiding the essence, and in some cases, openly mythologizing especially significant phenomena.

The British are convinced that their national sense of justice is shaped by the provisions of Magna Carta, that they are free people who live in a country ruled by law. But the ideas contained in the charter influenced the development of human rights, the rule of law that limited the arbitrariness of the supreme power, not only in Great Britain. The implementation of the principle of the rule of law is a priority for any people who strive to build a just society.

Over the centuries that have passed since the appearance of this monument of law, it has been perceived differently at one time or another in history, both by the British and by the world community. Today, there are at least two approaches to the perception of the charter: legal, since it was lawyers who first began to investigate Magna Carta, gradually turning it into a constitutional document of Great Britain; and historical, which arose in the 18th century, when historians joined the study of the charter. In these two approaches, mythologization is inherent in the first, thanks to the efforts of opposition lawyers who acted against the wishes of the royal power. It is the power of myth that compels royal power to celebrate the anniversary of the appearance of the document that limited this very power.