( also the Magna Carta )
a document that King John was forced to sign by the English barons at Runnymede in 1215. It restricted the king’s power and gave new rights to the barons and the people. Some of these rights are basic to modern British law, e.g. the right to have a trial before being sent to prison. Four of the original copies of the Magna Carta still exist, two in the British Library and one each in the cathedrals of Salisbury and Lincoln .