Amiens Conference

To mark the anniversary, Dr Sophie Loussouarn organised a three-day international conference at the University of Amiens between the 7th and 9th December 2015. The conference was chaired by Sir Robert Worcester, and opened by former Attorney General of Great Britain Rt Hon Dominic Grieve QC MP. The conference was held at the Logis Du Roy (pictured, left).

On Monday 7th December, the conference focused on the genesis of Magna Carta with Nicholas Vincent (King John and the Making of Magna Carta); Father Mathieu Rougé (Cistercian sources of Magna Carta); Professor Alamichel (Magna Carta in Medieval Chronicles); and Professor David Carpenter (Did Magna Carta make a difference in the first century?).

On Tuesday 8th December, speakers highlighted the significance of Magna Carta in Britain today with Dr Peter Catterall (Magna Carta in the 20th Century: Charter of Liberties or Concordat?); Dr Murray Leith (Magna Carta and the Declaration of Arbroath), Dr Andrew Blick and Professor Robert Blackburn who focused on the influence of Magna Carta on the British Constitution and Attorney General for Northern Ireland John Larkin (Magna Carta and contemporary litigation in the United Kingdom). In the afternoon, French experts spoke about the influence of Magna Carta on the French Constitution. The Mayor of Amiens then hosted a reception at the Townhall to celebrate the event.

On Wednesday 9th December, we studied the impact of Magna Carta on the Constitution of the United States with Professor François de Chantal and Professor Pierre Sicard and the influence of Magna Carta on Canada with Professor Françoise Le Jeune. In the afternoon Dr Claude Brissac-Feral focused on the influence of Magna Carta on the 1996 South African Constitution, and Dr Hamid Ghany delivered a talk entitled Magna Carta in the West Indies : Absent Past, Tangible Present. Dr Ted Bromund closed the conference with The Social Vision of Magna Carta.

Papers:

Click to download.

Professor Marie-Françoise Alamichel – Magna Carta in Chronicles of Medieval Britain
Professor Robert Blackburn – The Influence of Magna Carta on the British Constitution
Andrew Blick – Magna Carta and perceptions of the United Kingdom Constitution
Ted Bromund – The Social Vision of Magna Carta_rev
Dr Peter Catterall – Magna Charta and Parliament in the early twentieth century
François de Chantal – Magna Carta and the legal responsibility of the Executive of the United States
Jean Pierre – Clero – Magna Carta in the works of Hume and Bentham
Emmanuel de Crouy Chanel – La Grande Charte, quel modèle pour l’anti-absolutisme français des Lumières?
Harry T. Dickinson – Magna Carta in the Age of the American and French Revolutions
Claude Féral – Magna Carta and South Africa
Juillet Garzon – Magna Carta in the attempts at limiting the Absolute Power of the King in Early Stuart England
Dr Hamid Ghany – Magna Carta in the West Indies: Absent Past, Tangible Present
Dominic Grieve – The Legacy of Magna Carta: can it help us today?
Françoise Le Jeune – The myth of Magna Carta during the American revolution
Didier Maus – the Image of Magna Carta in French Constitutional Law
Les libertés en France et au Royaume EN MT

Featured Article

Sir Robert Worcester

Chairman, Magna Carta Committee

Recent Articles

Stay updated

If you would like to keep informed about the work of the Magna Carta Trust and our partners, please sign up to the newsletter below.