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The Human Rights Act: a Magna Carta for the twenty-first century?

(May 2014, Mark Rathbone, Canford School)

Magna Carta was sealed at Runnymede in June 1215 by King John; the Human Rights Act owes its origins to the European Convention on Human Rights, signed in Rome in November 1950 by ministers from fifteen countries, including Britain. This article compares the two documents and considers whether the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and the Human Rights Act (HRA) can be seen as a modern equivalent to Magna Carta.

Click Rathbone Essay Human Rights Act and Magna Carta to download the full essay.

 

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Sir Anthony Clarke

Sir Anthony Clarke

Master of the Rolls (2005-2009)

Magna Carta, or as it is properly called the Great Charter of Liberty, was born on 15 June 1215 at Runnymede when King John – Bad King John as he is more commonly known – was persuaded to accede to a number of demands made...

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