The Roots of Liberty: Magna Carta, Ancient Constitution, and the Anglo-American Tradition of Rule of Law

In this important contribution to the ongoing debate over the origins of constitutionalism and the American republic, Ellis Sandoz brings together the eminent scholars J. C. Holt, Christopher W. Brooks, Paul Christianson, and John Phillip Reid to present a powerful re-evaluation of the place of Magna Carta and the ancient constitution in the tradition of Anglo-American liberty and rule of law. In stark contrast to the Bernard Bailyn-Gordon Wood school of interpretation, which stresses the essentially fungible and evanescent nature of liberty, The Roots of Liberty argues for a far more ancient and substantive paternity. The authors present compelling evidence that our modern-day understanding of liberty under law, commonly traced to seventeenth-century English and eighteenth-century American roots, can in fact be traced back to the depths of English constitutional and political history. The book establishes the place of Magna Carta and the ancient constitution in forming the fabric of law and government from the thirteenth century onward. The essays deal with early medieval developments, with the common law mind of the sixteenth century under the Tudor monarchs, with the struggle for power and authority between the Stuart kings and parliament in the seventeenth century, and with the role of the ancient constitution in the momentous legal and constitutional debates that occurred between the Glorious Revolution and the American Declaration of Independence. Sandoz's Introduction presents in detail Sir John Fortescue's vision of the Lancastrian constitution as it was revived by Sir Edward Coke two centuries later to become the centerpiece modern and rule of law. Sandoz also places each ofthe essays into the context of the historiographic debate occasioned by publication of J. G. A. Pocock's The Ancient Constitution and the Feudal Law over three decades ago. Corinne C. Weston's spirited Epilogue evaluates the contributors' arguments and, by way of conclusion, offers its own perspective on the importance of the roots of liberty and origins of rule of law in the Anglo-American tradition. The Roots of Liberty is a valuable addition to our contemporary understanding of the origins and texture of the republican synthesis. For students and scholars of law, history, philosophy, and political science, it is a major contribution to the intellectual history of liberty.