before the charter was
granted, its main principles constituted "the Law of the Land,"--the
fundamental and constitutional law of the realm, which the kings were
sworn to maintain. And the principal benefit of the charter was, that it
contained a _written_ description and acknowledgment, by the king
himself, of what the constitutional law of the kingdom was, which his
coronation oath bound him to observe. Previous to Magna Carta, this
constitutional law rested mainly in precedents, customs, and the
memories of the people. And if the king could but make one innovation
upon this law, without arousing resistance, and being compelled to
retreat from his usurpation, he would cite that innovation as a
precedent for another act of the same kind; next, assert a custom; and,
finally, raise a controversy as to what the Law of the Land really was.
The great object of the barons and people, in demanding from the king a
written description and acknowledgment of the Law of the Land, was to
put an end to all disputes of this kind, and to put it out of the power
of the king to plead any misunderstanding of the constitutional law of
the kingdom. And the charter, no doubt, accomplished very much in this
way. After Magna Carta, it required much more audacity, cunning, or
strength, on the part of the king, than it had before, to invade the
people's liberties with impunity. Still, Magna Carta, like all other
written constitutions, proved inadequate to the full accomplishment of
its purpose; for when did a parchment ever have power adequately to
restrain a government, that had either cunning to evade its
requirements, or strength to overcome those who attempted its defence?
The work of usurpation, therefore, though seriously checked, still went
on, to a great extent, after Magna Carta. Innovations upon the Law of
the Land are still made by the government. One innovation was cited as a
precedent; precedents made customs; and customs became laws, so far as
practice was concerned; until the government, composed of the king, the
high functionaries of the church, the nobility, a House of Commons
representing the "forty shilling freeholders," and a dependent and
servile judiciary, all acting in conspiracy against the mass of the
people, became practically absolute, as it is at this day.

As proof that Magna Carta embraced little else than what was previously
recognized as the common law, or Law of the Land, I repeat some
authorities that have been