en in our kingdom have and hold all the aforesaid
liberties, rights, and concessions, truly and peaceably, freely and
quietly, fully and wholly to themselves and their heirs, of us and our
heirs, in all things and places, forever, as is aforesaid. It is also
sworn, as well on our part as on the part of the barons, that all the
things aforesaid shall be observed in good faith, and without evil
subtilty. Given under our hand, in the presence of the witnesses above
named, and many others, in the meadow called Runingmede, between
Windsor and Staines, the 15th day of June, in the 17th year of our
reign.

* * * * *

The translation here given is that published in Sheldon Amos's work
on _The English Constitution_. The translation given by Sir E.
Creasy was chiefly followed in this, but it was collated with another
accurate translation by Mr. Richard Thompson, accompanying his
_Historical Essay on Magna Charta_, published in 1829, and also
with the Latin text. "The explanation of the whole Charter," observes
Mr. Amos, must be sought chiefly in detailed accounts of the Feudal
system in England, as explained in such works as those of Stubbs,
Hallam, and Blackstone. The scattered notes here introduced have
only for their purpose to elucidate the most unusual and perplexing
expressions. The Charter printed in the Statute Book is that issued
in the ninth year of Henry III., which is also the one specially
confirmed by the Charter of Edward I. The Charter of Henry III.
differs in some (generally) insignificant points from that of John.
The most important difference is the omission in the later Charter of
the 14th and 15th Articles of John's Charter, by which the King is
restricted from levying aids beyond the three ordinary ones, without
the assent of the 'Common Council of the Kingdom.' and provision is
made for summoning it. This passage is restored by Edward I. Magna
Charter has been solemnly confirmed upwards of thirty times. See the
chapter on the Great Charter, in Green's _History of the English
People_. See also Stubbs's _Documents Illustrative of English
History_. "The whole of the constitutional history of England,"
says Stubbs, "is a commentary on this Charter, the illustration of
which must be looked for in the documents that precede and follow."

* * * * *

"CONFIRMATIO CHARTARUM" OF EDWARD I.

1297.

I. Edward, by the grace of God, King of England, Lor