Magna Carta after 1215

Everyone in the English-speaking world knows of the barons defeating King John at Runnymede and forcing him to sign Magna Carta, which granted them certain rights against the monarch and made him subject to the law. What is less known is the history of the interpretation of the Great Charter in the succeeding centuries. By the 19th century it had become a secure part -- indeed the basis -- of the English constitution, even while legal reformers were whittling away at its less relevant provisions. Here is an article on the subject in History Today: "The Meaning of Magna Carta since 1215" (which requires registration and payment to read), written by Ralph V. Turner.

What is especially noteworthy is that Magna Carta has taken an even firmer hold in the American imagination, as it has been cited more than a hundred times by the United States Supreme Court, most recently in its 1994 decision in Paula Jones' sexual harrassment suit against President Bill Clinton. Though not an official part of the US Constitution, Magna Carta might well be said to be part of the unwritten American constitution, the existence of which most Americans seem unaware.

What about Canada? Do we similarly revere Magna Carta? It would be interesting to study Canadian attitudes to the Great Charter, but it seems increasingly to have been eclipsed by the Charter of Rights and Freedoms in the popular imagination.