EDITOR'S NOTE: Law Day is observed annually on May 1 to recognize the importance of the legal system in the United States. This year also marks the 800th anniversary of the signing of the Magna Carta, one of the foundational documents of the legal system. As part of the observance, The Sentinel-Record has featured a series of guest columns by members of the Garland County Bar Association. Today's final installment is by local attorney Terry P. Diggs.
We Americans have inherited much of our legal system from the work of our forebears in England. While America has a written Constitution, in England, when one speaks of the "constitution," it means the body of law that has built up over the centuries to guide the nation in all its endeavors.
That body of law is rooted in a document called the Magna Carta, which was signed by King John at Runnymede in southern England 800 years ago this year. As is often the case, the monarch was forced to give up some of his royal prerogatives in this document, and he did not do so willingly. The Magna Carta gave the British population certain essential rights that neither the king nor Parliament could remove from them.
Much of the freedom we enjoy today as Americans can be traced to rights which, if not invented, were set out and solidified, in the Magna Carta. Later developments in England and America, often at great cost of suffering and sacrifice, added other rights.
Today, in this country, we have freedom of the press and freedom of religion, ensured by the First Amendment of our Constitution. We enjoy freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures, and are safe in our homes, because of the Fourth Amendment. We have the right to trial by an impartial jury and are guaranteed "due process of law," under the Fifth and Sixth Amendments. Our government cannot inflict cruel or unusual punishment on the citizens, by reason of the Eighth Amendment. Discrimination against certain classes of citizens is prohibited by the 14th Amendment. All these rights grew out of that large body of English law that had its origin and foundation in the Magna Carta.
One of the safeguards our Anglo-American legal system has set up for us is a strong and independent judicial branch, along with the attorneys who are necessary to make the judicial process work. The Preamble to our Constitution begins with the words "We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice. ... " Establishing justice is listed as the second priority, coming only after the union of the states itself.
It was to make the public aware of the importance of the judicial system that the American Bar Association established May 1 as Law Day, a day for attorneys and others involved in the law to inform the public of the importance of our system of justice. Take a moment sometime this week to contemplate what our country would be like without impartial judges, without diligent attorneys, without the massive legal framework that in many ways began 800 years ago in Runnymede with the signing of the Magna Carta.
Editorial on 05/01/2015