Magna Carta -Clause 29

The 1215 charter required King John of England to proclaim certain liberties and accept his will was not arbitary,for example by proclaiming that no freeman could be punished except through the law of the land, a right which exists to this day.

Magna Carta - Clause 29

"No Freeman shall be taken, or imprisoned, or be disseised of his Freehold, or Liberties, or free Customs, or be outlawed, or exiled, or any otherwise destroyed; nor will we pass upon him, nor condemn him, but by lawful Judgment of his Peers, or by the Law of the Land. We will sell to no man, we will not deny or defer to any man either Justice or Right." -Magna Carta clause 29

 

 

Freeman-an individual not tied to land under medieval serfdom, unlike a villein or serf