How to Use Magna Carta in a Sentence

Magna Carta

noun
  • Since the Magna Carta, the English had been proud of their liberties and rule of law.
    — Andrew Cockburn, Harper's Magazine, 20 Aug. 2024
  • All this is to say that the background against which these colonial laws should be understood is not Magna Carta.
    — Marilynne Robinson, Harper’s Magazine , 20 July 2022
  • The pattern's name refers to the location where King John signed the Magna Carta.
    — Kaitlyn Yarborough, Southern Living, 27 Feb. 2024
  • That’s when England’s Magna Carta established the principle that government is not above the law.
    — Jennifer Selin, The Conversation, 31 Mar. 2025
  • The Magna Carta is a 13th century English treaty which established that nobody was above the law.
    — Lawrence Richard, Fox News, 10 May 2024
  • This is the reason why there stands a stone, by the River Thames at Runnymede where Magna Carta was signed in the year 1215.
    — Kimi Robinson, USA Today, 29 Apr. 2026
  • This is the reason why there stands a stone by the River Thames at Runnymede, where Magna Carta was signed in the year 1215.
    — Washington Examiner Staff, The Washington Examiner, 28 Apr. 2026
  • There were references to Christian faith and the Magna Carta and — drawing one of the many breaks for applause — supportive words on the crucial tenet of checks and balances.
    — Simon Perry, PEOPLE, 1 May 2026
  • At the time England’s Magna Carta first ushered in the concept of democratic choice, there were barely 300 million people in the world.
    — David A. Andelman, CNN, 20 Dec. 2022
  • Despite the Magna Carta’s curbs on monarchs, some English kings still succeeded in wielding inordinate power.
    — James Coffin, Orlando Sentinel, 7 July 2024
  • The Magna Carta acted as a royal charter of rights and was first issued in 1215 by King John to make peace with a group of rebellious barons.
    — Tessa Solomon For Artnews, Robb Report, 16 May 2025
  • The idea of academic freedom is older than the Magna Carta, classical liberalism, and modern declarations of rights.
    — Bradford Vivian / Made By History, TIME, 16 Aug. 2024
  • The roots of this clause can be traced back to 1215, when the Magna Carta guaranteed that no one in the English justice system would pay a fine disproportionate to their crime.
    — Isabelle Kause, The Indianapolis Star, 22 Apr. 2024
  • The King has focused on defining the present through the telescope of the past, reminding his audience of how the Magna Carta, signed in 1215, was the legal bedrock for both nations.
    — Katie Nicholl, Vanity Fair, 30 Apr. 2026
  • Supreme Court justices will often consider the English common law tradition and the Magna Carta when considering cases before them.
    — Charles Hilu, Washington Post, 4 Nov. 2025
  • Terra Carta derives its name from the historic Magna Carta which laid out the fundamental rights and liberties of the English people more than 800 years ago.
    — Tianwei Zhang, WWD, 21 Nov. 2024
  • On June 15, 1215, rebellious nobles compelled King John of England to sign the Magna Carta.
    — Encyclopedia Britannica, 2 Apr. 2026
  • There’s also a tribute to the Magna Carta, when barons forced King John to sign a document asserting no one—not even the monarch—was above the law, taking England’s first step toward democracy.
    — Caroline Hallemann, Travel + Leisure, 27 May 2026
  • Two environmental activists targeted the original Magna Carta in the United Kingdom during a protest seeking to raise awareness of climate change.
    — Lawrence Richard, Fox News, 10 May 2024
  • Advertisement The Magna Carta has been cited in at least 160 Supreme Court cases since 1789, Charles said.
    — Brian Bennett, Time, 28 Apr. 2026
  • Regulators and legislators have been introducing aggressive reforms and negotiating them down since the Magna Carta.
    — Mary Foley, Forbes, 27 Mar. 2024
  • At one point, the king traced the notion of checks and balances on executive power to the Magna Carta, the foundational legal document sealed by King John in 1215.
    — Steven Sloan, Chicago Tribune, 28 Apr. 2026
  • The requirement to post the Ten Commandments was dropped, but the commandments and the Magna Carta were added to a list of historical documents that educators have the option to use in curricula.
    — George Petras, USA TODAY, 12 Nov. 2024
  • The requirement to post the Ten Commandments was dropped, but the commandments and the Magna Carta were added to a list of historical documents that educators have the option to use in curricula.
    — George Petras, USA TODAY, 27 June 2024
  • Judge Biery’s footnote directing readers to Blackstone’s commentaries and Magna Carta may be intended to give a remedial lesson to members of the administration.
    — A.o. Scott, New York Times, 3 Feb. 2026
  • Benjamin Fanjoy / Getty Images The idea that people are entitled to be judged by a jury of their peers traces back to the Magna Carta of 1215, although the definition of peer has changed over time.
    — David Ingram, NBC news, 15 May 2026
  • Officials in two counties had erected displays at courthouses that included the Ten Commandments, Magna Carta and the Declaration of Independence.
    — Lydia Artz, The Conversation, 5 Sep. 2025
  • This came as Charles was speaking of the English Common Law and the Magna Carta inspiring many of the principles of the American Bill of Rights of 1791.
    — Kevin Liptak, CNN Money, 28 Apr. 2026
  • That struggle exploded into the Investiture Controversy, one of the most consequential conflicts of the Middle Ages, and lay crucial groundwork for the Magna Carta, the first document to hold royalty subject to the law.
    — Joëlle Rollo-Koster, Fortune, 15 Apr. 2026
  • Two climate activists have damaged the glass protecting the Magna Carta, Britain’s monumental 13th-century document that limited royal authority and ensured individual rights.
    — Julia Binswanger, Smithsonian Magazine, 10 May 2024

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'Magna Carta.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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