The Ministry of Justice’s headquarters in Petty France, London, gained some new decorations last weekend.
Passers-by can now see a window featuring the following extract from Magna Carta (1215): ‘No free man shall in future be arrested or imprisoned or disseised of his freehold, liberties or free customs, or outlawed or exiled or victimised in any other way, neither will we attack him or send anyone to attack him, except by the lawful judgement of his peers or by the law of the land. To no one will we sell, to no one will we refuse or delay right or justice.’
Another window quotes from the Petition of Rights (1628): ‘No man heareafter be compelled to make or yield any Guift Loane Benevolence Taxe or such like Charge without common consent by Acte of Parilament.’
Lord chancellor Alex Chalk said: ‘Britain has made an exceptional contribution to the law, establishing and enhancing the common law and helping to build the international rules-based order. These quotations will stand as a daily reminder, not only of the responsibility we have to the public and the rule of law, but also the rich legal tradition that we are committed to strengthening every day.’
Other quotations are from the Bill of Rights (1688): ‘That excessive Baile ought not to be required nor excessive Fines imposed nor cruell and unusall Punishments inflicted. That Jurors ought to be duely impannelled and returned. That all Grants and Promises of Fines and Forfeitures of particular persons before Conviction are illegall and void.’
From John Locke in 1689: ‘Wherever law ends, tyranny begins…’ And finally, from Thomas Fuller in 1732: ‘Be you never so high, the law is above you.’
We wonder who that one could possibly be aimed at.
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