is agreed upon, or enjoined, by the major part of those that are present shall be reputed as firm and valid as if all the five-and-twenty had given their consent; and the aforesaid five-and-twenty shall swear that all the premises they shall faithfully observe, and cause with all their power to be observed.  And we will procure nothing from any one, by ourselves nor by another, whereby any of these concessions and liberties may be revoked or lessened; and if any such thing shall have been obtained, let it be null and void; neither will we ever make use of it either by ourselves or any other.  And all the ill-will, indignations, and rancours that have arisen between us and our subjects, of the clergy and laity, from the first breaking out of the dissensions between us, we do fully remit and forgive:  moreover, all trespasses occasioned by the said dissensions, from Easter in the sixteenth year of our reign till the restoration of peace and tranquillity, we hereby entirely remit to all, both clergy and laity, and as far as in us lies do fully forgive.  We have, moreover, caused to be made for them the letters patent testimonial of Stephen, Lord Archbishop of Canterbury, Henry, Lord Archbishop of Dublin, and the bishops aforesaid, as also of Master Pandulph, for the security and concessions aforesaid.

63.  Wherefore we will and firmly enjoin, that the Church of England be free, and that all men in our kingdom have and hold all the aforesaid liberties, rights, and concessions, truly and peaceably, freely and quietly, fully and wholly to themselves and their heirs, of us and our heirs, in all things and places, forever, as is aforesaid.  It is also sworn, as well on our part as on the part of the barons, that all the things aforesaid shall be observed in good faith, and without evil subtilty.  Given under our hand, in the presence of the witnesses above named, and many others, in the meadow called Runingmede, between Windsor and Staines, the 15th day of June, in the 17th year of our reign.

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The translation here given is that published in Sheldon Amos’s work on The English Constitution.  The translation given by Sir E. Creasy was chiefly followed in this, but it was collated with another accurate translation by Mr. Richard Thompson, accompanying his Historical Essay on Magna Charta, published in 1829, and also with the Latin text.  “The explanation of the whole Charter,” observes Mr. Amos, must be sought chiefly in detailed accounts of the Feudal system in England, as explained in such works as those of Stubbs, Hallam, and Blackstone.  The scattered notes here introduced have only for their purpose to elucidate the most unusual and perplexing expressions.  The Charter printed in the Statute Book is that issued in the ninth year of Henry III., which is also the one specially confirmed by the Charter of Edward I. The Charter of Henry III. differs in some (generally) insignificant points from that of