The English nobility placed restraints on the monarchy by making King John I affix his seal to the Articles of the Barons (more commonly known as the Magna Carta or Great Charter) at Runnymede in Surrey on 15 June 1215.

A free man shall not be fined for a small offense, except in proportion to the gravity of the offense; and for the great offense he shall be fined in proportion to the magnitude of the offense, saving his freehold [property]; and a merchant in the same way, saying his merchandise; and the villein [a free serf, bound only to his lord] shall be fined in the same way, saving his wainage [wagon], if he shall be at [the king's] mercy. And none of the above fines shall be imposed except by the oaths of honest men of the neighborhood...