The UK constitution

Key historical documents

Britain’s constitutional arrangements are said to have evolved over many centuries to reflect the deepest values and ideals of its people rather than an outdated and artificial construct created at a specific point in time. A number of important historical documents contain many of the principles that guide Britain’s evolutionary constitutional arrangements to this day

The Magna Carta was drawn up over 800 years ago to check the power of the English king and to set out the basic rights of his subjects. It established the principle of the rule of law.

• Clause 39 declares that ‘no free man shall be imprisoned or deprived of his lands except by judgement of his peers or by the law of the land’ and is still quoted in the British parliament — for instance, in 2008 in opposition to government proposals to detain terror suspects for up to 42 days without charge.