British Library X Smartify

Did you know that the British Library in St Pancras London was the largest public building in the the U.K. to be built in the 20th century? And it took 10 million whole bricks to build. It holds some of the oldest and most interesting treasures belonging to the British State. This is a museum like no other!

Its main function is as a reference library for the nearly 400,000 readers who enter its doors every year. The library receives a copy of every single book that is published in the U.K. and a whole lot from overseas as well — making it probably the best place to read in the whole country!

But what got Smartify really excited is its treasures gallery. Here you can see some of the oldest and most important documents to have ever existed. These are the treasures that shaped the world…

What’s our favourite? Magna Carta.

Magna Carta, meaning ‘The Great Charter’, is one of the most famous documents in the world. It is also a vital document for the founding of the British State and its legal system.

In 1215, King John of England, was facing political crisis. A group of rebel barons were uprising. They complained that John was infringing on their rights and behaving in a way that suggested he was above the law. And this was true, John and his predecessors had ruled using the principle of vis et voluntas, or “force and will”, taking executive and sometimes arbitrary decisions. They justified this by explaining that as the King was chosen by God, he was outside the legal system and couldn’t be challenged.

To make peace between the King and the Barons, the Archbishop of Canterbury drafted the Magna Carta which was made up of 63 clauses. Most of the 63 clauses granted by King John dealt with specific grievances relating to his rule. However, buried within them were a number of fundamental values that both challenged the total power of the king. Most famously, the 39th clause gave all ‘free men’ the right to justice and a fair trial. By agreeing to it John finally accepted that the King of England had to live within the country’s legal and justice system. This has been the case for every British monarch who has come after him.

One of the most important things about the Magna Carta is how influential it has been. It proved highly adaptable in future centuries and in other countries. Some of Magna Carta’s core principles are echoed in the United States Bill of Rights (1791) and in many other constitutional documents around the world, as well as in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) and the European Convention on Human Rights (1950).

It’s an amazing document. When you look at it in person, you can see 800 years of legal history right before your eyes!