Law Is King
Garland R. Walker Inn’s
Most Excellent Magna Carta Adventure
(800 Years of the Rule of Law!)
Garland R. Walker
American Inn of Court
Pupilage Group 6
Tuesday, March 3, 2015
Sir Edward Coke
King Arthur
A long, long time ago,
I can still remember when the sovereign
once had all control.
The king would promise to do good,
But then it seemed he never would,
Until the people’s freedoms he had stole.
Magna Carta Pie
(or, The Day The Law Came Alive)
The days were grim in twelve fifteen –
Ceaseless wars and in between,
Slight food for the family,
Jail time without a jury.
Magna Carta Pie
(or, The Day The Law Came Alive)
I can’t recall if King John cried,
When from his grip power was pried,
But something touched us deep inside –
The day the law came alive.
Magna Carta Pie
(or, The Day The Law Came Alive)
By and by, Magna Carta did climb,
From the fields at Runnymede to the
highest of highs.
Ye olde vassals and serfs were drinking
mead, ale and wine,
Singing, “On this day the law came alive.
On this day the law came alive.”
Magna Carta Pie
(or, The Day The Law Came Alive)
Did John swear to it out of love?
Or was it fear in God above?
No, ‘twas the barons told him so.
With their swords drawn they refused to
barter,
And put his seal to the Great Charter,
But would the word be kept that was
bestowed?
Magna Carta Pie
(or, The Day The Law Came Alive)
Well, John pledged that day and saved
his hide,
Time quickly proved how he had lied,
But no power could he regain –
The next year he was in his grave!
Magna Carta Pie
(or, The Day The Law Came Alive)
And when thrones later sought back
those grants gifted,
The people held fast and long resisted,
Knowing so well they had been lifted,
The day the law came alive.
Magna Carta Pie
(or, The Day The Law Came Alive)
They started singing, “By and by, Magna
Carta did climb,
From the fields at Runnymede to the
highest of highs.”
Ye olde vassals and serfs were drinking
mead, ale and wine,
Singing, “On this day the law came alive.
On this day the law came alive.”
Magna Carta Pie
(or, The Day The Law Came Alive)
O’er decades and scores the Parliament saw
“By the law of the land” bear “due process of
law,”
Yet the task remained the same.
So Charles lost his head; Cromwell brought
great dread;
And James across the Thames to France he
fled –
Monarchs are so hard fully to tame.
Magna Carta Pie
(or, The Day The Law Came Alive)
And when in the year one six eight nine,
England gave Mary and William their
right divine,
With them there would be no fight,
To sign the English Bill of Rights!
Magna Carta Pie
(or, The Day The Law Came Alive)
Knowing this plus their Locke and
Montesquieu,
The colonists wondered what they had
to do,
To show their rights already proved,
The day the law came alive.
Magna Carta Pie
(or, The Day The Law Came Alive)
They were singing, “By and by, Magna
Carta did climb,
From the fields at Runnymede to the
highest of highs.”
Ye olde vassals and serfs were drinking
mead, ale and wine,
Singing, “On this day the law came alive.
On this day the law came alive.”
Magna Carta Pie
(or, The Day The Law Came Alive)
Into Boston Harbor they heaved some
tea,
And gathered on the Commons ‘round
Liberty Tree,
So a Revolution came to pass.
Jefferson next took up his quill,
To secure these rights he said we will,
Among these life, liberty, and happiness.
Magna Carta Pie
(or, The Day The Law Came Alive)
Battles won, and towards that more
perfect union,
Our founders framed a great
Constitution,
But when rights saw such spare detail,
For more many said we’d prevailed!
Magna Carta Pie
(or, The Day The Law Came Alive)
So Madison had one further thing to
write,
In mind of the Charter, Congress set its
sights,
‘Til we had our own Bill of Rights –
As on the day the law came alive.
Magna Carta Pie
(or, The Day The Law Came Alive)
We started singing, “By and by, Magna
Carta did climb,
From the fields at Runnymede to the
highest of highs.”
Ye olde vassals and serfs were drinking
mead, ale and wine,
Singing, “On this day the law came alive.
On this day the law came alive.”
Magna Carta Pie
(or, The Day The Law Came Alive)
Some we left behind as we took our gains,
When a people here found themselves in
chains –
Four score and seven set straight that path.
Others lost their land, and half could not
vote,
Still the barons’ promise remained afloat,
Reminding it is ever today’s task.
Magna Carta Pie
(or, The Day The Law Came Alive)
As we watched where rights did not
belong,
Time proved true those once thought
wrong.
We learned not to just stand by,
But to share the American pie!
Magna Carta Pie
(or, The Day The Law Came Alive)
Today around this world people cast
their eyes,
And dream their children might see in
their lives,
If they could only yet claim the prize,
Of the day the law came alive.
Magna Carta Pie
(or, The Day The Law Came Alive)
And we’re singing, “By and by, Magna
Carta did climb,
From the fields at Runnymede to the
highest of highs.”
Ye olde vassals and serfs were drinking
mead, ale and wine,
Singing, “On this day the law came alive.
On this day the law came alive.”
Magna Carta Pie
(or, The Day The Law Came Alive)
This story now is almost through.
We hope you have enjoyed our tune,
But we have one more thing to say.
This thing that we call liberty,
‘Tis not something to us came free,
Nor granted here that it shall always
stay.
Magna Carta Pie
(or, The Day The Law Came Alive)
Eight hundred years in the rearview
mirror,
Each generation must bring nearer,
A promise all but unspoken –
The rule of law unbroken.
Magna Carta Pie
(or, The Day The Law Came Alive)
And these things we admire most,
Of privileges and rights we boast,
They trace their way back beyond our
coast –
To where the law came alive.
Magna Carta Pie
(or, The Day The Law Came Alive)
And they were singing, “By and by,
Magna Carta did climb,
From the fields at Runnymede to the
highest of highs.”
Ye olde vassals and serfs were drinking
mead, ale and wine,
Singing, “On this day the law came alive.
On this day the law came alive.”
Magna Carta Pie
(or, The Day The Law Came Alive)
And so we’re singing, “By and by,
Magna Carta did climb,
From the fields at Runnymede to the
highest of highs.”
Ye olde vassals and serfs were drinking
mead, ale and wine,
Singing, “On this day the law came
alive.”
Magna Carta Pie
(or, The Day The Law Came Alive)
Magna Carta
Trivia
Question 1
What does “Magna Carta”
mean?
Great Charter
Question 2
On what date was Magna Carta
sealed by King John?
June 15, 1215
Question 3
Since 1789, in how many
Supreme Court cases has Magna
Carta been referenced?
182
Question 4
Since 1950, in how many
Supreme Court cases has Magna
Carta been referenced?
71
That is more than once per year!
Question 5
Since 1980, how many different
Supreme Court justices have
referenced Magna Carta?
12
In 34 Supreme Court cases. That
is still more than once per year!
Question 6
Which currently active Supreme
Court justice has referenced
Magna Carta the most?
Justice Kennedy
Question 7
Magna Carta has been referenced by the Supreme
Court when analyzing which of the following issues:
a. Scope of the 1st Amendment right to petition the
government.
b. Whether certain punishment is cruel and unusual.
c. Meaning of “privileges” and “immunities” in
the 14th Amendment.
d. Whether the right to trial by jury requires
exactly twelve persons.
e. Equal protection in the workplace.
f. All of the above.
Question 8
Magna Carta has NOT been referenced in which of
the following prominent Supreme Court cases:
a. McDonald v. City of Chicago
b. Boumediene v. Bush
c. United States v. Booker
d. Hamdi v. Rumsfeld
e. Dred Scott v. Sandford (dissent)
f. Bush v. Gore
g. Planned Parenthood v. Casey
h. Clinton v. Jones
Question 9
In 2007, a 1297 copy of Magna
Carta sold for how much?
$21.3 million
Question 10
Why have we been referring to it as
“Magna Carta,” instead of “the
Magna Carta”?
According to standard British usage,
it is simply referred to as Magna
Carta, without the article “the.”
Thank you for playing!
A prize fit for a king
or queen will be awarded!