Magna Carta, the Rule of Law, and the Limits on Government

Jesus Fernandez-Villaverde

PIER Working Paper Archive from Penn Institute for Economic Research, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania

Abstract: This paper surveys the legal tradition that links Magna Carta with the modern concepts of the rule of law and the limits on government. It documents that the original understanding of the rule of law included substantive commitments to individual freedom and limited government. Then, it attempts at explaining how and why such commitments were lost to a formalist interpretation of the rule of law from 1848 to 1939. The paper concludes by arguing how a revival of the substantive commitments of the rule of law is central in a project of reshaping modern states.

Keywords: Rule of Law; Magna Carta; Legal Theory; Limited Government (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D78 K10 N43 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 38 pages
Date: 2015-10-15, Revised 2015-10-15
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Related works:
Journal Article: Magna Carta, the rule of law, and the limits on government (2016)
Working Paper: Magna Carta, the Rule of Law and the Limits on Government (2015)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pen:papers:15-035

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