1215年6月15日，《大宪章》由英格兰国王约翰（King John） 签署。这份世界上最著名的文件之一，最初作为缓解政治危机的解决方案，第一次确立了每个人都要受到法律制约的原则，包括国王。

大宪章（拉丁语：Magna Carta，英语：The Great Charter）又被称作自由大宪章，是英格兰国王约翰最初于1215年6月15日在温莎附近的兰尼米德订立的拉丁文政治性授权文件；但在随后的版本中，大部分对英国王室绝对权力的直接挑战条目被删除；1225年首次成为法律；1297年的英文版本至今仍然是英格兰威尔士的有效法律。

这份由坎特伯里大主教史蒂芬·朗顿起草的大宪章乃封建贵族用来对抗英国国王（主要是针对当时的约翰）权力的封建权利保障协议。订立大宪章的主因是教皇、英王约翰及封建贵族对王室权力出现意见分歧。大宪章要求王室放弃部分权力，保护教会的权力，尊重司法过程，接受王权受法律的限制。大宪章是英国在建立宪法政治这长远历史过程的开始。

800 years ago, on this day, King John put his seal to a document that would change the world.

We talk about the ‘law of the land’ and this is the very land where that law – and the rights that flow from it – took root.

The limits of executive power, guaranteed access to justice, the belief that there should be something called the rule of law, that there shouldn’t be imprisonment without trial, Magna Carta introduced the idea that we should write these things down and live by them.

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Magna Carta is something every person in Britain should be proud of.

Its remaining copies may be faded, but its principles shine as brightly as ever, in every courtroom and every classroom, from palace to Parliament to parish church.

Liberty, justice, democracy, the rule of law – we hold these things dear, and we should hold them even dearer for the fact that they took shape right here, on the banks of the Thames.