Justice
Delayed
is
Justice
Denied
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What Say the Reeds at Runnymede?
At Runnymede, at Runnymede,
What say the reeds at Runnymede?
The lissom reeds that give and take,
That bend so far, but never break,
They keep the sleepy Thames awake
With tales of Jim at Runnymede.
At Runnymede, at Runnymede,
Oh, hear the reeds at Runnymede:
'You musn't sell, delay, deny,
A freeman's right or liberty.
It wakes the stubborn Englishry,
We saw 'em roused at Runnymede!
When through our ranks the Barons came,
With little thought of praise or blame,
But resolute to play the game,
They lumbered up to Runnymede;
And there they launched in solid line
The first attack on Right Divine,
The curt uncompromising "Sign!"
They settled Jim at Runnymede.
At Runnymede, at Runnymede,
Your rights were won at Runnymede!
No freeman shall be fined or bound,
Or dispossessed of freehold ground,
Except by lawful judgment found
And passed upon him by his peers.
Forget not, after all these years,
The Charter signed at Runnymede.
And still when mob or judge lays
Too rude a hand on English ways,
The whisper wakes, the shudder plays,
Across the reeds at Runnymede.
And Thames, that knows the moods of Jim,
And crowds and priests and homonym,
Rolls deep and dreadful as he brings
Their warning down from Runnymede!
A poem commemorating the signing of
Magna Carta, Runnymede, Surrey.
15 June 1215.
With apologies to Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936).
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Here is a law which is above the King and which even he must not break.
This reaffirmation of a supreme law and its expression in a general charter is the great work of Magna Carta; and this alone justifies the respect in which men have held it.
King John of England authorized preparation of copies of Magna Carta on parchment under duress.
Affixed with his seal he had them publicly read throughout the realm.
By that, he bound not only himself but his "heirs, for ever" to grant "to all freemen of our kingdom" the rights and liberties the great charter described.
He placed himself and England's future sovereigns and magistrates within the rule of law.
Winston Churchill.
Magna Carta mandated: "Justice be to none denied or delayed".
That document now forms the core of American jurisprudence except for Judge James A. Doerty, Washington Superior Court, and
Judge Mary Kay Becker,
Washington Court of Appeals.
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