Overview

Magna Carta had almost no immediate impact on the lives of ordinary people in England. The agreement was designed to uphold feudal law and was not meant as a bill of rights. But the charter firmly established the idea that the king, like every other English man and woman, was subject to and bound to observe English law.

Although the original Magna Carta called for the formation of a council of barons to advise the king, this council was never called. The charter's influence on government of the 1200's was limited, but in the long term it had a vast influence on the formation of the British Parliament.