Which document limited the power of the English monarch and established due process?

Which document limited the power of the English monarch and established due process?

• A. Magna Carta
• B. English Bill of Rights
• C. Petition of Right
• D. Mayflower Compact

Answer: (A)

The main idea here is that rulers must be bound by laws and that people have fair protections when the government acts against them. Magna Carta, signed in 1215, did just that. It forced the king to govern with established laws and to respect certain rights of his subjects, famously limiting arbitrary imprisonment and requiring lawful judgment by peers or by the law. This introduced the enduring principle that the monarch’s power isn’t absolute and that the justice system must follow due process—the idea that laws, not the king’s whims, determine how people are treated in legal matters. The other documents contribute to English rights later on, but Magna Carta is the earliest to establish that the king’s authority is checked by law and that individuals have protections under that law. The Petition of Right and the English Bill of Rights strengthen and expand these protections after Magna Carta, and the Mayflower Compact relates to self-government in a colony rather than to English royal power.

The main idea here is that rulers must be bound by laws and that people have fair protections when the government acts against them. Magna Carta, signed in 1215, did just that. It forced the king to govern with established laws and to respect certain rights of his subjects, famously limiting arbitrary imprisonment and requiring lawful judgment by peers or by the law. This introduced the enduring principle that the monarch’s power isn’t absolute and that the justice system must follow due process—the idea that laws, not the king’s whims, determine how people are treated in legal matters.

The other documents contribute to English rights later on, but Magna Carta is the earliest to establish that the king’s authority is checked by law and that individuals have protections under that law. The Petition of Right and the English Bill of Rights strengthen and expand these protections after Magna Carta, and the Mayflower Compact relates to self-government in a colony rather than to English royal power.