中古时期英国44

But even if the Magna Carta is filled with the mounts and belly-aching of the barons, that belly-aching turned out to have profound consequences for the future of England. For by putting so much weight on the authority of a common law, the Angevins had stirred in the nobility a dawning realisation that this was their law too. A generation before, the barons couldn't have cared less about the rights of men held in prison for unstated causes. That was what happened to commoners. But under John, bad things had happened to them, land stolen, widows hounded, heirs made to disappear. So now it was the time to use the weapons Henry II's revolution in justice had put into their hands, and by an amazing irony, the Angevins became the schoolmasters of their own correction. Henry II's transformation of royal justice had come back to bite his own dynasty.

然而尽管《大宪章》里都是贵族们的满腹牢骚，事实证明，这些牢骚对英国的未来，产生了深远的影响。王室如此强调《普通法》的权威，这也就唤醒了贵族们，幡然醒悟，这也是他们的法律。以前的贵族对莫名入狱的犯人的权利根本不屑一顾，平民才有这种遭遇。但约翰在位期间，他们也难逃厄运，土地被盗，寡妇被纠缠，子嗣失踪。是时候利用亨利二世，司法革命的武器抗争了，极为讽刺的是，安茹王室在这场针对自己的变革中，扮演了导师角色。亨利二世对王家司法的变革，最终成了自己王朝的掘墓人。因此，即使这并不意味着民主的诞生。