#Runnymede Library

[nebris]

Magna Carta Libertatum (Medieval Latin for "Great Charter of Freedoms"), commonly called Magna Carta (also Magna Charta; "Great Charter"),[a] is a royal charter[4][5] of rights agreed to by King John of England at Runnymede, near Windsor, on 15 June 1215.[b] First drafted by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Cardinal Stephen Langton, to make peace between the unpopular king and a group of rebel barons, it promised the protection of church rights, protection for the barons from illegal imprisonment, access to swift justice, and limitations on feudal payments to the Crown, to be implemented through a council of 25 barons. Neither side stood behind their commitments, and the charter was annulled by Pope Innocent III, leading to the First Barons' War.

After John's death, the regency government of his young son, Henry III, reissued the document in 1216, stripped of some of its more radical content, in an unsuccessful bid to build political support for their cause. At the end of the war in 1217, it formed part of the peace treaty agreed at Lambeth, where the document acquired the name "Magna Carta", to distinguish it from the smaller Charter of the Forest which was issued at the same time. Short of funds, Henry reissued the charter again in 1225 in exchange for a grant of new taxes. His son, Edward I, repeated the exercise in 1297, this time confirming it as part of England's statute law. The charter became part of English political life and was typically renewed by each monarch in turn, although as time went by and the fledgling Parliament of England passed new laws, it lost some of its practical significance.

At the end of the 16th century, there was an upsurge in interest in Magna Carta. Lawyers and historians at the time believed that there was an ancient English constitution, going back to the days of the Anglo-Saxons, that protected individual English freedoms. They argued that the Norman invasion of 1066 had overthrown these rights, and that Magna Carta had been a popular attempt to restore them, making the charter an essential foundation for the contemporary powers of Parliament and legal principles such as habeas corpus. Although this historical account was badly flawed, jurists such as Sir Edward Coke used Magna Carta extensively in the early 17th century, arguing against the divine right of kings. Both James I and his son Charles I attempted to suppress the discussion of Magna Carta. The political myth of Magna Carta and its protection of ancient personal liberties persisted after the Glorious Revolution of 1688 until well into the 19th century. It influenced the early American colonists in the Thirteen Colonies and the formation of the United States Constitution, which became the supreme law of the land in the new republic of the United States.[c] Research by Victorian historians showed that the original 1215 charter had concerned the medieval relationship between the monarch and the barons, rather than the rights of ordinary people, but the charter remained a powerful, iconic document, even after almost all of its content was repealed from the statute books in the 19th and 20th centuries. None of the original 1215 Magna Carta is currently in force as it was repealed, however four clauses of the original charter (1 (part), 13, 39 and 40) are enshrined in the 1297 reissued Magna Carta and do still remain in force in England and Wales (as clauses 1, 9 and 29 of the 1297 statute).[6][7]

Magna Carta still forms an important symbol of liberty today, often cited by politicians and campaigners, and is held in great respect by the British and American legal communities, Lord Denning describing it as "the greatest constitutional document of all times—the foundation of the freedom of the individual against the arbitrary authority of the despot".[8] In the 21st century, four exemplifications of the original 1215 charter remain in existence, two at the British Library, one at Lincoln Castle and one at Salisbury Cathedral. There are also a handful of the subsequent charters in public and private ownership, including copies of the 1297 charter in both the United States and Australia. Although scholars refer to the 63 numbered "clauses" of Magna Carta, this is a modern system of numbering, introduced by Sir William Blackstone in 1759; the original charter formed a single, long unbroken text. The four original 1215 charters were displayed together at the British Library for one day, 3 February 2015, to mark the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magna_Carta

[falling-on-a-bruise]

Today Is…The Signing Of The Magna Carta

Today marks the anniversary of the signing of the Magna Carta by King John on 15 June 1215 at Runnymede on the banks of the Thames between Windsor and Staines.There are only two original copies in existence, in Lincoln and Salisbury Cathedrals, although the British Library does have two copies and whilst most people can have a vague stab at what the Magna Carta is and who the King was who signed…

[furryalligator]

(via Architecture | Canada Stamp Series)

[dreamofstarlight]

Caroline Kennedy was on a bbc political show this morning talking about her family connections to The BRF and I have to say, as someone who’s followed both families for a while now, it was the most relaxed I’ve seen her talk about her family and the openness in which she shared information such as not really remembering her fathers funeral but remembered that visit to England for the Runnymede dedication in 65 more.

She spoke about how they family had been at Windsor castle prior to the dedication ceremony and how she and John would have running races with the smaller royal kids (she couldn’t remember who exactly) on the grass etc.

She even showed inside the scrapbooks her mother had made (copies for herself, for Caroline and for John) documenting those visits and trips and times with their father - note: I’ve heard that the 5th avenue apartment had a library/study filled with special bound scrapbooks dedicated to those years and filled with her own photos, clippings, copies of official speeches etc but never actually saw one until Caroline’s this morning.

Is there somewhere I can watch it because I'm really interested and did not expect Caroline to do something like that lol. It’s great to hear how relaxed she was since she does tend to be kinda stiff in interviews. The relationship between the BRF and the Kennedys is so unique and close but distant (I don’t know if that makes sense). The story of Prince Philip playing with John after the funeral because he literally just accidentally walked past a playroom that John was in and since John didn’t understand the concept of his dad being gone thought any man was his dad, philip just started playing with him and Jackie found them and told philip how thankful she was of him doing that, it makes my heart melt.

[floridarevealed]

Dr. Robert B. Ayer, Sr.

By Joanna Grey Talbot

The story of one of Gainesville’s first Black physicians began in pre-Civil War South Carolina. Robert Bunyan Ayer was born on September 16, 1862, to Robert Ayer and Jannie Dickerson in Bufords Bridge, South Carolina.  Typically enslaved workers took on the last name of their white owners so it is likely that Robert was born on one of the plantations owned by Lewis Malone Ayer, Sr. in the Bufords Bridge area. According to the University of South Carolina Archives, the Ayer family owned over 8,000 acres and multiple plantations - Patmos, Runnymede, Harmony, Pineland, and Campfield prior to the war. At Lewis Sr.’s death in 1863 he owned 161 enslaved workers, which likely included Robert, his parents, and siblings.

In the 1870 census Jane Ayer was still living in Bufords Bridge and working as a farmhand. Her children were Evins, Mary (both working as farmhands), Robert, William (both in school), Julia, and Rebecca. After extensive research I was unable to find them in the 1880 or 1890 censuses so, unfortunately, there is a big gap in the family’s history. I do know that at some point during those 20 years Robert went to medical school, married Adriana Colclough, and moved to Gainesville.

Robert and Adriana are first listed in the 1900 census living at 202 Bay Street (4th Street). Robert was working as a physician and they owned their house. His office and drug store was located at the corner of W Union Street and S Garden Street (SW 1st Avenue and SW 1st Street). Their two children, Irwin and Vernon, Robert’s step-father and mother, Jack and Jane Elliott, sister, Annie Hagood, and niece, Maggie Benson, were living with them. Living in downtown Gainesville, the children would have attended Union Academy, the premier school for Black children in the county.

Pleasant Street postcard, courtesy of the Matheson History Museum collection

At this point in history, being a physician was a highly respected position and Dr. Ayer used his influence for good in his community. He was a member of Mount Pleasant United Methodist Church, served as Chairman of the Board of Union Academy, and assisted the county during inquests and with the treatment of prisoners. County Commission minutes ranging from 1902-1910 list payments to Dr. Ayer for “professional services” at inquests, at the Florida Farm Colony, and as a witness. In 1906 he even ran for City Alderman according to the Daily Sun, but came in seventh out of seven with the first three being elected.

Receipt from Dr. R. B. Ayer, physician, surgeon and druggist - 1924, courtesy of the Alachua County Clerk of the Court Ancient Records

Based on his career as a physician and the fact that he owned his home, Dr. Ayer was one of the more wealthy Black citizens in Gainesville. According to the State Library & Archives of Florida, he owned a car. In July of 1910 he registered his Model D Brush (10 horsepower) and in July of 1911 he registered his Semi-Tour Overland (25 horsepower). On May 28, 1905, the Daily Sun reported that Dr. Ayer had installed in his drug store “a fine Victor talking machine, which he purchased from [agent] Moses Edelstein. [...] Dr. Ayer will no doubt attract customers to his store as a sugar bowl attracts flies ‘in the good old summer time.’” In October 1906 the Gainesville Sun reported that he was one of 15 new subscribers to the Southern Bell Telephone Company service. The Daily Sun also reported in March 1907 that Dr. Ayer had bought a “Best Fancy” light from the Gainesville Automobile Company and had installed it in his drug store - “It is handsomely finished in Oriental brass, and yields from 700 to 1,000 candle-power. It is unquestionably the finest lamp in Gainesville.”

Advertisement for the 1910 Brush in a 1909 issue of the Daily Sun

Sometime between the 1900 and 1910 census he divorced Adriana and married Ella. Robert bought a new home at 108 W Columbia Street (NW 7th Avenue). He and Ella had four children together - Helen, Orion, James, and Robert, Jr. Gainesville City Directories and Census data continued to list Robert, Sr. as a physician until his death on October 29, 1937. He is buried in Mount Pleasant Cemetery with both of his wives and two of his children.

Even with all that Dr. Ayer accomplished in his community, his greatest legacy was his children:

Vernon Alexander Ayer (1891-1976) -  According to his WWI draft registration he attended Harvard Medical School. He completed his residency at Old General Hospital in Kansas City, Missouri, and then moved to New York City to open his practice. In 1942 he married Gertrude Elise Johnson, the first licensed Black female principal in the New York Public School System. Her obituary states that she “was a pioneer in vocational guidance for minority students. She also played an active part in the cultural life of Harlem in the 1920's.” Dr. Vernon Ayer retired as the director of the Central Harlem District Health Center.

Irwin Robert Ayer (1889-1945) - Irwin worked as a postal carrier in Gainesville. He served in the 92nd Infantry Division, known as the Buffalo Soldiers, during WWI. After training at the Tuskegee Institute he shipped out to France in June 1918 and fought in the Meuse-Argonne Offensive in November. According to documentation from the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers in Johnson City, Tennessee, Irwin was injured in the war and had a limb amputated. In despite of his injuries, he continued to work as a postal carrier, even living with Vernon in New York City for a while. By 1935 he was back in Gainesville and living with his mother, Adriana. At some point before 1942 he married Josie, who was working for the Afro-American Life Insurance Company.

Helen Jeannette Ayer (1910-1982) - Sadly, I could not find much information about Helen except that she married Clarence Richmond in 1937 and he served in the Korean War.

Orion Thomas Ayer (1913-1998) - Orion was the second child of Robert to become a doctor. He attended Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tennessee. His WWII draft card listed him as working at Homer G. Phillips Hospital in St. Louis, Missouri. It was during this time that he met and married his wife, Helen Viviane Matthews. In 1945 they moved to Gainesville where he set up his practice on NW 1st Street. In 1949 he joined the staff of Mercy Hospital in St. Petersburg, the only primary care facility for Black citizens from 1923-1966. In 1964 he was elected as Chief of the Division of General Practice at Mercy and Mound Park Hospitals. Dr. Ayer was also active in the Civil Rights Movement in St. Petersburg.

James William Ayer (1922-2007) - James lived with the extra challenge of being deaf. He worked a variety of jobs, such as dishwasher at the Delta Tau Delta fraternity house and laborer at the Seven-Up Bottling plant in Jacksonville. James married Virtez Allen in 1944 and they lived in Jacksonville with their son, Thadeus.

Robert Bunyan Ayer, Jr. (1929 - ) - I’ve been unable to find much information about Robert, Jr. except that he lived in Gainesville so it’s possible he is still living.

Dr. Vernon Ayer’s passport application in 1920 for a trip to Brazil, courtesy of the National Archives and Records Administration

[maincatclub]

June 15th 2022

Today in the year 1215 King John signed the Magna Carta at Runnymede, which is near Windsor, in Berkshire. King John was an awful king who had scant regard for his subjects. Even after signing Magna Carta. Magna Carta is old Latin for a Charter of Freedoms, which released the barons from some of the taxes that they were subject too and because everyone lived under the feudal system meant that the ordinary person was subject to taxes that were onerous to say the least.

Copies of the Magna Carta there are a few some obviously held by the British Library but others are held by major cathedrals in Britain.

[jasonramsayphotography]

Do not annoy the Badger of Doom #carvingstone #frieze #architecturaldetails #torontopubliclibrary #toronto #bloorwestvillage #Runnymede #highpark (at Runnymede Branch Public Library)

[davishopefulacademia1]

Is a Reactionary polemic the cause of fear & hatred against non western religons? 2nd migrants & religion

The white conservative polemic is that the migrant communities refuse to integrate into majority UK culture & their religious practices are not in line with Britain’s[1].  The most visible migrant community being the Pakistani Muslim communities in the North of England. Their relative success only has ingrained resentment from the white English population[2][3]. The white English in conflict with the northern England Muslim population are mainly from those who worked in the semi-skilled manual and factory jobs[4], based in the ex-Mill Towns of the north of England.  

When a migrant arrives in any country, they are not a part of, the first thing they will do is too seek out people with a similar language, ethnicity, culture & religious practice  It is not out of desire of deliberate segregation, that is the outsider’s supposed mutual hostility of the host countries culture.   This desire is borne out of the need for safety. Outsiders are labelled with curiosity, hostile indifference, or outright open hostility[5].

The hostility varies form intolerance, outright violence to political opportunism. Each one presents different levels of danger to 1st generation migrants and us 2nd , 3rd generation descendants. Even amongst the political white liberals, Margaret Hodge a senior MP implied that poor whites suffer, because they are second to migrant families[6][7]. That is one of the may problems we as black people are up against. Even our representatives use their white privilege and legal powers to scapegoat black and brown people of a situation, which is poverty & government neglect, that is not their fault. Her comments were post 9/11 & 4 years into a war. With hindsight the 2 wars have polarised the religion,  ethnicity and politics. The racist arguments of the 1960’s & 70 that immigrants will take housing and jobs while the majority white working population will lose are directly comparable to the present day one’s that say the poor white population lose out to a prosperous ethnic minority population[8].

Unless that person is exceptionally rich or talented[9][10]( for example world class musicians) who are more socially accepted based on money and popularity[11], ordinary outsiders must contend with starting as a nobody. Socially laden epitaphs are ascribed to these outsiders, even the utilitarian “migrant” & “immigrant” would be given a negative spin with connotations[12]. The migrant communities will congregate in together in what they consider safe spaces away from massed mob violence of the increasingly majority population[13]. There is not only majority against minority violence, but also minority against minority violence, with this perceived danger, people would gravitate towards protective communities and cultural & their religious spaces.

 Caribbean people found their community in the local churches they set up when they first arrived in Britain[14],  and still maintain to this present day. By free choice or given no option but to live in the cities, First generation migrant Caribbean & African Black people had no other option other than to reside in the inner cities for Black Britain and the suburbs (banlieue) in France.  

Politics, living space and religion are intersectional and always coincide. Living space and religion are in the communities in the North of England where British Muslims live together primarily for safety as well as solidarity. With British Muslims, their perception/belief of Islam as a system within itself has legitimised the divide in hostile spaces.  

Migration to the Uk is the result of government policy and the post-colonial need for commercial labour.  The religions of the migrant communities have attempted to maintain the traditional practices of their original countries. This is apparent with the Pakistani Muslim community in the North of England.

The injustices inflicted upon  brown peoples is historical and is worsening at this present time. In addition, racial and religious injustices have always been set against poor whites.  

[1] Sally Tomlinson (2018) Enoch Powell, empires, immigrants and education, Race Ethnicity and Education, 21:1, 1-14, DOI: 10.1080/13613324.2017.1365055  

[2] The Casey Review A review into opportunity and integration Dame Louise Casey DBE CB.   https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/575973/The_Casey_Review_Report.pdf  

[3] Community cohesion: the views of white working-class communities Professor Harris Beider  https://www.jrf.org.uk/sites/default/files/jrf/migrated/files/working-class-community-cohesion-full.pdf  

[4] https://www.runnymedetrust.org/uploads/publications/pdfs/WhoCaresAboutTheWhiteWorkingClass-2009.pdf    Runnymede Trust.  

[5] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXnSujE3NC4    Minorities in Britain - The Pakistani Community (1966). Film extracts from a programme examining the Pakistani community in Britain, taken from a 1966 BBC2 series on Minorities in Britain. Narrated by Zaynab Dahya and produced by Michael Bunce. First broadcast on BBC2 at 7.30pm on Monday 27th June 1966.

[6] Kjartan Páll Sveinsson:7   Runnymede Trust. The Poor whites and Multiculturalism: Is There Space for a Progressive Agenda?  Who Cares about the White Working Class? :7

[7] Ibid: “…“should look at policies where the legitimate

sense of entitlement felt by the indigenous family

overrides the legitimate need demonstrated by

the new migrants”

[8] ibid

[9] http://www.tracesproject.org/  An untold history of contributions to arts and culture from men and women who have sought safety in the UK from conflict and persecution.  

[10] http://www.tracesproject.org/hong-dam/  Hong’s artistic expression is rooted in her experience as an eight-year-old girl

[11] https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/shyamanthaasokan/meet-the-uk-artists-who-came-here-as-migrants-and-refugees   Shyamantha Asokan.(08/05/15).  Buzzfeed News. Meet the U.K. Artists Who Came Here as Immigrants.

[12]     Camila Ruz. BBC News Magazine. (28/08/2015)   https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-34061097  

[13] Warwick University. Modern Records Centre. (11/03/20). Notting Hill Riots 1959. https://warwick.ac.uk/services/library/mrc/studying/docs/racism/riots    

[14] https://unherd.com/2018/05/windrush-generation-kept-faith/     KATIE HARRISON.  How the Windrush generation kept their faith

[verdepradera]

Sello Canadá 1989 - Biblioteca Runnymede

Mira todos los sellos en el blog

#Canada #Toronto #1989 #Arquitectura #Biblioteca #Library #Edificios #Runnymede #Sellos #Stamps #Estampillas #Filatelia #Coleccionismo #Philatelie #Philatelic #Philately #SellosCorreo #SellosPostales #TimbresPostales #Francobollo

[viewittoronto]

Swansea/Bloor West Village Family Home July 1st $3500 all in | House Rental | City of Toronto

Beautiful bungalow with basement in heart of Swansea / Bloor West Village available for leasing from July 1st. Steps to Runnymede Subway, Rennie Park, Swansea Community Centre, Town Hall, Library and Swansea Public School. Just one block from shopping on Bloor, cafes, fruit/deli markets and boutique clothing. Easy access to the Gardiner/QEW via South Kingsway.

Main Floor – An enormous living room (18’3″ X 15’2″) with working fireplace; Separate dining room (easily converted to a Nursery/Play Room if desired), both with bamboo flooring; two bedrooms (one opens to the deck/backyard) that can be independently accessed through the side entrance as well; a renovated cook’s kitchen with stainless steel appliances (including oven with warming drawer) and granite countertops; a private back deck; a renovated three piece bathroom on the main floor and ductless Air Conditioning.

Basement – Large living/entertainment room with new tiled flooring and one bedroom independent suite with side entrance. Full bathroom in the basement. Large laundry room in the basement with new washer(2017) and dryer (2016) and large storage area.

Backyard with raised deck and barbeque. Garage/shed in the back for additional storage. On street parking.

Ideal for small families with nanny or in-law suite. One of best communities in Toronto to live and raise a family. Swansea Public school district.

Available July 1st. $3500 inclusive of all Utilities with minimum 1 year lease. Non-smokers only. Well-behaved pets considered.

Please include your email or phone number for response when responding.

The post Swansea/Bloor West Village Family Home July 1st $3500 all in | House Rental | City of Toronto appeared first on Viewit.

from Viewit https://ift.tt/2kxWTQL via https://viewit.agency

[whyilovetoronto]

Why I Love High Park-Alhambra United Church: Or as I know it as the Korean Church with English service at 10:30 a.m.

Strolling along Annette

Annette Street, between Runnymede and Keele, is my favourite. The roadway is lined with beautiful buildings with homes, a school, a library and four churches. In fact, one of those churches still operates today, while two have been integrated into stunning residential units and one is waiting its turn.

The former High Park-Alhambra United Church, or as I remember it as the High Park United Korean Church, went on the market for $8.9 million. It was purchased by TRAC Developments Inc., who recently released a revised proposal to redevelop the church into residential units. 

While the renderings are appealing, it’s history is intriguing as it is filled with famed architects and an almost century long prohibition.

(Courtesy Toronto Public Library)

High praise

The beautiful 1908 building, by famed architectural firm Burke, Horwood and White, has been praised by the city’s chief planner as a “well-crafted example of the Neo-Gothic style.” In 1925 the building saw the addition of a Sunday School on the west side. Both the 1908 and 1925 portion of the building received heritage status 1990 and in May 2016 it was being considered under the Ontario Heritage Act.

When the church opened it was a Methodist Church, which is very significant to the Junction. It was the Methodists who played a major role in having the area placed in a legal prohibition until 1998. It’s unknown how long the Methodist Church was operational, but the High Park-Alhambra United Church closed in 1996 before its final incarnation, High Park Korean United Church, took over.

Developers vs. Heritage

The redevelopment is set to be spearheaded by Turner Fleischer Architects and host 77 residential units, which will range from one to three bedrooms. The new plans see the restoration of the Sunday School, which was cause for debate by the developers, who noted no redeeming heritage attributes and called it a “prison.” While it does resemble a school gym, both the 1908 and 1925 portion have become part of the community’s DNA. You can’t say “you’ve restored a beloved heritage property” if part of it is missing. The school will now feature what looks to be a one-storey glass structure atop, much like the Massey-Harris building and Argyle Lofts.  

(Courtesy of Urban Toronto)

The massive parking lot to the south will see a new structure erected. However, with the parking lot gone the developers still promise almost 100 parking spaces.

(Courtesy of Urban Toronto)

[hmollik]

Magna Carta Protocol: A BEP20 token with super high yield and liquidity generation

The Magna Carter is a charter of liberties to which the English barons forced King John to give his assent in June 1215 at Runnymede. It is a document constituting a fundamental guarantee of rights and privileges.

Magna Carta is a BEP20 token with super high yield and liquidity generation tokenomics for the community. Magna Carta is created along with a purpose built forum No Rug Pull, which will provide this cryptocurrency with a purpose and use.

buy and sell cryptocurrency, Find safe moonshot projects, invest in rug proof mining pools, field farming and staking.

No Rug Pull forum will also enable users to exchange #MGN tokens for many crypto related digital good and services via Escrow payment.

As well as providing a decentralized exchange and a library of information for the growth of the community.

✅ Name: Magna Carta

✅ Symbol: MGN

✅ Total Supply: 100,000,000,000,000

✅ Certik - Audit coming Soon

✅ Coin Gecko 🦎 & CMC Application

✅ Contract address

0xF7C20bB6192d8469E67C858A5082AD55437F5eaD

✅ 10% Tax

2% burn 🔥 rate

8% community reward 💰

✅ Forum Website: http://www.norugpull.com/

✅telegram: https://t.me/magnacartatoken

https://norugpull.com/

⁃ We take your coin/token script and regulate them and launch them with our developers. We return ownership to you.

⁃ We ensure you are rug pull proof

⁃ We churn out different coin projects

⁃ But the actual Magna Carta itself. Has a lot of history. Symbolic with the crypto community.

⁃ No fake karma

⁃ No fake profiles

⁃ The only real place to find new trusted new coins.

How to buy Presale Magna Carta Token on DXsale

"Tutorial on how to buy Magna Carta via wallet

✅1. enter dapp

✅2. paste the link = TBC

✅3. switch network to smartchain

✅4. confirm approval and make sure our wallet is connected

✅5. determine your nominal in participation. Then click approve

✅6. copy Smart tick MGN paste on the homepage then turn it on

✅SC: 0xF7C20bB6192d8469E67C858A5082AD55437F5eaD

https://bscscan.com/token/0xf7c20bb6192d8469e67c858a5082ad55437f5ead

✅7. wait for the Magna Carta distribution date

✅ Thank you 🙏🙏

Presale Will Open When Community reach 500 members

More Info at: https://magnacarta.finance/

[maxwellyjordan]

SCOTUS Map – Summer 2019 recap

This summer was another busy one for the Supreme Court. During the summer term — which we define as the period between the last day October Term 2018 decisions were handed down (June 27, 2019) and the first day of oral arguments for OT 2019 (October 7, 2019) — the justices participated in 52 events. Below is a selection of what they’ve been up to.

Click to enlarge.

Justice Neil Gorsuch kicked off the summer term on July 1 across the pond at the University of Oxford, where he participated in an ABA leadership conference. Later that month, both he and the newest justice, Brett Kavanaugh, led two-week courses abroad for George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia Law School: Gorsuch taught national security and separation of powers in Padua, Italy, while Kavanaugh, in his only event of the summer term, taught a class titled “Creation of the Constitution” in Runnymede, England, about an hour southwest of London. (With the exception of a mid-September media law conference in central London featuring Justice Stephen Breyer, all other events we tracked this summer took place in the United States.)

On July 2, less than a week after the final OT 2018 opinion was announced, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg visited Georgetown Law, where she discussed her legacy and the historical arc of women’s rights. While noting that many of the formal obstacles to women’s career paths have been dismantled since her work at the American Civil Liberties Union in the 1970s, Ginsburg nevertheless acknowledged that “what remains is what has often been called unconscious bias.”

Several weeks later, on July 18, Justice Elena Kagan appeared at Georgetown as well, where she recounted her memorable Kimble v. Marvel Entertainment opinion from four years prior, which incorporated numerous Spider-Man references. “I read Spider-Man as a kid,” Kagan recalled, adding: “If you can’t get a Spider-Man reference into a case like that, you’re not working hard enough.” Kagan also paid her respects to the late Justice John Paul Stevens, who had passed away two days earlier. “He seemed to all of us — eternal,” she said of the man whom she succeeded on the Supreme Court.

Ginsburg, who had traveled to Portugal with Stevens days prior to his death, struck a similar chord while speaking to Duke summer program students on July 24:

His mind remained clever at 99. … He spoke of court cases, even footnotes and opinions, his military service in World War II, ballgames he’d attended. His conversation was engaging and his memory amazing. Perhaps he knew that at age 99 distance travel was a risk, but he wanted to experience fully the joys of being alive and he did just that almost to his last breath.

Then Ginsburg, a longtime admirer of the theater, quoted “Hamlet”: “Take him for all in all. We shall not look upon his like again.” Two days later, Ginsburg would continue her annual tradition of speaking about opera and the law at the Glimmerglass Festival in Cooperstown, New York, telling the audience: “I attribute my success in law school to my daughter. She was 14 months when I started law school. My day had two parts to it: I went to school at 8 in the morning. I worked as hard [as] I could until 4 in the afternoon, and then I left and it was Jane, my daughter’s, time. We went to the park, we played silly games, I fed and bathed her, she went to sleep.”

In August, the justices’ public schedules were a bit lighter, although Ginsburg, Kagan and Sotomayor each hosted events. Three days after the Supreme Court announced on August 23 that Ginsburg had completed a three-week treatment for pancreatic cancer, the 86-year-old justice received an honorary degree from the University at Buffalo Law School. On August 31, she attended the Library of Congress National Book Festival to discuss her book “My Own Words.”

Late August marked the unofficial launchpad for a judicial book-tour season of sorts. Sotomayor spoke about her children’s book “Turning Pages” at the Mississippi Book Festival on August 17, the beginning of a frenetic cross-country schedule through the end of September that would include a dozen events at venues from Tufts University in Massachusetts to Santa Monica High School in California and many places in between.

On September 1, Sotomayor spoke at the AJC Decatur Book Festival in Georgia to promote her newest children’s book, “Just Ask! Be Different, Be Brave, Be You.” Six days (and three events) later, she visited Portland Community College’s Sylvania campus, where she discussed the inspiration for the book, which features young characters suffering from various disabilities. As a diabetic child herself, Sotomayor explained, “I was embarrassed by my diabetes. I didn’t want to show other people, especially kids, that I had to take an injection every day. … I want to be a voice for all the kids like me who are different, who have different physical and sometimes mental conditions and need a voice who says it’s OK to ask, it’s OK to be different, it’s OK to be brave.”

Perhaps it was fitting, then, that the justice later headlined a unique conversation at the Kennedy Center with the 15-year-old debater, actress and fellow New Yorker Rosdely Ciprian, who was appearing in the Heidi Schreck Broadway play “What the Constitution Means to Me.” The precocious Ciprian turned the eponymous question around on her interlocutor: “What does the Constitution mean to you?” To which Sotomayor responded that “it creates the structure under which we as Americans live with each other, because that’s what laws mean. That’s what laws mean to me.” (The Kennedy Center video of the event is available here.)

In the midst of her slew of book events, Sotomayor attended the Judicial Conference for the 10th Circuit on September 10, where she addressed her relationship with Kavanaugh following his controversial appointment to the Supreme Court after being accused of sexual assault: “[We] are all human beings, we all have pasts. … Now, whether things occurred or didn’t occur, all of that is irrelevant. It is yesterday, today is today and moving forward, I have to work with him. And because I have to work with him, my measure of him has to be what he is doing as a justice now.”

Sotomayor also traveled to Waterloo, New York, on September 14 to be inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame, alongside other pioneering women such as Angela Davis, Jane Fonda and Gloria Allred.

Sotomayor wasn’t the only one promoting a new book this summer. Gorsuch released a collection of essays titled “A Republic, If You Can Keep It” on September 10, precipitating a travel-packed month of his own in which he headlined 10 separate events.

On September 6, he keynoted the Texas Supreme Court Historical Society’s John Hemphill Dinner in Austin before heading out west to appear at a series of events in California: a September 10 conversation and book signing at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation & Institute in Simi Valley, followed by two speaking engagements the next day at Pepperdine Law School in Malibu and the Richard Nixon Library & Museum in Yorba Linda. At Pepperdine, where Gorsuch appeared with two of his former clerks, he singled out one of them, David Feder, for Feder’s contributions to the book, noting wryly that “you don’t have to be 65 and gray-haired to write a book.”

The following week, Gorsuch spent time in Washington, D.C., where he discussed his book and signed copies at the William G. McGowan Theater on September 16. The next day, at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, he regaled the audience with tales of the Supreme Court confirmation process in a conversation with the center’s president and CEO Jeffrey Rosen.

Then, it was back to Texas for more appearances at presidential centers. On September 18, Gorsuch spoke at the George W. Bush Presidential Center and the next day held a conversation with Mark Updegrove of the Lyndon Baines Johnson Foundation.

As the summer came to a close, Gorsuch traveled to Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, on September 20 and attempted to reassure his listeners that the justices’ votes could not be easily categorized along partisan lines, pointing out that only about a quarter to a third of the Supreme Court’s opinions are decided on a 5-4 vote. “It’s been the same percentage since 1945. … The only thing that’s changed is nothing has changed. And in 1945, eight of the nine justices had been appointed by Franklin D. Roosevelt. If we’re able to agree as well as they did, I’d say we’re doing all right.”

On September 26, Gorsuch capped his presidential-themed book tour with a conversation presented by the Supreme Court Historical Society and The Fred W. Smith National Library for the Study of George Washington at Mount Vernon.

Ginsburg, meanwhile, showed no signs of slowing down following her cancer treatment, adopting a blistering September schedule. On September 3, she delivered the Frank and Kula Kumpuris lecture to a crowd of about 13,000 people in Arkansas, after being introduced by former President Bill Clinton. Demand for the event was so high that the venue had to be moved to the Verizon Arena.

On September 8 in Chicago, Ginsburg presented an award at a soirée hosted by her son James’ company, Cedille Records. The following day, she visited the University of Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy and joked about her celebrity status: “I must say, sometimes it can be a little overbearing when everyone wants to take my picture though I’m 86 years old.”

Three days later, Ginsburg returned to Georgetown Law for the second time in just over two months to welcome first-year law students. When asked what she would add to the Constitution, Ginsburg suggested the Equal Rights Amendment: “I have three granddaughters. … I can point to the First Amendment protecting their freedom of speech, but I can’t point to anything that explicitly says that men and women have equal stature before the law. Every constitution in the world [since 1950 says] that; ours doesn’t.”

Ginsburg was back in her native New York by mid-month, as a guest of honor for a Moment Magazine dinner at the Yale Club on September 18th. The next day, David Rubenstein hosted her for a conversation at the 92nd Street Y. Among other things, she reflected on her well-known friendship with the late Justice Antonin Scalia. Reflecting on his love of proper grammar, she recalled: “Every once in a while he’d come to chambers or he’d call me on the phone and say, ‘Ruth, you made a grammatical error.’ He never did it in writing to embarrass me before my colleagues. And sometimes I would say to him, ‘You know, this opinion is so strident. You’ll be more persuasive if you toned it down.’ And that was advice he never, never took.”

The following week, Ginsburg found herself in Raleigh, North Carolina, to deliver the Lillian Parker Wallace Lecture at Meredith College. Recounting her early years as an attorney when she occasionally slept a mere two hours per night, Ginsburg admitted that, these days, “I live in deadly fear of falling asleep on the bench.”

Finally, Ginsburg returned to the nation’s capital for three events on consecutive days starting on September 25. That night, she was joined by Sotomayor for a Ronald Reagan Institute event celebrating the life and achievements of the first female Supreme Court justice, Sandra Day O’Connor. Sotomayor noted that the pioneering justice’s appointment “gave me hope,” while Ginsburg praised O’Connor’s insistence on debating ideas, not denigrating people: “In that,” Ginsburg declared, “I tried to follow her lead.”

The next day, at the annual Action for Cancer Awareness Awards luncheon, Ginsburg received the Special Recognition Award from the Prevent Cancer Foundation for “inspiring Americans of all ages to prioritize health and fitness to reduce their cancer risk.”

Then, wrapping up an exceptionally busy month, the justice spoke at a dinner at American University Washington College of Law in honor of Professor Emeritus Herman Schwartz.

With 35 events, September 2019 was tied for the second-busiest month for Supreme Court justices since SCOTUS Map started tracking their public events back in July 2014. (The busiest was September 2014, with 45 events, followed by September 2019 and September 2016, both with 35.)

The first days of October have seen some of the less active justices headline events as well: Breyer, for example, spoke at Guilford College in North Carolina on October 2, and then delivered the Constitution Day lecture at Rhodes College in Tennessee the very next day. Also on October 3, Justice Clarence Thomas spoke at a dedication ceremony for Hillsdale College’s new campus chapel, declaring: “The presence of a chapel on a college campus is particularly important. In fact, in this age of popular iconoclasm, building a chapel on a college campus is all but forbidden.”

The post SCOTUS Map – Summer 2019 recap appeared first on SCOTUSblog.

from Law https://www.scotusblog.com/2019/10/scotus-map-summer-2019-recap/ via http://www.rssmix.com/

[marymosley]

Magna Carta 800 Years and Counting

My criminal justice students and I visited the British Library this morning to view an original Magna Carta (several originals were created by hand). I had considered taking them to Runnymede, the fabled meadow where the English barons forced King John to sign Magna Carta over 800 years ago in the year 1215. Apart from the time it would take to get there from London, I learned the British had repurposed the space to suit modern life. Runnymede is now considered an . . .

Excellent place to run your dog! Find out more on the Visiting Runnymede with Your Dog website, where “well behaved dogs are welcome in our tea-room”—called the Magna Carta tea-room, of course. Don’t be fooled, though. Both the British and Americans revere the rights enshrined in Magna Carta. In our inimitable way, we Americans are just more outspoken about it.

Take a look at the background of the photo. Look familiar? No, it’s not the Old Well at Carolina, another hallowed shrine. It’s a monument erected in 1957 by none other than the American Bar Association. You can see full images of the memorial here.

Written 800 years ago, Magna Carta contains some objectionable provisions. Villeins (feudal tenants), women, and Jews did not fare well. Magna Carta also contains many outdated provisions. You can open the document to just about any place and find provisions about forests, ale, cloth-dying, knight service (and how to get out of it), and other concerns of the feudal age.

More important, you can find fundamental principles of justice, which have informed and should continue to inform our criminal justice system. Probably the most famous provision is the “law of the land” clause, no. 39 if you’re reading a modern translation. The original Magna Carta had no numbers and no paragraphs:

Does Clause 39 sound familiar (once you find it)? Our state constitution states, in Article I, Sec. 19, that “[N]o person shall be taken, imprisoned, or disseized . . . but by the law of the land,” language taken nearly verbatim from Clause 39 of Magna Carta. The law of the land concept establishes the fundamental principle that the king, government, state, or other authority must follow the rule of law. The U.S. Constitution embodies this principle in the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment.

The students in the class identified several other provisions essential to our modern conception of justice, including among others:

Clause 20, which requires that punishments be “in accordance with the degree of the offense” or, more succinctly, that the punishment fit the crime;

Clause 38, which prohibits putting a person on trial “without reliable witnesses,” perhaps a precursor to the right of confrontation; and

Clause 18, which states that the hearing of certain writs “not be held elsewhere than in the counties to which they relate,” a preference for local trials of local matters later expressed in the Sixth Amendment’s guarantee of trial in the state and district where a crime is alleged to have been committed.

Some provisions speak across the centuries to current issues under debate. Clause 20, above, allows punishments in accordance with the severity of the offense, but “saving” the defendant’s way of life, stock-in-trade, and means of livelihood. This 800-year old statement of principle remains relevant as we consider the appropriateness of the collateral consequences that follow a criminal conviction.

Another pertinent principle appears in Clause 40, which states: “To no one will we sell, to none will we deny or delay, right or justice.” Magna Carta scholar A.E. Dick Howard has observed that “[i]f taken to mean that the courts should be open to rich and poor alike, it commends itself to modern times as well.” A.E. Dick Howard, Magna Carta: Text and Commentary at 15 (1964). This basic truth brings to mind the current debate over court fees, costs, and other monetary obligations.

The old parchment still has a lot of life left in it. I want to end this post by thanking Julian Harrison, Curator of Pre-1600 Historical Manuscripts at the British Library, for taking time out of his day to host us this morning.

Next week: Central Criminal Court, formerly called The Old Bailey, where serious criminal trials are held. Cheers.

The post Magna Carta 800 Years and Counting appeared first on North Carolina Criminal Law.

Magna Carta 800 Years and Counting published first on https://immigrationlawyerto.tumblr.com/

[bikingtoronto]

Cycle Toronto Basic Bike Maintenance Workshop at Runnymede Library https://ift.tt/2qCeD0O

[maineprelawland]

The Effect Of The Magna Carta On The Founding Fathers

By Parker Ludwick, University of Southern Maine Class of 2021

October 4, 2017

The rule of law, due process, and freedom from government interference in our lives. Among others, these are rights that we as American citizens enjoy and freedoms endowed upon us by the Constitution. Ratified 229 years ago, the Constitution lays out the institutes of government; their powers, and interaction with each other; annotates our rights as citizens to pursue our lives and happiness, and provides the legal basis to ensure the proper implementation of what was intended by the founding fathers. It is the oldest written constitution still in effect today, truly a testament to its longevity and constructive ambiguity through the midst of complex and dynamic issues. However, roots of this document can be traced to one much older; 800 years in fact. First written in 1215, the Magna Carta has inspired revolutionary leaders through successive centuries and had large influence on our founding fathers, and thus the Constitution.

Born in 1167, King John was both a legal wiz and a poor military leader. He inherited the throne in 1199 and within five years, he had lost most of the English Empire’s foreign land; about a third of what is modern day France. John pursued reconquering this land with indomitable fierceness, unfortunately it was riddled with folly. To finance these extortionate military operations, John squeezed as much money as he could out of his subjects, ultimately resorting to racketeering. This, combined with murder and conflict with the pope, eventually led many of his barons to take arms in an attempt to seize control. Capturing London, these barons forced John to yield. Down the Thames, in a town called Runnymede, and under a yew tree in a meadow, John placed his seal on what would become a seminal democratic document, the Magna Carta[i].

The Declaration of Independence famously quotes, “taxation without representation,” as a reason for succession. Shades of this principle can be traced to clause 14 of the Magna Carta, which says, “To obtain the general consent of the realm for the assessment of an aid, we will cause the archbishop, bishops, abbots, earls, and greater barons to be summoned individually by letter.[ii]” As this is a retrospective solution rather than prescriptive grievance, the colonists were yet to revolt and quoted this as a reason for such action, while the barons at Runnymede imposed this restriction as a condition for rule. Yet, this difference reveals an important similarity and unprecedented feature of the Magna Carta. The Magna Carta placed restrictions on the king’s power and authority over his subjects, unheard of in the world until this time[iii]. The colonists were facing the reign of what they saw as a tyrannical king. Airing their grievances, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and company, decided they were being treated unfairly and declared their freedom from the Empire. Eventually, they established a government under the Constitution that is similar to the Magna Carta in that restrictions were placed on those ruling, whether that is a King or a representative democracy. Indeed, the system of checks and balances is truly a defining characteristic of the Constitution.

Perhaps the most important contribution of the Magna Carta to the Constitution is the establishment of rule of law and due process. However, it is important to note that under the feudal system that operated in England during this time, the only “free men” that the Magna Carta applied to were the rich, powerful, and wealthy. The majority of the population was unfree peasants.

There are many examples of the influence of the Magna Carta in our modern system of justice, some include:

           -Clause 20: “For a trivial offense, a free man shall be fined only in proportion to the degree of his offense, and for a serious offense correspondingly.” Similar to the cruel and unusual punishment clause of the Eight Amendment, this provided those charged with crimes shall not be fined or punished disproportionately to the severity of their crime.

           -Clause 38: “In future no official shall place a man on trial upon his own unsupported statement, without producing credible witnesses to the truth.” This is similar to the self-incrimination clause of the Fifth Amendment.

           -Clause 39: “No free man shall be seized or imprisoned, or striped of his rights or possessions, or outlawed or exiled, or deprived of his standing in any way, nor will we proceed with force against him, or send others to do so, except by the lawful judgment of his equals or by the law of the land.” This practice, requiring the accused to be judged according to the law, in crucial in the concept of the rule of law. Also, it requires the accused to be judged by “his equals,” an early descendant of the common law jury trial used in the United States today.

           -Clause 40: “To no one will we sell, to no one deny or delay right to justice.” The Sixth Amendment similarly guarantees the right to a speedy and public trial.

Although many of these rights applied to only a small portion of the population in feudal England, they were still progressive in that entire kingdom was required to adhere to them, including the King. The Magna Carta is one of the earliest foundations of liberty and democracy. Perhaps the most important clause and the one with the greatest consequences for future generations of fair and just governance is clause 61. It says, “The barons shall elect twenty-five of their number to keep, and cause to be observed with all their might, the peace and liberties granted and confirmed to them by this charter.” Representative democracy in its infancy is a beautiful thing to rest your eyes upon.

________________________________________________________________

[i] Jones, Dan. “The Mad King and Magna Carta.” Smithsonian Magazine. Smithsonian. July 2015. Web. 26 Sept. 2017

[ii] “English Translation of Magna Carta” BritishLibrary.com. The British Library. 28 July. 2017. Web. 26 Sept. 2017

[iii] Fisher, Justin. “Why Magna Carta still matters today. “ BritishLibrary.com. The British Library. 13 March. 2015. Web. 26 Sept. 2017.