Magna Carta copy to be auctioned in New York
Published September 26th, 2007
A rare copy of the Magna Carta, the document that enshrined human rights in English law, is to be sold in New York.
The copy owned by the Perot Foundation is expected to fetch more than $20m (£9.94m), auctioner Sotheby’s says.
The copy on sale, dating from 1297, was bought by Ross F Perot in 1984 and is the only one in private ownership.
King John signed the original Magna Carta in 1215, outlawing imprisonment and the seizure of property without due legal process, including trial by jury.
The Perot 1297 manuscript, bearing the seal of King Edward I, is due to go on auction in December.
It was on view until recently in the National Archives in Washington.
The Magna Carta came into being as the result of a dispute between King John and English barons.
The charter guaranteed basic freedoms and property rights and ensured that the king was not above the law.
Only four copies dating to the 1215 signing of the Magna Carta are believed to have survived, and all of them are in England.
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