Existing comment:
Laws and Liberties in Massachusetts
In 1641, in Ipswich, Massachusetts, jurist and Puritan minister Nathaniel Ward (1578–1652) compiled "The Body of Liberties," a document that formed the basis of the first Massachusetts code of law enacted in 1648. It began with a paraphrase of Magna Carta's Chapter 29 guaranteeing freedom from unlawful imprisonment or execution, unlawful seizure of property, the right to a trial by jury, and a guarantee of due process of law. This edition of The General Laws and Liberties of Massachusetts preserves that passage. A handwritten note in the margin, written in an early hand, identifies the source of the law as "Magna Carta." |