132-459: Philosophers Works Magna Carta Libertatum ( Medieval Latin for "Great Charter of Freedoms"), commonly called Magna Carta or sometimes Magna Charta ("Great Charter"), is a royal charter of rights agreed to by King John of England at Runnymede , near Windsor , on 15 June 1215. First drafted by the Archbishop of Canterbury , Cardinal Stephen Langton , to make peace between
264-504: A Bachelor of Civil Law (BCL) but instead attempted to gain a prize fellowship at All Souls College, Oxford ; he failed to be accepted, something he put down to his poor pronunciation of Latin. Denning was admitted to Lincoln's Inn on 4 November 1921, choosing it because the Under Treasurer was a graduate of Magdalen College. On the advice of his brother's friend Frank Merriman he applied to 4 Brick Court, Middle Temple ,
396-600: A "shield" not a "sword"; it could be used to defend a claim, but not to create a cause of action where none existed. In 1954, his decision in Roe v Minister of Health [1954] 2 AER 131 altered the grounds on which hospital staff could be found negligent, a legal precedent he himself had set in Gold v Essex County Council in 1942. In 1955, his leading judgment in Entores Ltd v Miles Far East Corporation [1955] 2 QB 327 implemented
528-417: A 'dwindling right'. the legal right of a parent to the custody of a child… is a dwindling right which the courts will hesitate to enforce against the wishes of the child, and the more so the older he is. It starts with a right of control and ends with little more than advice This judgment was subsequently cited in the landmark case of Gillick v West Norfolk and Wisbech Area Health Authority which remains
660-430: A High Court judge Denning sentenced people to death, which he said at the time "didn't worry [him] in the least". Denning maintained that for murder, death was the most appropriate penalty, and that in cases where mistakes had been made there was always an appeals system. In the 1950s there was growing opposition to the use of the death penalty, and a Royal Commission was appointed to investigate abolishing it. Denning told
792-672: A case in the House of Lords, Denning was taken aside by the Lord Chancellor and told that he wanted Denning to become a judge at the High Court of Justice in the Probate, Divorce and Admiralty Division. Denning accepted, and the announcement was made before the conclusion of the appeal. Denning was officially appointed on 7 March 1944 with a salary of £5,000, and received the customary knighthood on 15 March 1944. After becoming
924-425: A deserted wife occupying the marital home had a personal licence to stay there. The decision provoked disapproval among the judiciary and from the public; a correspondent wrote: Dear Sir: You are a disgrace to all mankind to let these women break up homes and expect us chaps to keep them while they rob us of what we have worked for and put us out on the street. I only hope you have the same trouble as us. So do us all
1056-546: A divorce judge was relatively sound; his decisions were overturned only once, in Churchman v Churchman [1945] 2 All ER 190. With the appointment of Lord Jowitt as Lord Chancellor in 1945, Denning was transferred to the King's Bench Division, where Jowitt thought his talents would be better put to use (with Hildreth Glyn-Jones QC, later a High Court judge, greeting him with the words "welcome home"). In 1946, he travelled
1188-498: A favour and take a Rolls and run off Beachy Head and don't come back. This was effectively nullified with the case National Provincial Bank Ltd v Ainsworth [1965] AC 1175 in 1965, which ruled that the deserted wife had no licence to stay. The decision was very unpopular and led to the passing of the Matrimonial Homes Act 1967 . Much of his work in favour of the deserted wife was based around his interpretation of
1320-529: A few years. He sat the Oxbridge examination when he was sixteen and was awarded a £30 a year exhibition to study mathematics at Magdalen College, Oxford ; the money was not enough to live on, but he accepted nevertheless. Although he had been accepted by a college he still needed to gain entry to the university as a whole, which meant passing exams including Greek – which had not been taught at Andover Grammar School. Denning managed to teach himself enough of
1452-566: A handful of the subsequent charters in public and private ownership, including copies of the 1297 charter in both the United States and Australia. The 800th anniversary of Magna Carta in 2015 included extensive celebrations and discussions, and the four original 1215 charters were displayed together at the British Library. None of the original 1215 Magna Carta is currently in force since it has been repealed; however, four clauses of
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#17327655396371584-434: A judge Denning was also elected a Bencher of Lincoln's Inn, and became its treasurer in 1964. Denning had little experience with divorce law and disliked it; it was seen as an inferior type of law. There were few good barristers specialising in divorce law; two other barristers were sworn into the Probate, Divorce and Admiralty Division along with Denning, and of the three only one had ever practiced divorce law. His work as
1716-517: A knowledge of Classical or Old Latin by the use of rare or archaic forms and sequences. Though they had not existed together historically, it is common that an author would use grammatical ideas of the two periods Republican and archaic, placing them equally in the same sentence. Also, many undistinguished scholars had limited education in "proper" Latin, or had been influenced in their writings by Vulgar Latin. Many striking differences between classical and Medieval Latin are found in orthography . Perhaps
1848-477: A leading judgment on the subject of the recovery of pure economic loss in negligence . Spartan Steel were a company that manufactured stainless steel in Birmingham, and their factory was powered by electricity. Less than a mile away from the factory, Martin & Co were doing maintenance work on a road when they accidentally unearthed and damaged the power cable providing the factory with electricity. Due to
1980-497: A living language and was instead a scholarly language of the minority of educated men (and a tiny number of women) in medieval Europe, used in official documents more than for everyday communication. This resulted in two major features of Medieval Latin compared with Classical Latin, though when it is compared to the other vernacular languages, Medieval Latin developed very few changes. There are many prose constructions written by authors of this period that can be considered "showing off"
2112-821: A manual for the railway police giving guidance on incidents such as taxi drivers who refused to take a customer to a destination within the area specified by the Public Carriage Office (which they were legally obliged to do). He wrote his first article in 1924 titled " Quantum meruit and the Statute of Frauds" on the decision in Scott v Pattison [1923] 2 KB 723; it was accepted by the Law Quarterly Review and published in January 1925. His work steadily increased in amount and quality throughout
2244-546: A marked man. Perhaps you will be a Lord of Appeal some day". Denning took his final examinations in June 1922 and impressed the examiner, Geoffrey Cheshire , by correctly answering questions on the Law of Property Act which had been given Royal Assent only a few days before. Denning gained a high grade in all his subjects except jurisprudence, which he described as "too abstract a subject for my liking". He did not return to read for
2376-553: A rebirth of Latin literature and learning after the depressed period following the final disintegration of the authority of the Western Roman Empire. Although it was simultaneously developing into the Romance languages, Latin itself remained very conservative, as it was no longer a native language and there were many ancient and medieval grammar books to give one standard form. On the other hand, strictly speaking there
2508-463: A robust administrative system, the nature of government under the Angevin monarchs was ill-defined and uncertain. John and his predecessors had ruled using the principle of vis et voluntas , or "force and will", taking executive and sometimes arbitrary decisions, often justified on the basis that a king was above the law. Many contemporary writers believed that monarchs should rule in accordance with
2640-765: A small set of chambers run by Henry O'Hagan. He was accepted and began work there in September 1922, before he had taken his final bar exam . He finished his final exam in May 1923 and came top in the bar examination, with the Inn awarding him a 100 guineas a year studentship of three years. He was called to the Bar on 13 June 1923, and was offered a tenancy by O'Hagan. His first few years were spent receiving small briefs from clients, including work prosecuting those who failed to pay rail tickets and fines. During this time, he also wrote
2772-586: A staff officer with the British Army , and his younger brother Norman Denning became Director of Naval Intelligence and Deputy Chief of the Defence Staff (Intelligence) . Denning was born two months earlier than expected and almost died at birth; he was so small and weak that he was nicknamed ' Tom Thumb ' and could fit in a pint pot. He was named after Alfred the Great by his sister Marjorie, and
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#17327655396372904-409: A unique and early charter of universal legal rights as a myth that was created centuries later. Despite the changes in views of historians, the charter has remained a powerful, iconic document, even after almost all of its content was repealed from the statute books in the 19th and 20th centuries. Magna Carta still forms an important symbol of liberty today, often cited by politicians and campaigners, and
3036-524: A way to judge the moment of acceptance in an instantaneous or near-instantaneous method of communication; like the High Trees case it is still valid. After the resignation of Lord Oaksey in 1956, Denning was offered a job as a Law Lord . After a period of contemplation (he worried that such an appointment would reduce his chances of becoming Master of the Rolls or Lord Chief Justice) he accepted, and
3168-607: A £30 a year scholarship. Despite military training in the early morning and evening, Denning worked hard at his studies, and obtained a First in Mathematical Moderations , the first half of his mathematics degree, in June 1917. Denning was told he would be ineligible to serve in the Armed Forces because of a systolic heart murmur , which he believed the doctor diagnosed because he was tired of sending young men off to die. He successfully appealed against
3300-550: Is Venantius Fortunatus ( c. 530 – c. 600 ). This was also a period of transmission: the Roman patrician Boethius ( c. 480 –524) translated part of Aristotle 's logical corpus, thus preserving it for the Latin West , and wrote the influential literary and philosophical treatise De consolatione Philosophiae ; Cassiodorus ( c. 485 – c. 585 ) founded an important library at
3432-418: Is 'no, not in a civilised society'". After less than five years as a judge, Denning was appointed a Lord Justice of Appeal on 14 October 1948. He was sworn in as a Privy Counsellor on 25 October 1948. As a Lord Justice of Appeal, he continued to make reforming judgments in a variety of areas, particularly in family law and the rights of deserted wives. In Bendall v McWhirter [1952] 2 QB 466 he ruled that
3564-502: Is because such a belief would destroy the trust and confidence within the relationship. This brought criticism from several government ministers including Sir John Hobson , the Attorney-General for England and Wales , saying that it would mean condemning a man on the basis of suspicion rather than evidence. Denning's final report was 70,000 words long and was completed in the summer of 1963. He signed it on 16 September and it
3696-575: Is held in great respect by the British and American legal communities, Lord Denning describing it in 1956 as "the greatest constitutional document of all times—the foundation of the freedom of the individual against the arbitrary authority of the despot". 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
3828-518: Is no real consensus on the exact boundary where Late Latin ends and Medieval Latin begins. Some scholarly surveys begin with the rise of early Ecclesiastical Latin in the middle of the 4th century, others around 500, and still others with the replacement of written Late Latin by written Romance languages starting around the year 900. The terms Medieval Latin and Ecclesiastical Latin are sometimes used synonymously, though some scholars draw distinctions. Ecclesiastical Latin refers specifically to
3960-430: Is that of negligence , which has a three-year statute of limitations , and Letang instead claimed damages under the tort of trespass to the person . In his judgment, Denning stated that the tort of trespass could only be used if the injury was inflicted intentionally; if it was unintentionally, only negligence could be used. In Spartan Steel and Alloys Ltd v. Martin & Co. Ltd [1973] 1 QB 27 in 1973 he delivered
4092-470: The First World War saw most of the schoolmasters leave to join the British armed forces, being replaced by female teachers. At the time Denning wanted to become a mathematician, but none of the new teachers knew enough mathematics to teach him; instead, he taught himself. He qualified to study at University College, Southampton , but was advised to stay at school and apply to Oxford or Cambridge in
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4224-530: The Married Women's Property Act 1882 , which the House of Lords unanimously overruled in Pettitt v Pettitt [1970] AC 777 in 1970. Further notable decisions by Denning in this area were Heseltine v Heseltine [1971] 1 WLR 342 in 1971 and Wachtel v Wachtel [1973] Fam 72 in 1973, which created basic rules for dividing family assets in a divorce case, something which had not previously been established in
4356-563: The Profumo affair . He was known for his bold judgments running counter to the law at the time. During his 38-year career as a judge, he made large changes to the common law, particularly while in the Court of Appeal, and although some of his decisions were overturned by the House of Lords several of them were confirmed by Parliament, which passed statutes in line with his judgments. Appreciated for his role as "the people's judge" and his support for
4488-640: The Public Record Office ; by that point the files for civil cases of the High Court alone occupied four miles of shelving. The final report was presented to the Lord Chancellor on 16 May 1966, with the conclusion being that "if our proposals are implemented the Public Record Office alone will be relieved of two hundred tons of records (occupying 15,000 feet of shelving)". The Lord Chancellor took Denning's report to heart, and had
4620-481: The liturgical language of the Church , and as the working language of science, literature, law, and administration. Medieval Latin represented a continuation of Classical Latin and Late Latin , with enhancements for new concepts as well as for the increasing integration of Christianity. Despite some meaningful differences from Classical Latin, its writers did not regard it as a fundamentally different language. There
4752-593: The syntax of some Medieval Latin writers, although Classical Latin continued to be held in high esteem and studied as models for literary compositions. The high point of the development of Medieval Latin as a literary language came with the Carolingian Renaissance , a rebirth of learning kindled under the patronage of Charlemagne , king of the Franks . Alcuin was Charlemagne's Latin secretary and an important writer in his own right; his influence led to
4884-405: The "circumstances leading to the resignation of the former Secretary of State for War, Mr J. D. Profumo". He started work on 24 June and began speaking to witnesses a day later. This period of the inquiry took 49 days and involved his speaking to 160 people. He concluded that the primary responsibility for the scandal was with Profumo, for associating with Keeler and for lying to his colleagues, with
5016-420: The 1920s and 1930s. By the 1930s, he was making most of his court appearances in the senior courts such as the High Court of Justice ; in 1932 he was advised by his clerk that he should not be seen in the county courts , and that he should leave this work for lesser members of the chambers. In 1929, he helped edit several chapters of Smith's Leading Cases (13th ed.) and in 1932 acted as a supervising editor for
5148-558: The 5th century saw the literary activities of the great Christian authors Jerome ( c. 347 –420) and Augustine of Hippo (354–430), whose texts had an enormous influence on theological thought of the Middle Ages, and of the latter's disciple Prosper of Aquitaine ( c. 390 – c. 455 ). Of the later 5th century and early 6th century, Sidonius Apollinaris ( c. 430 – after 489) and Ennodius (474–521), both from Gaul, are well known for their poems, as
5280-459: The 9th edition of Bullen & Leake's Precedents for Pleadings in the King's Bench Division . In 1932, he moved to his own set of chambers in Brick Court, and by 1936 he was earning over £3,000 a year (roughly £200,000 a year in 2020). A significant case was L'Estrange v F Graucob Ltd [1934] 2 KB 394, where he successfully argued an exemption clause was incorporated because a contract
5412-548: The British government. At a party in 1961, Profumo was introduced to Christine Keeler , a showgirl, and began having an affair with her. At the same time, she was in a relationship with Yevgeni Ivanov , a naval attaché at the embassy of the Soviet Union . On 26 January 1963, Keeler was contacted by police on an unrelated matter and voluntarily gave them information about her relationship with Profumo. The police did not initially investigate; no crime had been committed, and
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5544-466: The Commission in 1953 that "the punishment inflicted for grave crimes should adequately reflect the revulsion felt by the great majority of citizens for them". He later changed his mind about capital punishment, regarding it as unethical. In 1984, he wrote "Is it right for us, as a society, to do a thing – hang a man – which none of us individually would be prepared to do or even witness? The answer
5676-542: The Crown, with certain forms of feudal taxation requiring baronial consent. It focused on the rights of free men—in particular, the barons. The rights of serfs were included in articles 16, 20 and 28. Its style and content reflected Henry I's Charter of Liberties, as well as a wider body of legal traditions, including the royal charters issued to towns, the operations of the Church and baronial courts and European charters such as
5808-485: The English People . Many Medieval Latin works have been published in the series Patrologia Latina , Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum and Corpus Christianorum . Medieval Latin was separated from Classical Latin around 800 and at this time was no longer considered part of the everyday language. The speaking of Latin became a practice used mostly by the educated high class population. Even then it
5940-563: The German Army advanced closer to Amiens and Paris and Denning's unit was sent to France to help stop the advance. Under continuous shell fire for three months, the company and the 38th (Welsh) Infantry Division held their section of the line , with a unit under Denning's command building a bridge to allow infantry to advance over the River Ancre . Denning went two days without sleep while building these bridges; shortly after one
6072-521: The Germanic tribes, who invaded southern Europe, were also major sources of new words. Germanic leaders became the rulers of parts of the Roman Empire that they conquered, and words from their languages were freely imported into the vocabulary of law. Other more ordinary words were replaced by coinages from Vulgar Latin or Germanic sources because the classical words had fallen into disuse. Latin
6204-673: The Great) along with other Welsh hostages which were originally taken for "peace" and "good". Medieval Latin Medieval Latin was the form of Literary Latin used in Roman Catholic Western Europe during the Middle Ages . In this region it served as the primary written language, though local languages were also written to varying degrees. Latin functioned as the main medium of scholarly exchange, as
6336-576: The High Court. He became a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary in 1957 and after five years in the House of Lords returned to the Court of Appeal as Master of the Rolls in 1962, a position he held for twenty years. In retirement he wrote several books and continued to offer opinions on the state of the common law through his writing and his position in the House of Lords . Margaret Thatcher said that Denning
6468-430: The House of Lords and clashed frequently with Gavin, Viscount Simonds , who was known as a conservative and orthodox judge. Despite his reputation as a fiercely individual judge, Denning dissented in only 16% of cases he heard in the House of Lords; fewer than Lord Keith , who dissented 22% of the time. On 9 May 1960, Denning was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant of Sussex. In 1962, Lord Evershed resigned as Master of
6600-400: The House of Lords it was at least two. The other "benefit" of the Court of Appeal is that it hears more cases than the House of Lords, and so has a greater effect on the law. During his twenty years as Master of the Rolls, Denning could choose both which cases he heard, and the judges with whom he sat. Therefore, on most issues, he effectively had the last word; comparatively few cases went on to
6732-432: The House of Lords, which was at that time Britain's highest court of law. As Master of the Rolls he selected cases he felt to be particularly important to hear and, rather than having an American system (where judges had a rota for taking cases), assigned cases to those judges who had expertise in that particular area of law. In 1963, he chaired a committee investigating ways to reduce the archive of legal documents kept by
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#17327655396376864-590: The Latin vocabulary that developed for them became the source of a great many technical words in modern languages. English words like abstract , subject , communicate , matter , probable and their cognates in other European languages generally have the meanings given to them in Medieval Latin, often terms for abstract concepts not available in English. The influence of Vulgar Latin was also apparent in
6996-744: The Legion present them while the courts were not sitting; Denning heard all 73 cases on 11 July 1946. In 1947, he decided in Central London Property Trust Ltd v High Trees House Ltd [1947] KB 130 (known as the High Trees case), which was a milestone in English contract law . It resurrected the principle of promissory estoppel established in Hughes v Metropolitan Railway Co (1876–77) LR 2 App Cas 439 and has been both praised and criticised by lawyers and legal theorists. As
7128-515: The Rolls , and Denning was appointed to replace him on 19 April 1962 with a salary of £9,000. Although Denning himself described it as "a step down" he was pleased with his appointment, as he had much preferred his time with the Court of Appeal than the House of Lords. Court of Appeal judges sit in threes, and the Lords in fives (or more), so it was suggested that to get his way in the Court of Appeal Denning only had to persuade one other judge whereas in
7260-463: The Statute of Pamiers. The Magna Carta reflected other legal documents of its time, in England and beyond, which made broadly similar statements of rights and limitations on the powers of the Crown. Under what historians later labelled "clause 61", or the "security clause", a council of 25 barons would be created to monitor and ensure John's future adherence to the charter. If John did not conform to
7392-515: The Western Circuit but was recalled by the Lord Chancellor to chair a committee looking at the reform of procedure in divorce cases. He continued working as a judge while chairing the daily committee. The committee was appointed on 26 June 1946 and published its first report in July, which reduced the time between decree nisi and decree absolute from 6 months to 6 weeks. The second report
7524-521: The appellant's wife spoke to the respondents; she said there were several problems with the work that they had done, and she would only pay £300 of the £482 owed. The respondents replied that £300 would barely cover the costs of the materials, but that they would accept it anyway. If the respondents had not received the money they would have gone bankrupt, something the appellant's wife was well aware of. In his judgment, Denning modified English case law on part payment and accord and satisfaction , saying that
7656-434: The case of Gold v Essex County Council [1942] 2 KB 293, which changed the law to make hospitals liable for the professional negligence of their staff. In December 1943, a judge was taken ill, and Denning was asked to take his place as a Commissioner of Assize . This was regarded as a 'trial' for membership of the judiciary, and Denning was appointed Recorder of Plymouth on 17 February 1944. On 6 March 1944, while arguing
7788-467: The changes he recommended implemented immediately. Denning gave the leading judgment in D & C Builders Ltd v Rees [1965] 2 QB 617 in 1965. D & C Builders Ltd (the respondent) had been hired by Rees (the appellant) to do some construction work at his shop, where he sold building materials. The respondent finished the work and repeatedly phoned the appellant to request the money they were owed. After three phone calls spread out over several months
7920-411: The characteristics described above, showing its period in vocabulary and spelling alone; the features listed are much more prominent in the language of lawyers (e.g. the 11th-century English Domesday Book ), physicians, technical writers and secular chroniclers. However the use of quod to introduce subordinate clauses was especially pervasive and is found at all levels. Medieval Latin had ceased to be
8052-523: The charter compromised the Pope's rights as John's feudal lord. As part of the June peace deal, the barons were supposed to surrender London by 15 August, but this they refused to do. Meanwhile, instructions from the Pope arrived in August, written before the peace accord, with the result that papal commissioners excommunicated the rebel barons and suspended Langton from office in early September. Once aware of
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#17327655396378184-868: The charter within 40 days of being notified of a transgression by the council, the 25 barons were empowered by clause 61 to seize John's castles and lands until, in their judgement, amends had been made. Men were to be compelled to swear an oath to assist the council in controlling the King, but once redress had been made for any breaches, the King would continue to rule as before. King Charles III [REDACTED] William, Prince of Wales [REDACTED] Charles III ( King-in-Council ) [REDACTED] Starmer ministry ( L ) Keir Starmer ( L ) Angela Rayner ( L ) ( King-in-Parliament ) [REDACTED] Charles III [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] The Lord Reed The Lord Hodge Andrew Bailey Monetary Policy Committee In one sense this
8316-443: The charter, but clause 61 was so heavily weighted against the King that this version of the charter could not survive. John and the rebel barons did not trust each other, and neither side seriously attempted to implement the peace accord. The 25 barons selected for the new council were all rebels, chosen by the more extremist barons, and many among the rebels found excuses to keep their forces mobilised. Disputes began to emerge between
8448-463: The charter, the Pope responded in detail: in a letter dated 24 August and arriving in late September, he declared the charter to be "not only shameful and demeaning but also illegal and unjust" since John had been "forced to accept" it, and accordingly the charter was "null, and void of all validity for ever"; under threat of excommunication, the King was not to observe the charter, nor the barons try to enforce it. By then, violence had broken out between
8580-608: The claimant to gather more evidence when such extensions had been rejected by the Tribunal. These two cases made a large difference to applicants, and he received praise from both the British Legion and the public. The government refused to do anything about those servicemen who had been rejected by the courts prior to Denning's judgment, which provoked public outcry under the slogan "Fit for Service, Fit for Pension". The British Legion chose 73 cases and asked Denning to let
8712-584: The classical Latin practice of generally placing the verb at the end, medieval writers would often follow the conventions of their own native language instead. Whereas Latin had no definite or indefinite articles, medieval writers sometimes used forms of unus as an indefinite article, and forms of ille (reflecting usage in the Romance languages) as a definite article or even quidam (meaning "a certain one/thing" in Classical Latin) as something like an article. Unlike classical Latin, where esse ("to be")
8844-648: The classical forms, testifies to the declining significance of classical education in Gaul. At the same time, good knowledge of Latin and even of Greek was being preserved in monastic culture in Ireland and was brought to England and the European mainland by missionaries in the course of the 6th and 7th centuries, such as Columbanus (543–615), who founded the monastery of Bobbio in Northern Italy. Ireland
8976-460: The custom and the law, with the counsel of the leading members of the realm, but there was no model for what should happen if a king refused to do so. John had lost most of his ancestral lands in France to King Philip II in 1204 and had struggled to regain them for many years, raising extensive taxes on the barons to accumulate money to fight a war which ended in expensive failure in 1214. Following
9108-577: 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
9240-617: The decision, and enlisted on 14 August 1917 as a cadet in the Hampshire Regiment before being sent to the Royal Engineers Oxford University Officer Training Corps . He trained at Newark and was temporarily commissioned as a second lieutenant on 17 November 1917. Although he was old enough to serve in the armed forces, regulations meant that he was not allowed to serve in France until he was nineteen. In March 1918,
9372-465: The defeat of his allies at the Battle of Bouvines , John had to sue for peace and pay compensation. John was already personally unpopular with many of the barons, many of whom owed money to the Crown, and little trust existed between the two sides. A triumph would have strengthened his position, but in the face of his defeat, within a few months after his return from France, John found that rebel barons in
9504-457: The definitive case on children's rights, with leading judge for that case, Lord Fraser saying that he agreed "with every word" of Denning's ruling. In 1977, Denning upheld the deportation of Mark Hosenball , a journalist who had worked on a story which referred to the existence of GCHQ , which was considered to be a state secret. In the ruling, he argued that the government's decisions in these cases were beyond legal review, writing: "There
9636-538: 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
9768-686: The form that has been used by the Roman Catholic Church (even before the Middle Ages in Antiquity), whereas Medieval Latin refers to all of the (written) forms of Latin used in the Middle Ages. The Romance languages spoken in the Middle Ages were often referred to as Latin , since the Romance languages were all descended from Vulgar Latin itself. Medieval Latin would be replaced by educated humanist Renaissance Latin , otherwise known as Neo-Latin . Medieval Latin had an enlarged vocabulary, which freely borrowed from other sources. It
9900-479: The formation of the United States Constitution , which became the supreme law of the land in the new republic of the United States. 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. The majority of historians now see the interpretation of the charter as
10032-549: The greatest error being his false statement in the House of Commons. He also said that the situation had been looked at in the wrong way by police, members of parliament and the security services; rather than asking if Profumo had committed adultery they should have asked if his conduct had led ordinary people to believe he committed adultery. His analogy was with divorce law; a man does not need to have committed adultery for his wife to have grounds to divorce him, but rather she simply has to believe that he has committed adultery. This
10164-542: The individual, Denning attracted attention for his occasionally flexible attitude to the common law principle of precedent . He commented controversially about the Birmingham Six and Guildford Four . Denning was born on 23 January 1899 in Whitchurch, Hampshire , to Charles Denning, a draper, and his wife Clara Denning (née Thompson). He was one of six children; his older brother Reginald Denning later became
10296-506: The law. In 1951, he gave a significant dissenting judgment in the case Candler v Crane, Christmas & Co , regarded as a "brilliant advancement to the law of negligent misstatements" and which was later approved of by the House of Lords in Hedley Byrne & Co Ltd v Heller & Partners Ltd [1963] 2 All ER 575. In Combe v Combe in 1952 he elaborated on his resurrected doctrine of promissory estoppel, saying that it could be
10428-518: The main public policy ground for their decision (that allowing claims of pure economic loss would lead to countless claims) has never been backed up by evidence. The House of Lords eventually ruled in Junior Books v Veitchi [1982] 3 All ER 201 that pure economic loss was recoverable. Denning delivered a report into the Profumo affair . John Profumo was the Secretary of State for War with
10560-588: The monastery of Vivarium near Squillace where many texts from Antiquity were to be preserved. Isidore of Seville ( c. 560 –636) collected all scientific knowledge still available in his time into what might be called the first encyclopedia , the Etymologiae . Gregory of Tours ( c. 538 –594) wrote a lengthy history of the Frankish kings. Gregory came from a Gallo-Roman aristocratic family, and his Latin, which shows many aberrations from
10692-514: The morals of ministers were not their concern. Although the relationship lasted only a few weeks it became public knowledge in 1962. Keeler attempted to publish her memoirs in the Sunday Pictorial in January 1963 but Profumo, still insisting that he had done nothing wrong, forced them to back down with threats of legal action should the story be published. Profumo made a statement in the House of Commons on 22 March, saying that "there
10824-410: The most striking difference is that medieval manuscripts used a wide range of abbreviations by means of superscripts, special characters etc.: for instance the letters "n" and "s" were often omitted and replaced by a diacritical mark above the preceding or following letter. Apart from this, some of the most frequently occurring differences are as follows. Clearly many of these would have been influenced by
10956-666: The need for long distance correspondence arose. Long distance communication in the vernacular was rare, but Hebrew, Arabic and Greek served a similar purpose among Jews, Muslims and Eastern Orthodox respectively. until 75 BC Old Latin 75 BC – 200 AD Classical Latin 200–700 Late Latin 700–1500 Medieval Latin 1300–1500 Renaissance Latin 1300– present Neo-Latin 1900– present Contemporary Latin Alfred Denning, Baron Denning Alfred Thompson Denning, Baron Denning , OM , PC , DL (23 January 1899 – 5 March 1999),
11088-619: The night before". He found the job boring, and after viewing the Assize Court at Winchester Castle decided he would like to be a barrister. On the advice of Herbert Warren, he returned to Magdalen to study Jurisprudence in October 1921. Thanks to Warren, Denning was elected to the Eldon Law Scholarship , worth £100 a year, to finance his studies; when the news of Denning's election was brought, Warren wrote "you are
11220-538: The nine-year-old Henry III as his heir. Magna Carta was the first document in which reference is made to English and Welsh law alongside one another, including the principle of the common acceptance of the lawful judgement of peers. Chapter 56: The return of lands and liberties to Welshmen if those lands and liberties had been taken by English (and vice versa) without a law abiding judgement of their peers. Chapter 57: The return of Gruffudd ap Llywelyn ap Iorwerth , illegitimate son of Llywelyn ap Iorwerth (Llywelyn
11352-455: The north and east of England were organising resistance to his rule. The rebels took an oath that they would "stand fast for the liberty of the church and the realm", and demanded that the King confirm the Charter of Liberties that had been declared by King Henry I in the previous century, and which was perceived by the barons to protect their rights. The rebel leadership was unimpressive by
11484-414: The notice of contemporaries. Petrarch , writing in the 14th century, complained about this linguistic "decline", which helped fuel his general dissatisfaction with his own era. The corpus of Medieval Latin literature encompasses a wide range of texts, including such diverse works as sermons , hymns , hagiographical texts, travel literature , histories , epics , and lyric poetry . The first half of
11616-564: The offer was made by the machine. Denning gave the leading judgment in Letang v Cooper [1964] 2 All ER 929 in 1964. Mrs Letang, on holiday in Cornwall, decided to lie down and rest in grass outside a hotel. Cooper drove into the hotel car park and, not seeing Letang, ran over her legs. More than three years after the events, Letang brought a tort case against Cooper, claiming damages for her injuries. The standard tort for personal injuries
11748-513: The original charter are enshrined in the 1297 reissued Magna Carta and do still remain in force in England and Wales. Magna Carta originated as an unsuccessful attempt to achieve peace between royalist and rebel factions in 1215, as part of the events leading to the outbreak of the First Barons' War . England was ruled by King John , the third of the Angevin kings . Although the kingdom had
11880-583: The pleadings given in court. Even then, those of the church still used Latin more than the rest of the population. At this time, Latin served little purpose to the regular population but was still used regularly in ecclesiastical culture. Latin also served as a lingua franca among the educated elites of Christendom — long distance written communication, while rarer than in Antiquity, took place mostly in Latin. Most literate people wrote Latin and most rich people had access to scribes who knew Latin for use when
12012-447: The postwar rise in crime and who, like him, believed that the duties of the individual were being forgotten in the clamour for rights. He had a more punitive than redemptive view of criminal justice, as a result of which he was a vocal supporter of corporal and capital punishment." However, he changed his stance on capital punishment in later life. Denning became one of the highest profile judges in England in part because of his report on
12144-455: The power being off, the factory lost a large amount of money; £368 on damaged goods, £400 on the profits they would have made from those goods and £1,767 for the steel they could not make due to the power outage. The question was what Spartan Steel could claim money for. Martin & Co agreed they were negligent, and offered to pay for the damaged goods and the profit that Spartan Steel would have made on those goods, but refused to pay damages for
12276-502: The powers of the Crown. 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
12408-552: The principles applied by the government minister and the Pensions Tribunals. In Starr v Ministry of Pensions [1946] 1 KB 345 he ruled that it was up to the tribunals to prove that an injury was not due to war service, reversing the previous state of affairs where a claimant would have to prove their injuries were due to war service before they would be granted a pension. In James v Minister of Pensions [1947] KB 867 he also allowed for judges to approve time extensions for
12540-460: The public interest demands that the facts should be ascertained as completely as possible there is a higher interest to be considered, namely the interest of justice to the individual which overrides all others". In 1969, Denning heard the case of Hewer v Bryant which related to the rights of those under 18 to act on their own behalf. In this case, Denning rejected the concept of absolute parental control over someone under 18, and established it as
12672-469: The rebel leaders at Runnymede , a water-meadow on the south bank of the River Thames , on 10 June 1215. Runnymede was a traditional place for assemblies, but it was also located on neutral ground between the royal fortress of Windsor Castle and the rebel base at Staines , and offered both sides the security of a rendezvous where they were unlikely to find themselves at a military disadvantage. Here
12804-519: The rebels during the spring. Both sides appealed to Pope Innocent III for assistance in the dispute. During the negotiations, the rebellious barons produced an initial document, which historians have termed "the Unknown Charter of Liberties", which drew on Henry I's Charter of Liberties for much of its language; seven articles from that document later appeared in the "Articles of the Barons" and
12936-456: The rebels held London, they attracted a fresh wave of defectors from the royalists. The King offered to submit the problem to a committee of arbitration with the Pope as the supreme arbiter, but this was not attractive to the rebels. Stephen Langton , the archbishop of Canterbury , had been working with the rebel barons on their demands, and after the suggestion of papal arbitration failed, John instructed Langton to organise peace talks. John met
13068-406: The rebels presented John with their draft demands for reform, the 'Articles of the Barons'. Stephen Langton's pragmatic efforts at mediation over the next ten days turned these incomplete demands into a charter capturing the proposed peace agreement; a few years later, this agreement was renamed Magna Carta, meaning "Great Charter". By 15 June, general agreement had been made on a text, and on 19 June,
13200-504: The rebels renewed their oaths of loyalty to John and copies of the charter were formally issued. Although, as the historian David Carpenter has noted, the charter "wasted no time on political theory", it went beyond simply addressing individual baronial complaints, and formed a wider proposal for political reform. It promised the protection of church rights, protection from illegal imprisonment, access to swift justice, and, most importantly, limitations on taxation and other feudal payments to
13332-455: 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
13464-415: The royalist faction and those rebels who had expected the charter to return lands that had been confiscated. Clause 61 of Magna Carta contained a commitment from John that he would "seek to obtain nothing from anyone, in our own person or through someone else, whereby any of these grants or liberties may be revoked or diminished". Despite this, the King appealed to Pope Innocent for help in July, arguing that
13596-422: The rules on part payment can be set aside in situations where one of the parties is under duress. The fact that D & C Builders were effectively forced into accepting the lesser amount meant that the payment was not valid. In Thornton v Shoe Lane Parking Ltd [1971] 2 QB 163 in 1971 the Court of Appeal under Denning ruled that when dealing with offer and acceptance between a person and an automated machine
13728-468: The spelling, and indeed pronunciation, of the vernacular language, and thus varied between different European countries. These orthographical differences were often due to changes in pronunciation or, as in the previous example, morphology, which authors reflected in their writing. By the 16th century, Erasmus complained that speakers from different countries were unable to understand each other's form of Latin. The gradual changes in Latin did not escape
13860-515: The standards of the time, even disreputable, but were united by their hatred of John; Robert Fitzwalter , later elected leader of the rebel barons, claimed publicly that John had attempted to rape his daughter, and was implicated in a plot to assassinate John in 1212. John held a council in London in January 1215 to discuss potential reforms, and sponsored discussions in Oxford between his agents and
13992-775: The start of the Second World War , Denning volunteered; he was too old for active service, and was instead appointed legal advisor to the North East Region. In 1941, he acted for the respondent in the case of Hoani te Heuheu vs Aotea District Maori Land Board [1941] AC 308, an important New Zealand constitutional case before the Privy Council, which held that treaty duties (specifically, the Treaty of Waitangi ) could be legally enforced only when they are incorporated into Acts of Parliament. In 1942, Denning took
14124-649: The steel Spartan Steel could not make due to the power outage. In his judgment, Denning agreed that they would only have to pay for losses associated with the damaged goods, not the money lost on the steel that could not be made due to the power outage because it counted as pure economic loss . For public policy reasons, Denning would not allow the recovery of pure economic loss, stating in his judgment that: The Court of Appeal's decision in Spartan Steel has been criticised, firstly for being based on public policy rather than any legal principle, and secondly because
14256-481: The subject to pass, and matriculated to Oxford in 1916. In addition to his Magdalen Scholarship he gained a scholarship from Hampshire County Council worth £50 a year. After arriving he made a favourable impression on Sir Herbert Warren , the president of Magdalen College, who upgraded the exhibition to a Demyship of £80 a year and arranged for the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths to give Denning
14388-401: The subsequent charter. It was John's hope that the Pope would give him valuable legal and moral support, and accordingly John played for time; the King had declared himself to be a papal vassal in 1213 and correctly believed he could count on the Pope for help. John also began recruiting mercenary forces from France, although some were later sent back to avoid giving the impression that the King
14520-494: The two sides. Less than three months after it had been agreed, John and the loyalist barons firmly repudiated the failed charter: the First Barons' War erupted. The rebel barons concluded that peace with John was impossible, and turned to Philip II's son, the future Louis VIII , for help, offering him the English throne. The war soon settled into a stalemate. The King became ill and died on the night of 18 October 1216, leaving
14652-497: The university's numerous societies or clubs so that he could better focus on his work, and graduated in 1920, placing in the first class of the Mathematical Greats (the final undergraduate examinations for the subject). He was offered a job teaching mathematics at Winchester College for £350 a year, which he accepted. As well as mathematics, he taught geology, despite not having studied it; instead, he "read up on [it]
14784-441: 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 and impartial justice, and limitations on feudal payments to the Crown , to be implemented through a council of 25 barons. Neither side stood by their commitments, and the charter was annulled by Pope Innocent III , leading to the First Barons' War . After John's death,
14916-552: The use of medieval Latin among the learned elites of Christendom may have played a role in the spread of those features. In every age from the late 8th century onwards, there were learned writers (especially within the Church) who were familiar enough with classical syntax to be aware that these forms and usages were "wrong" and resisted their use. Thus the Latin of a theologian like St Thomas Aquinas or of an erudite clerical historian such as William of Tyre tends to avoid most of
15048-433: Was "probably the greatest English judge of modern times". One of Lord Denning's successors as Master of the Rolls, Lord Bingham , called him "the best known and best loved judge in our history". Denning's appellate work in the Court of Appeal did not concern criminal law. Mark Garnett and Richard Weight argue that Denning was a conservative Christian who "remained popular with morally conservative Britons who were dismayed at
15180-419: Was also spread to areas such as Ireland and Germany , where Romance languages were not spoken, and which had never known Roman rule. Works written in those lands where Latin was a learned language, having no relation to the local vernacular, also influenced the vocabulary and syntax of Medieval Latin. Since subjects like science and philosophy, including Rhetoric and Ethics , were communicated in Latin,
15312-489: Was also the birthplace of a strange poetic style known as Hisperic Latin . Other important Insular authors include the historian Gildas ( c. 500 – c. 570 ) and the poet Aldhelm ( c. 640 –709). Benedict Biscop ( c. 628 –690) founded the monastery of Wearmouth-Jarrow and furnished it with books which he had taken home from a journey to Rome and which were later used by Bede ( c. 672 –735) to write his Ecclesiastical History of
15444-503: Was an English barrister and judge. He was called to the bar of England and Wales in 1923 and became a King's Counsel in 1938. Denning became a judge in 1944 when he was appointed to the Probate, Divorce and Admiralty Division of the High Court of Justice , and transferred to the King's Bench Division in 1945. He was made a Lord Justice of Appeal in 1948 after less than five years in
15576-717: Was baptised on 23 April 1899 at All Hallows Church, Whitchurch. Denning, along with his older brother Gordon, began his schooling at the National School of Whitchurch, one of many set up by the National Society for the Education of the Poor . Both boys won scholarships to Andover Grammar School , where Denning excelled academically, winning four prizes for English essays on the subjects of "The Great Authors", " Macaulay ", " Carlyle " and " Milton ". The outbreak of
15708-798: Was completed, a German aeroplane dropped a bomb on it, forcing them to start again. The unit advanced over the River Ancre and the Canal du Nord , but Denning fell ill with influenza and was in hospital for the last few days of the war. When writing of his experiences in World War I in The Family Story , Denning summed up his war service with characteristic pithiness in just four words: "I did my bit". Denning's oldest brother, Captain John Edward Newdigate Denning,
15840-627: Was escalating the conflict. In a further move to shore up his support, John took an oath to become a crusader , a move which gave him additional political protection under church law, even though many felt the promise was insincere. Letters backing John arrived from the Pope in April, but by then the rebel barons had organised into a military faction. They congregated at Northampton in May and renounced their feudal ties to John, marching on London , Lincoln , and Exeter . John's efforts to appear moderate and conciliatory had been largely successful, but once
15972-464: Was formally offered the job on 5 April 1957. He was appointed on 24 April 1957, as Baron Denning , of Whitchurch in the County of Southampton; for the supporters of his coat of arms he chose Lord Mansfield and Sir Edward Coke . Many members of the judiciary and the Bar approved of his appointment, but he was warned that he should move slowly to reform the court. Denning did not enjoy his time in
16104-465: Was heavily influenced by the language of the Vulgate , which contained many peculiarities alien to Classical Latin that resulted from a more or less direct translation from Greek and Hebrew ; the peculiarities mirrored the original not only in its vocabulary but also in its grammar and syntax. Greek provided much of the technical vocabulary of Christianity . The various Germanic languages spoken by
16236-400: 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 . However, the Magna Carta was not unique; other legal documents of its time, both in England and beyond, made broadly similar statements of rights and limitations on
16368-730: Was killed near Gueudecourt on 26 September 1916 whilst serving with the Lincolnshire Regiment . His brother, Sub-Lieutenant Charles Gordon Denning, who saw action in the Battle of Jutland , died of tuberculosis on 24 May 1918 after serving with the Royal Navy on HMS Morris . Denning would describe his dead brothers as the best of him and his siblings. Denning was demobilised on 6 February 1919, and returned to Magdalen College four days later. He initially thought about turning to applied mathematics, but decided on pure mathematics. He studied hard, not participating in any of
16500-549: Was no impropriety whatsoever in my acquaintanceship with Miss Keeler". On 4 June 1963, he contacted the Chief Whip and the Prime Minister's private secretary and informed them that he had indeed been having an affair with Keeler; therefore, he sent a letter of resignation to the Prime Minister, which was accepted. On 21 June 1963, Harold Macmillan , the Prime Minister at the time, asked Denning to lead an enquiry into
16632-593: Was no single form of "Medieval Latin". Every Latin author in the medieval period spoke Latin as a second language, with varying degrees of fluency and syntax. Grammar and vocabulary, however, were often influenced by an author's native language. This was especially true beginning around the 12th century, after which the language became increasingly adulterated: late Medieval Latin documents written by French speakers tend to show similarities to medieval French grammar and vocabulary; those written by Germans tend to show similarities to German, etc. For instance, rather than following
16764-472: Was not frequently used in casual conversation. An example of these men includes the churchmen who could read Latin, but could not effectively speak it. Latin's use in universities was structured in lectures and debates, however, it was highly recommended that students use it in conversation. This practice was kept up only due to rules. One of Latin's purposes, writing, was still in practice; the main uses being charters for property transactions and to keep track of
16896-486: Was not unprecedented. Other kings had previously conceded the right of individual resistance to their subjects if the King did not uphold his obligations. Magna Carta was novel in that it set up a formally recognised means of collectively coercing the King. The historian Wilfred Warren argues that it was almost inevitable that the clause would result in civil war, as it "was crude in its methods and disturbing in its implications". The barons were trying to force John to keep to
17028-677: Was published in November, recommending that County Court judges should be appointed to try cases, and the final report was published in February 1947 recommending the establishment of a Marriage Welfare Service. The reports were well received by the public and led to Denning being invited in 1949 to become President of the National Marriage Guidance Council . His appointment to the King's Bench Division allowed him to hear pension appeals, and he attempted to reform
17160-497: Was published ten days later. It was a best-seller; 105,000 copies were sold, 4,000 in the first hour, with people queuing outside Her Majesty's Stationery Office to buy copies. The full report was published in The Daily Telegraph as a supplement and was described as "the raciest and most readable Blue Book ever published". The report was criticised as a "whitewash", a claim Denning rejected; he said that "while
17292-580: Was signed. He said that 'If you are an advocate you want your client to win. If you are a judge you don't care who wins exactly. All you are concerned about is justice'. From 1937 until 1944, he was Chancellor of the Diocese of Southwark , and from 1942 to 1944 was Chancellor of the Diocese of London . He applied to become a King's Counsel on 15 January 1938. The appointments were announced on 7 April; he "took silk" on 9 April and received letters of congratulation from, among others, Rayner Goddard . After
17424-520: Was the only auxiliary verb, Medieval Latin writers might use habere ("to have") as an auxiliary, similar to constructions in Germanic and Romance languages. The accusative and infinitive construction in classical Latin was often replaced by a subordinate clause introduced by quod or quia . This is almost identical, for example, to the use of que in similar constructions in French. Many of these developments are similar to Standard Average European and
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