The Magna Carta Lecture Series at Royal Holloway
This lecture series is to be delivered annually until 2015, the 800th anniversary of the signing of the Magna Carta. The series is run by Royal Holloway in association with the Magna Carta Trust.
2008 - The Rt Hon Sir Anthony Clarke
Constitutional Justice: Lessons from Magna Carta
By The Rt Hon Sir Anthony Clarke, Master of the Rolls and Head of Civil Justice
Monday 16 June 2008 in the Windsor Building at 6pm followed by a reception
The Rt Hon Sir Anthony Clarke
Sir Anthony Clarke MR was called to the Bar (Middle Temple) in 1965 where he was the pupil of Barry Sheen. Sir Anthony spent 14 years at the Bar, specialising in maritime and commercial law. In 1979 he became a QC and then a Recorder sitting in both criminal and civil courts. Sir Anthony was appointed to the High Court Bench in 1993 and in April that year succeeded Mr Justice Sheen as the Admiralty Judge. Appointed to the Court of Appeal in 1998 he was called upon to conduct first the Thames Safety Inquiry and in the following year the Marchioness and Bowbelle Inquiries. On 1 October 2005 he was appointed Master of the Rolls and Head of Civil Justice.
This is the fourth lecture in the series. For further information contact: Events Office - 01784 443004
2007 - The Rt Hon Shirley Williams
The Rt Hon Shirley Williams, Baroness Williams of Crosby, delivered the third Magna Carta Lecture on Wednesday 13 June at 5.30pm in the new Windsor Building.
The lecture examined the legacy of Magna Carta in the context of globalisation and the close interweaving of English and European political destinies. Magna Carta is widely regarded internationally as one of the most important documents in the history of the development of representative democracy, human rights and the rule of the law. It is symbolic of the origins of parliamentary democracy.
Link to Lecture in Full (PDF)
2006 - Professor Vernon Bogdanor
For the second annual Magna Carta lecture on 15 June 2006 , Professor Vernon Bogdanor, Professor of government at Oxford University argued that we are heading for a constitutional crisis as the rule that Parliament is sovereign is being challenged by the rule of law.
Professor Bogdanor is an advocate of constitutional reform including proportional representation, but supports the retention of the monarchy. A leading authority on parliamentary institutions and constitutional reform, he has published extensively in both books and in articles in the media. He was elected a Fellow of the British Academy in 1997. He is a special advisor to many parliamentary committees, and he is a past member of the Council of the Hansard Society. In1998 he was awarded the CBE.
Link to Lecture in Full (PDF)
2005 - Lord Woolf
The first annual Magna Carta lecture, Magna Carta and our Evolving Constitution, by Lord Woolf, Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales, took place at Royal Holloway, University of London in the Main Lecture Theatre, on Wednesday 15 June 2005.
A senior judge, Lord Woolf has held the office of Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales with distinction for five years. He is a former chairman of the Magna Carta Trust and Pro-Chancellor of the University of London and has spoken forcefully on many of the principles enshrined in Magna Carta. He is the author of many publications, including Protecting the Public, The New Challenge (1990) and Principles of Judicial Review (1999).
Link to Lecture in Full (PDF)
The Magna Carta memorial was built by the American Bar Association on land leased by the Magna Carta Trust. It was paid for by voluntary contributions of some 9,000 American lawyers. The memorial was designed by Sir Edward Maufe R.A. and unveiled on 18 July 1957 at a ceremony attended by American and English lawyers. It continues to be maintained by the Magna Carta Trust.
Useful Links
History Department, Royal Holloway
Politics & International Relations Department