June 15·Every year

Magna Carta Day

On June 15th, 1215, King John of England set his seal on Magna Carta at Runnymede, establishing for the first time that a king was subject to the rule of law. The original 63 clauses covered feudal rights, but Clause 39 — guaranteeing lawful judgment before imprisonment — became the ancestor of habeas corpus and most modern civil rights frameworks.