评论
打印
Anyone expecting to find in it some sort of primitive constitution
如果有人想在《大宪章》中 看到原始宪法的雏型
is going to be in for a bit of a shock when they read the details,
那么当你了解了它的内容 恐怕会有些震惊
because the liberties enumerated here boil down largely to tax relief for the armoured and landed classes.
因为其中罗列的许可条款 基本概括起来 就是给骑士和地主阶级减免税收
But even if the Magna Carta is filled with the moans and belly-aching of the barons,
然而尽管《大宪章》里 都是贵族们的满腹牢骚
that belly-aching turned out to have profound consequences for the future of England.
事实证明 这些牢骚对英国的未来 产生了深远的影响
For, by putting so much weight on the authority of a common law,
王室如此强调《普通法》的权威
the Angevins had stirred in the nobility a dawning realisation that this was their law too.
这也就唤醒了贵族们 幡然醒悟 这也是他们的法律
A generation before, the barons couldn't have cared less about the rights of men held in prison for unstated causes.
以前的贵族对莫名入狱的 犯人的权利根本不屑一顾
That was what happened to commoners.
平民才有这种遭遇
But under John, bad things had happened to them land stolen, widows hounded,heirs made to disappear.
但约翰在位期间 他们也难逃厄运 土地被盗 寡妇被纠缠 子嗣失踪
Now was the time to use the weapons Henry II's revolution in justice had put into their hands,
是时候利用亨利二世 司法革命的武器抗争了
And, by an amazing irony, the Angevins became the schoolmasters of their own correction.
极为讽刺的是 安茹王室在这场 针对自己的变革中 扮演了导师角色
