Magna Carta was written by a group of 13th-century barons to protect their rights and property against a tyrannical king. It is concerned with many practical matters and specific grievances relevant to the feudal system under which they lived.

Clause 23, as translated into modern English by the British Library, reads as follows: “No town or person shall be forced to build bridges over rivers except those with an ancient obligation to do so.”

32. We shall not hold the lands of those convicted of felony longer than a year and a day; and then the lands shall be restored to the lords of the fiefs. 33. Henceforth all the weirs in the Thames and Medway, and throughout all England, save on the sea-coasts, shall be done away with entirely. 34.

(46) All barons who have founded abbeys, and have charters of English kings or ancient tenure as evidence of this, may have guardianship of them when there is no abbot, as is their due. (47) All forests that have been created in our reign shall at once be disafforested.