A rare copy of the Magna Carta has been sold for £10.6m ($21.3m) in an auction at Sotheby’s in New York.
The copy dating from 1297, one of only 17 still in existence, was bought by US businessman David Rubenstein.
The Magna Carta was not confirmed as English law until the version sealed by Edward I in 1297.
David Redden, vice-chairman of Sotheby’s, described the Magna Carta as “the most important document in the world”.
“The 1297 Magna Carta became the operative version, the one that was entered into English common law and became the law of the land,” he said.
“The Magna Carta is the first rung on the ladder to freedom. This document symbolises mankind’s eternal quest for freedom.
“It is a talisman of liberty.”
Basic freedoms
The Magna Carta came into being as the result of a dispute between King John and English barons, and it went some way towards limiting the authority of the king.
The charter guaranteed basic freedoms and property rights to those considered “free men”.
Its most notable legacy in present-day English law is the principle of Habeas Corpus, which protects people against unlawful imprisonment.
Only four copies dating to the 1215 signing of the Magna Carta are believed to have survived, and all of them are in England.
- Source: BBC News, Dec. 19, 2007
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