Source A Large public meetings like this Chartist one in 1848 threatened disorder
© Topfoto
Much of the key legislation that has been implemented by central government would never have occurred had not popular protest movements forced it to act.
This is evident from the start of one of the biggest protest movements of all when English barons rose up and forced King John to sign the Magna Carta in 1215. Among the measures he had to agree to were the right to a trial in front of one’s peers and freedom from wrongful arrest and imprisonment. Magna Carta has become a foundational charter in establishing the idea of rights and of freedom from despotic authority.
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