Читать книгу Magna Carta: A Commentary on the Great Charter of King John. With an Historical Introduction онлайн

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A definite understanding on this vital question was never arrived at—not even on paper, since chapter 16 of Magna Carta contented itself with the bald provision that existing services were not to be increased (without defining what these were). This was merely to shelve the difficulty: the dispute went on under varying forms and led to a violent clashing of wills in the unseemly wrangle between Edward I. and his Constable and Marshal, dramatized in a classic passage by Walter of Hemingburgh.^[123] Strangely enough, the Confirmatio Cartarum of 1297, which was, in part, the outcome of this later quarrel, omits (like Magna Carta itself)^[124] all reference to foreign service. The total omission from both charters of all mention of the chief cause of dispute is noteworthy. It must be remembered, however, that the question of liability to serve abroad had practically resolved itself into that of liability to scutage, and that chapters 12 and 14 of the Charter of 1215 provided an adequate check on the levy of all scutages; but this is a subject of crucial importance, which requires separate and detailed treatment.