Definition of "Carta"

Now that we know what the words Magna Charta mean, it is time to ask what the Charta was, how it came to be granted in the time of King John, and why it is that Englishmen have always given it so important a place in the history of their country.

1907, H[ugh] O[akeley] Arnold-Forster, A History of England from the Landing of Julius Cæsar to the Present Day, London, Paris, New York, N.Y., Melbourne, Vic.: Cassell and Company, Limited, page 156

The most notable of these occasions was that on which the Magna Carta, a reaffirmation of feudal rights, was presented to King John and his agreement to it extracted. The assembly of tenants-in-chief which met on the island of Runnymede to impose the Carta upon John was called a ‘parliament’.

a. 1991, Michael Oakeshott, edited by Terry Nardin and Luke O’Sullivan, Lectures in the History of Political Thought, Andrews UK Limited, published 2006, republished 2011

On June 15, 2015, the Magna Carta, the forerunner of the concept of due process, celebrated its 800th anniversary. The Carta is one of the world’s most recognized symbols of liberty under law.

2016, Cliff Roberson, Dilip K. Das, An Introduction to Comparative Legal Models of Criminal Justice, 2nd edition, Boca Raton, Fla., London, New York, N.Y.: CRC Press, page 37

Figure 7.1(b) portrays the attempt by English barons (and clergy) to constrain the oppressive rule of King John by forcing him to sign the Carta and thereby grant them liberties and privileges and limit his authority. From today’s perspective, this is a snapshot of a momentous event in English constitutional history. At that time, however, the Carta was a short-lived agreement that was renounced only a few months later. The constitutional development that followed the Magna Carta was a protracted process with many reversals.

2020, Karolina M. Milewicz, Constitutionalizing World Politics: The Logic of Democratic Power and the Unintended Consequences of International Treaty Making, Cambridge University Press, page 240