lands by military tenure of a baron, on pretence that he also holds
lands of the crown by socage or any other tenure. Scutages shall be
estimated at the same rate as in the time of Henry I; and no scutage
or aid, except in the three general feudal cases--the king's
captivity, the knighting of his eldest son, and the marrying of his
eldest daughter--shall be imposed but by the great council of the
kingdom; the prelates, earls, and great barons shall be called to this
great council, each by a particular writ; the lesser barons by a
general summons of the sheriff. The king shall not seize any baron's
land for a debt to the crown if the baron possesses as many goods and
chattels as are sufficient to discharge the debt. No man shall be
obliged to perform more service for his fee than he is bound to by his
tenure. No governor or constable of a castle shall oblige any knight
to give money for castle guard, if the knight be willing to perform
the service in person, or by another able-bodied man; and if the
knight be in the field himself, by the king's command, he shall be
exempted from all other service of this nature. No vassal shall be
allowed to sell so much of his land as to incapacitate himself from
performing his service to his lord.

These were the principal articles, calculated for the interest of the
barons; and had the charter contained nothing further, national
happiness and liberty had been very little promoted by it, as it would
only have tended to increase the power and independence of an order of
men who were already too powerful, and whose yoke might have become
more heavy on the people than even that of an absolute monarch. But
the barons, who alone drew and imposed on the prince this memorable
charter, were necessitated to insert in it other clauses of a more
extensive and more beneficent nature: they could not expect the
concurrence of the people without comprehending, together with their