Which of these statements can the reader infer from this passage?
A.
John hated Richard because their father had given him all the land.
B.
After 1215, King John could steal the land from English noblemen.
C.
When someone was jailed, jailers had to show the king the body.
D.
After 1215, King John could not make the nobles do as he wanted.
n 1215, King John of England was forced to give up some of his royal power with the adoption of the Magna Carta, which means “Great Charter” in Latin. The main effect of this document, which was written in Latin, was to secure the liberties of the English Church, the rights of English nobles, and to restrict abuses of royal power. It required the king to concede certain rights to the nobles. In essence, it meant the king could no longer rule by whim, such as arresting anyone for any reason, but had to respect certain legal procedures. The Great Charter gave the king’s subjects certain rights that the king could not violate.
One of the laws that the Great Charter set out was the rule of habeas corpus. This is a Latin term meaning “show me the body,” and it meant that the king or his officers had to prove that a person in their custody had broken a law and was not in jail because the king was mad at him or wanted his property.
King John had taken the throne upon King Richard’s death. King Richard was his oldest brother, and according to English property law of the time, the oldest son inherited all his father’s land. As the youngest son, John inherited no land and was known as “John Lackland.” Without land, King John could only raise money to support himself by taxing his subjects, and this made him very unpopular. He was the king that the famous Robin Hood fought against.