First fundamental rights documents in Europe: commemorating 800 years of Magna Carta

With the spotlight on Magna Carta, which is 800 years old in 2015, and the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen of 1789, which together are of undeniable importance for fundamental rights-thinking, the existence of similar fundamental rights documents in other European countries is often overlooked. Such fundamental rights documents did, however, exist in the precursors to the current European Union Member States. Some of the documents are ancient, even older than Magna Carta, and some are more recent, but all of them are texts that deserve to be brought out and analysed alongside Magna Carta and the French Declaration in order to better understand the evolution of fundamental rights thinking in Europe.This volume paints a multi-faceted picture of historical fundamental rights documents in the European space by collating the experience of 24 European Union Member States at times in history when most of these states did not even exist. It is the first comprehensive and systematic evaluation of early fundamental rights thinking across Europe and it reveals surprising diversity. Spanning documents from the fifth century BC right through to the 19th century and early 20th century AD, this review opens up themes not normally found in historiographical analyses of fundamental rights.

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Jan 2018).

The United Kingdom: From Magna Carta 1215 to the Rule of Law -- Ireland: Individual and Group Rights in Ancient Irish Law -- Italy: The Liber Paradisus: A Vision of Good Governance -- Hungary: The Historic Constitution as the Place of Memory -- Belgium: From Collective Privileges to Individual Rights -- Austria: Manorial Regulation of Mining and Use of Forests as Potential Antecedents in Fundamental Rights -- Spain: The First Cry for Justice in the Americas: From Antonio de Montesinos to the Laws of Burgos (1512) -- Lithuania: From Equality to Inequality and to Equality Again -- Poland: From the Golden Liberty of the Nobles to Fundamental Rights -- France: Foundational Importance of the Declaration of 1789 -- Sweden: Free Press as a First Fundamental Right -- The Netherlands: The Batavian Staatsregeling as the First Fundamental Rights Document -- Portugal: 'Tropical Versailles' in the Beginning of the Nineteenth Century -- Luxembourg: Fundamental Rights in a Small State -- Greece: Reflections from the Hellenic Legal Tradition -- Denmark: In Love with Tradition -- Germany: Fundamental Rights as an Instrument Towards the Rechtstaat -- The Czech Republic: On the Road to Rights and Fr…