An Economic Analysis of Magna Carta

This paper uses the economic approach to self-enforcing constitutions to analyze Magna Carta and uses Magna Carta to evaluate the economic approach to self-enforcing constitutions. We find that Magna Carta in its reissued, but not original, incarnation satisfied each of the conditions necessary for constitutional self-enforcement according to that approach and thus effectively constrained government. Our analysis illuminates Magna Carta's initial failure to constrain government, helps explain its ultimate success in doing so, and furnishes supportive evidence for the economic approach to self-enforcing constitutions.