In this chapter I will explain how an understanding of Magna Carta in 1215 might provide an intriguing model for understanding “global procedural justice.” I will focus on how extending such rights as habeas corpus to the international community would contribute to the international rule of law as well as help secure other substantive rights. The general idea is that we are currently in a situation where the sovereign States could be seen as similar to the feudal lords at the time in English history when the English State was just beginning to develop. And we might learn from an examination of Magna Carta how a centralized legal system came to emerge from a decentralized set of largely local courts. Most importantly, I hope to show that protection of procedural rights was paramount as a first step toward centralization of a legal system.

The story of how Magna Carta influenced English law gives us a model, but also a cautionary tale, of how international law may develop as well. The process was a very slow and gradual one, and the process largely proceeded through gap-filling, especially in the domain of procedural rights rather than substantive rights. Magna Carta laid the groundwork for the English rule of law by laying out basic procedures that had to be followed, including procedures for challenging arbitrary imprisonment or exile. These procedural rights opened the door for the kind of equitable review of potentially arbitrary use of power by courts and even by the king, so that other more substantive abuses could be exposed and condemned as well. In this way, even as significant substantive rights were lacking in the legal system, procedural rights became gap-fillers. Accountability was the main thing accomplished by Magna Carta and this then led to the possibility of a centralized system of law enforcement across England, just as may be true some day with international law. The process required significant input from Parliament, which extended and solidified Magna Carta's rights. Because there is no international Legislature, other legal institutions will have to play the role of Parliament in extending basic procedural rights globally.