‘Given by the hand of John by the grace of God King of England in the meadow that is called Runnymede between Windsor and Staines on the fifteenth day of June in the seventeenth year of our reign for the better ordering of our kingdom to all Free Men of our Kingdom we have granted for us and our heirs for ever all the liberties written out below to have and to keep for them and their heirs of us and our heirs.’

Thus ran Magna Carta in 1215. Clause 13 was still valid with a few minor amendments when it was released under Royal Seal by John’s son King Henry III ten years later in 1225. It ran thus. ‘The city of London shall enjoy all its ancient liberties and free customs, both by land and by water. We also will and grant that all other cities, boroughs, towns, and ports shall enjoy all their liberties and free customs.’

Two other clauses would have been of particular interest to the London Merchants with their Guilds and Companies and Antient Traditions. Clause 41 allowed that ‘All merchants may enter or leave England unharmed and without fear and may stay or travel within it by land or water for purposes of trade free from all illegal exactions in accordance with ancient and lawful customs. This however does not apply in time of war to merchants from a country that is at war with us. Any such merchants found in our country at the outbreak of war shall be detained without injury to their persons or property until we or our chief justice have discovered how our own merchants are being treated in the country at war with us. If our own merchants are safe they shall be safe too.’

In King John’s Charter of 1215 a Clause 42 was also to be found that ran thus. ‘In future it shall be lawful for any man to leave and return to our kingdom unharmed and without fear by land or water preserving his allegiance to us, except in time of war for some short period for the common benefit of the realm. People that have been imprisoned or outlawed in accordance with the law of the land people from a country that is at war with us and merchants - who shall be dealt with as stated above - are excepted from this provision.’ This clause was one of several omitted from King Henry III’s Charter of 1225.

Another of King John’s Clauses that fell out of royal favour between 1215 and 1225 was Clause 61 which was omitted from King Henry III’s Charter. At 540 words in its English translation it is the longest clause in King John’s Magna Carta of 1215 and it began thus. ‘Since we have granted all these things for God for the better ordering of our kingdom and to allay the discord that has arisen between us and our barons and since we desire that they shall be enjoyed in their entirety with lasting strength for ever we give and grant to the barons the following security’. Eight sub-clauses then follow regarding specific contingencies. The first three sub-clauses ran thus.

‘The barons shall elect twenty-five of their number to keep and cause to be observed with all their might the peace and liberties granted and confirmed to them by this charter.’

‘If we, our chief justice our officials or any of our servants offend in any respect against any man or transgress any of the articles of the peace or of this security and the offence is made known to four of the said twenty-five barons they shall come to us…or in our absence to the chief justice…to declare it and claim immediate redress.’

‘If we…or in our absence abroad the chief justice…make no redress within forty days reckoning from the day on which the offence was declared to us or to him the four barons shall refer the matter to the rest of the twenty-five barons, who may distrain upon and assail us in every way possible with the support of the whole community of the land, by seizing our castles lands, possessions or anything else saving only our own person and those of the queen and our children until they have secured such redress as they have determined upon. Having secured the redress they may then resume their normal obedience to us.’ That’s a devil of an incentive for Central Power to pull its finger out…and quite the clearest statements of Real Subsidiarity…with teeth…to be found anywhere.

The Guilds and Companies of the City of London clearly thought so too because they adopted Clause 61 for their own governance and have stuck with it through thick and thin for nigh on 800 years…until now. Instead of the Good Burghers of the City of London seeking to spread their particular form of enlightened governance throughout Her Majesty’s Kingdom…for a similar manner of governance should be embraced by every town and village and not just one square mile of it...moves are afoot to force the Council of 25 Barons to share power with a Court of 100.

An application from Julian Malins…a barrister whose brother is an Member of Parliament…is to be heard by a closed session of Common Council. It seeks to scrap the exclusive rights of the 25 aldermen to provide and elect the Lord Mayor by tagging a clause onto some existing piece of Parliamentary Legislation and sneaking it through on a Bad News Day. Why? Because the last thing the Plotters want is to open up the matter of their governance…or anybody else’s…to public scrutiny by either house of parliament. Keeping the king at bay is one thing. The lid of this particular Pandora’s Box must be kept firmly shut…lest a Baying Mob escapes with Real Power within its grasp.