The Magna Carta Society
OTHER ACTIONS
The objective of Defence of the Realm has been to make a
case for the constitutional repudiation of the
There are, of
course, other means by which the UK’s membership of the EU may end - the
government of the day might withdraw its ambassador and void the treaties with
the EU; the EU might collapse or throw us out (equally unlikely); parliament
might vote for repeal of the 1972 Act; private prosecutions of government
ministers for treason might be successful.
Any one of these events would have much the same practical effect as we
seek.
Whichever event
prevails, we argue that there are other actions, legal and otherwise, which
need the urgent attention of those in a position, and with the knowledge, to
take them.
Immediately
1. Determine how
best to test in the courts the claim that European law is “supreme” in the
2. Examine the
direct conflict between the oaths sworn by privy counsellors and EU
commissioners. At the very least, we
advocate that those who have taken the commission’s euro should be publicly
stripped of their status as privy counsellors.
3. Examine the
constitutionality of the three separate attempts currently being made by
parliament acting under instructions from the EU and the European Court of
Human Rights to interfere with the oath of attestation made by all members of
the armed forces. The first involves the
setting up of an embryo European Army, and passing command to a foreign power,
the second proposes giving the ‘right’ to junior ranks to sue their commanding
officers, and the third interferes with the setting and interpretation of
standards of behaviour likely to be detrimental to the efficiency of the
forces. In all these
actions parliament appears to be exceeding its authority and compromising the
sovereignty of The Queen.
4. Examine the
issue of citizenship (Article 8 of the Maastricht Treaty - "Citizenship of
the union is hereby established").
British citizenship (we prefer the term “subject of the crown”) is a
birthright. Citizenship is not in the
gift of a self-appointed foreign institution, which in any event is
unaccountable to the British electorate and, we argue, has no standing
here.
The notion of
dual citizenship, implied under this Treaty, is nonsensical. Across the world, applications for dual
citizenship are entirely voluntary. Furthermore,
the European Union is even now only an association of sovereign nation
states. It is not in itself a state,
much as it might like to pretend otherwise.
It is impossible to be the citizen of a non-state.
At the very
least, therefore, that legal anomaly needs to be disputed in the courts, with
the outcome providing individual subjects with a practical and effective means
of rejecting so-called citizenship of the EU, and all its pathetic
paraphernalia - passport covers, driving licences and the like.
5. Examine the
constitutionality of the 1975 referendum and the referendum proposed on the
euro, both of which concern changes which appear to have been forbidden under
our constitution and, if possible, instigate proceedings to have them set aside.
6. Investigate
the case against all the plenipotentiaries acting under the royal prerogative
and who signed the Treaties of Rome,
7. Test the
legality of all new EU legislation, directives and regulations, as attempts are
made to introduce and enforce them. To
date, insufficiently vigorous opposition has been applied. There are major battles ahead, including: the
euro and tax harmonisation, weights and measures, a European defence force,
Europol and Corpus Juris. As the EU
attempts to enforce its policies and law on the
Post-Membership
8. The
restitution of the constitution will release an avalanche of cases of
maladministration, involving whole industries (fishing, for example) and many
thousands of individuals and businesses, and going back over many years.
The desire for an
immediate and gigantic bonfire of EU inanities will need to be balanced with an
equally important desire to achieve rapid but orderly abolition of (now)
illegal regulations. An immediate
moratorium on enforcement seems the most practical and desirable first
step.
The vital issue
of making good the damage suffered by the people will come a close second. This might perhaps be addressed in much the
same way as restitution and reinstatement was handled after the second world war, with the state leading a programme of
national re-building. What redress do
the people whose livelihoods have been damaged or destroyed over the last 30
years have against government ministers and enforcement agencies past and
present? And how can it be delivered
quickly and fairly, without time-consuming and expensive civil
proceedings? It is possible that justice
itself will demand that the state foots the bill.
We urge that a
powerful independent body be set up as a matter of the highest priority and
charged, primarily, with determining the best means of achieving rapid and
equitable redress for all those affected by the enforcement of EU law,
regulations, directives and judicial decisions in the
9. Investigate
the constitutionality of actions and decisions concerning the EU taken or
authorised by all the prime ministers, their administrations and enforcement
agencies, since 1972. Consider what
legal response is now appropriate.
Further examine
the past actions of ministers and officials who exceeded or may have exceeded
the authority delegated to them by the people, and who attempted to defy the
clear intentions of the constitution of the
And Finally…
10. The people are sovereign. The monarch is the embodiment of that
sovereignty. So it was and still should
be. But these tenets of the constitution
have been seriously threatened by the erosion of the checks and balances
between the sovereign, the houses of parliament and the people - an erosion which has been insidious, lengthy and allowed to
thrive by the negligence of the people, who have failed sufficiently to
exercise vigilance.
It was 473 years
after Magna Carta that a further treaty became necessary between sovereign and
people. Today, 312 years have passed
since the Declaration of Rights.
Events of recent
years, and the momentous issues raised in this document, convince us that a new
and historic re-affirmation of the rights of the people is now essential - a
confirmation of liberties between the monarch and the people. It should re-state the true relationship
between sovereign, the two houses of parliament and the people, re-establish
the checks and balances between them, and re-affirm the covenant between
sovereign and subjects.
A Declaration for
the next thousand years based on the rights, freedoms and customs of the
British people for the last thousand years.
Nothing else will do.
___________________________________________________________________
This document was
researched and written by the founding members of
The
Magna Carta Society. First
published as Defence of the Realm,
Appendices
The
Hereditary House of Peers
By happy co-incidence, The
Magna Carta Society’s proposed petition to The Queen via the hereditary House
of Lords comes at a time when the re-establishment of that distinguished House
is under consideration.
By accepting and dealing
with our petition, the hereditary House of Lords will be the first estate of
the realm to grapple with the great constitutional issues raised by the
European Union, the first to give a hearing to the concerns of the people
(after more than 25 years of waiting), and the first to have an opportunity to put the EU’s
constitutionality in the UK fully to the test.
They will also be
the first estate of the realm to acknowledge, in the context of our
relationship with the EU, the birthrights of the people as laid down in common
law and enshrined in the constitution.
They will be seen to be doing their duty under the first document of our
constitution - Magna Carta - both by the people and by the sovereign.
It was a group of
hereditary peers who forced King John to sign Magna Carta in the first place, and by so doing took the initial steps towards
creating our constitution. Thus their
support today is steeped in history and represents another few steps on the
same road.
The Founding Members of The
Magna Carta Society
Dave Bourne Mike Burke Idris Francis John Gouriet
Adam Hartman John
Hurst Ashley Mote Bob Sims
Bryan Smalley
Additional Research
Mike Andrews John Hart Steve Johnson Nigel
Locke
How to Reach Us
The Magna Carta
Society
c/o Bob Lomas
phone and fax: 01403
741346
international: +44 1 403
741346
e-mail: earlgrey ‘AT’
uwclub.net
The Views of
“How did we ever
come voluntarily to join the most selfish, protectionist, inward-looking
political body the world has ever seen? It
steadfastly fails to define any benefits it might have claimed for itself, and
defiantly ignores the injury and damage it does.”
“I am sure the
time is ripe for a well-devised assault on all who by design or ignorance or
thoughtlessness have already made great steps towards overthrowing our
constitution. Cleverness and commonsense
and balance and money are all needed.”
“What is needed
is the support and enthusiasm of…people who are…already alert to the
constitutional and political disasters which lie ahead if misguided bureaucrats
and governments and supporting deceivers have their way.”