There’s scores of people out there busy preparing for tomorrow’s Cinco de Mayo celebrations, totally unaware that Law Day was just celebrated in the US on May 1st, for the fifty-seventh consecutive year. While it doesn’t involve sipping margaritas or wearing a festive sombrero, Law Day has its own unique importance.
President Eisenhower established this national holiday to honor the notion that the United States was founded on the rule of law as a “safe, free and just society” (Strong, 2015). This celebration of the roots of our nation is traced back to the Margna Carta of 1215, which celebrates its eight hundredth anniversary in 2015. The ABA has a webpage dedicated to the importance of the Magna Carta, which boats that the influence of its “story of modern constitutional government and its associated rule-of-law values” is still continuing and relevant today (ABA, 2015).
The blog written by Frank Strong reminds us that the Magna Carta’s key principles utilized in the founding of our nation’s democracy include:
- No taxation without representation
- Right to a fair trial
- No one is above the law – not even a king
So it’s very fitting that on Law Day, this past May 1st, those of us in the legal profession celebrated not only the rule of law in our government’s founding, but also the Magna Carta’s eight hundred year long history.
(Image courtesy of: http://businessoflawblog.com/2015/04/infographic-magna-carta/)
Sources:
http://businessoflawblog.com/2015/04/infographic-magna-carta/
https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/presidential-proclamation-law-day-usa
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