(85.) Chapter 39 (later 29) of the Magna Carta of 1215 states that "[n]o freeman shall be taken or [and] imprisoned or
disseized or outlawed or exiled or in any way destroyed, nor will we go upon him nor send upon him, except by the lawful judgment of his peers or [and] the law of the land." BOYD BARRINGTON, THE MAGNA CHARTA AND OTHER GREAT CHARTERS OF ENGLAND 239 (2d ed.
"The Magna Charta provided that no freeman would be
disseized, dispossessed, or imprisoned except by judgment of his peers or by 'the laws of the land.' It further stated, '[t]o none will we sell, to none will we deny, to none will we delay right or justice.'" Id.
I, [section] 19 ("No person shall be taken, imprisoned, or
disseized of his freehold, liberties, or privileges, or outlawed, or exiled, or in any manner deprived of his life, liberty or property, but by the law of the land.").
Chapter 29 of Magna Carta proclaims: "No Freeman shall be taken, or imprisoned, or be
disseized of his Freehold ...
XXI ("That no freeman ought to be taken, or imprisoned, or
disseized of his freehold, liberties, or privileges, or outlawed, or exiled, or in any manner destroyed, or deprived of his life, liberty, or property, but by the judgment of his peers, or by the law of the land."), reprinted in 3 THE FEDERAL AND STATE CONSTITUTIONS, COLONIAL CHARTERS, AND OTHER ORGANIC LAWS OF THE STATES, TERRITORIES, AND COLONIES 1688 (Francis Newton Thorpe ed., 1909) [hereinafter ORGANIC LAWS]; see also N.Y.
(176) The North Carolina Supreme Court held that this statute was unconstitutional, and based its decision in part on the "law of the land" clause from the North Carolina Bill of Rights, which provided that "no freeman ought to be taken, imprisoned or
disseized of his freehold, liberties or privileges, or outlawed or exiled, or in any manner destroyed or deprived of his life, liberty or property, but by the law of the land." (177) The state conceded the legislature would have had no power to confiscate property from an individual, but denied that corporations had the same protection.
(31) Virginia's 1776 Constitution likewise separated specific criminal procedures from the law of the land clause, which simply declared that "no man [would] be deprived of his liberty, except by the law of the land, or the judgment of his peers." (32) The Maryland Constitution of 1776 had three "law of the land" clauses, two of which ensured speedy remedy for injuries, (33) and one of which recited the Magna Carta formulation: "[N]o freeman ought to be taken, or imprisoned, or
disseized of his freehold, liberties, or privileges, or outlawed, or exiled, or in any manner destroyed, or deprived of his life, liberty, or property, but by the judgment of his peers, or by the law of the land." (34)
The Magna Carta stated "'no freeman shall be taken, or imprisoned, or be
disseized of his freehold, or liberties, or free customs, or be outlawed, or exiled, or any otherwise destroyed; nor will we [not] pass upon him, nor condemn him, but by lawful judgment of his peers, or by the law of the land.'" Id.