ABA Annual Meeting to Offer Debut of Magna Carta Exhibit

The Annual Meeting of the American Bar Association (ABA) will be held August 7 to 12 in Boston.  Several events at the meeting have been planned in conjunction with the kickoff of the ABA's celebration of the 800th anniversary of the Magna Carta signing, which occurred in June of 1215.

The ABA Journal reports that a collaborative exhibit of the ABA and the Law Library of Congress will debut at the ABA Expo, titled Magna Carta: Enduring Legacy 1215-2015.  According to the Library of Congress press release, the exhibit "will feature facsimiles of Magna Carta-related rare documents and artifacts from the collections of the Library of Congress . . . [and] as many as 16 freestanding banners will depict images of the materials and tell the story of Magna Carta and its catalyst role in promoting the rule of law."  The traveling exhibit will continue on tour to public buildings throughout the U.S., including courthouses, universities, and libraries.  A stationary exhibit featuring one of the four surviving copies of the Magna Carta will be on display at the Library of Congress from November 2014 to June 2015. 

Also, this year's keynote address at the ABA Annual Meeting will be given by U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, who will discuss the Magna Carta in his speech, including both its historical and current significance (see here for an article from the ABA Journal). 

Interested in more information about the Magna Carta?  The National Archives website here offers background information, images and translation, as well as an in-depth article titled The Magna Carta and Its American Legacy, which examines the Magna Carta and its influence on American constitutionalism.  The McKusick Law Library also offers the following titles in its collection:

Magna Carta: Text and Commentary / by A.E. Dick Howard

Magna Carta and the Tradition of Liberty / by Louis B. Wright

Magna Carta and the Idea of Liberty / James C. Holt, editor

The Road From Runnymede: Magna Carta and Constitutionalism in America / by A.E. Dick Howard