TEXAS SUPREME COURT HISTORICAL SOCIETY

(above:) The program’s audience. (below, left to right): First Court of Appeals Senior Justice Terry Jennings;David A. Furlow; City of Houston Judge Charles “Kin” Spain.Justice Jennings, former Justice Cohen, and Judge Spain first organized this program in 2014 in responseto a request from the Thomas More Society to explore the origins of the Rule of Law at the 1910 Historic HarrisCounty Courthouse. The judges asked me to join them to discuss how Magna Carta responded to the lawlessnessof medieval English kings, of whom King John was the worst. In June of 2014, we explored how Lord EdwardCoke reinterpreted Magna Carta as a limit on royal power while leading Puritan Parliamentary opposition to thearbitrary rule of King Charles I; how Magna Carta led to the American Revolution; and how the drafters of theTexas Constitution preserved Magna Carta’s words in the Constitution of 1836. Justice Jennings made sure thatthe program focused on stewardship: the duty of lawyers, judges, and citizens to preserve, protect, and improvethe jury system, the independence of the judiciary, and the rule of law. Members of the panel presented theprogram to the Magna Carta Society of Houston and the American Board of Trial Advocates’ teachers college inJune before making the presentation at the State Bar Annual Meeting in San Antonio.In response to the suggestion of Texas Supreme Court Historical Society Executive Director Pat Nester,State Bar Video Production Director Paul Burks recorded the program for later rebroadcast on the Society’sHemphill YouTube channel.Return to Journal Index113