<P> The charter became part of English political life and was typically renewed by each monarch in turn , although as time went by and the fledgling English Parliament passed new laws , it lost some of its practical significance . At the end of the 16th century there was an upsurge in interest in Magna Carta . Lawyers and historians at the time believed that there was an ancient English constitution , going back to the days of the Anglo - Saxons , that protected individual English freedoms . They argued that the Norman invasion of 1066 had overthrown these rights , and that Magna Carta had been a popular attempt to restore them , making the charter an essential foundation for the contemporary powers of Parliament and legal principles such as habeas corpus . Although this historical account was badly flawed , jurists such as Sir Edward Coke used Magna Carta extensively in the early 17th century , arguing against the divine right of kings propounded by the Stuart monarchs . Both James I and his son Charles I attempted to suppress the discussion of Magna Carta , until the issue was curtailed by the English Civil War of the 1640s and the execution of Charles . </P>
what did the magna carta do for england 's government
an essential foundation for the contemporary powers of Parliament