Editorial: Auctioning history

Thursday, Dec. 13, 2007 | 7:22 a.m.

For nearly two decades an original copy of the Magna Carta sat on display at the National Archives in Washington, D.C. It was in a fitting place, just a few feet from the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution, documents that were inspired by it.

The copy, owned by a foundation controlled by billionaire H. Ross Perot, was abruptly taken off display this year. The foundation plans to sell the document to fund medical research.

On Tuesday Sotheby's will auction Perot's copy and has said the sale price could reach $30 million. There are only 17 originals from the 13th century, and Perot's is the only one in private hands. Of the others, 15 are in England and one is displayed in Australia's Parliament.

The Magna Carta's importance to America, much less the world, is difficult to overstate.

Codified into English law in 1297, the Magna Carta set the framework for modern government, establishing basic principles about human rights and the role of government. In the 1700s American colonists complained that King George had violated the Magna Carta, then used it while drafting the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

David Redden, Sotheby's vice chairman in charge of the auction, said it is "absolutely correct to say the Magna Carta is the birth certificate of freedom. It states the bedrock principle that no person is above the law - that is the essence of it."

It is a document that should be on display in America, next to the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. It is anyone's guess who will buy the Magna Carta and what will be done with it. Perot was generous enough to lend the document to the National Archives, and we hope the document's next owner will follow suit.