Charter of Ivo de la Jaille (active 1215). Undated but ca. June 1215.
De la Jaille, a French supporter of King John, had been given lands in Buckingham confiscated from the baronial rebel Richard de Clare earlier in 1215. He in turn gave land and alms to Biddlesden Abbey, and in this document he promises to defend in the county courts the abbey's right to them.
Ivo further commits to conducting his court "in a reasonable manner according to the laws of England," a phrase that already suggests the esteem for established law that would soon be written into Magna Carta.
