「マグナ・カルタ」盾にコロナ規制無視、営業続ける事業者に罰金　英

【ロンドンＡＦＰ＝時事】英国では、権利と自由に関する国際定義の土台となった「マグナ・カルタ（大憲章）」が新型コロナウイルス対策の規制に勝り、ロックダウン（都市封鎖）中も店舗は営業を続けることが認められるのだろうか？──答えは「ノー」。しかし、独自の解釈に基づき、営業継続は許されると主張し続けている事業者もいる。（写真は英ソールズベリー大聖堂で保管されているマグナ・カルタ＜大憲章＞のオリジナル写本）
　イングランド北部ブラッドフォード近郊に住む美容師、シネイド・クインさんは今月、全国的なロックダウン中も美容室の営業を続け、罰金は１万７０００ポンド（約２３６万円）に膨れ上がっているが、１２１５年に制定されたマグナ・カルタを引き合いに出し、ソーシャルメディアで注目を集めている。
　クインさんは、地元当局や警察とやり合った内容をインスタグラムに定期的に投稿。今月投稿した動画では警官に対し、罰金の支払いには応じないとして、「私は法律に違反していない。コモン・ロー（判例法）に従って営業を続けている」と訴えている。別の投稿ではマグナ・カルタの第６１条を引用して、「不当に統治されていると思ったら、法的に異議を申し立てる権利が私たちにはある」と主張している。
　こうした動きはクインさんに限らず、イングランド西部ブリストルのタトゥー店や北西部リバプールの子ども用の室内遊具施設も、マグナ・カルタを盾に営業を続けている。
　だが、警察はこうした主張を認めずに罰金を科し、あらゆる事業者に対し、法的な拘束力を持つのは８００年前のマグナ・カルタではなく現在の法律だと、くぎを刺している。
　クインさんの地元カークリーズの自治体は、新型コロナの第２波を抑制するためにイングランド全土がロックダウン中だったにもかかわらず、その１か月間にクインさんの美容室が取った行動は「自分勝手で無責任」だったと非難。自治体の広報担当者はＡＦＰに、クインさんが罰金を支払って引き下がらなければ、「最終的には訴える」と述べた。
　マグナ・カルタは、１２１５年に専制君主ジョン王が国王の権限を制限することを求めた反乱諸侯らの要求を受け入れて合意したもので、全ての人が正義を享受し、法は平等に適用され、統治者による力の行使が許されるのは法に基づいた場合のみとすること、などを明文化している。
　第６１条は、王に自由を侵害された際には、これらの反乱諸侯が抵抗する権利を認めているが、一般の民衆に対する抵抗権は認めていない。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2020/11/30-13:29）

Does Magna Carta supercede England's coronavirus regulations and allow businesses to stay open during lockdowns? In a word, no, but a handful of firms have been standing on their own interpretation of ancient liberties.
Invoking the landmark English charter of 1215, one hairdresser near Bradford in northern England has become a cause celebre among social media libertarians after stacking up fines totalling ??17,000 ($23,000).
Sinead Quinn has been posting regular Instagram updates of her confrontations with council officials and the police, as the fines mount for keeping her salon open this month despite a nationwide shutdown.
I don't consent to any fine, she told one officer in a video earlier this month. I'm not breaking any law. I'm operating my business under the common law.
In another post, Quinn quoted article 61 of Magna Carta to buttress her belief that we have a right to enter into lawful dissent if we feel we are being governed unjustly.
The hairdresser is not alone. Among others invoking Magna Carta to stay open have been a tattoo parlour in Bristol, western England, and a children's soft-play centre in Liverpool, in the northwest.
In all the cases, law enforcers have taken a dim view, meting out fines and reminding all businesses that legislation of this year, not 800 years ago, is relevant and binding.
Kirklees Council said the actions of Quinn Blakey Hairdressing were selfish and irresponsible, in a month when all of England was under lockdown to try to arrest a second wave of Covid-19.
If Quinn does not pay up and back down, a council spokesperson told AFP she faces eventually prosecution.
In Liverpool, video of a standoff at the soft-play centre showed a police officer telling the owner: Obviously, the Magna Carta didn't know about Covid-19.
Self-appointed guardians of constitutional precedent are not wrong in pointing to Magna Carta as laying down important principles in English common law.
- 'Ridiculous nonsense' -
In June 1215, the despotic King John accepted the demands of rebellious barons and agreed to a densely written legal document in Latin spelling out curbs on his powers.
Magna Carta -- The Great Charter -- declares that justice should be available to all, the law applies equally, and monarchs can only exercise power in accordance with the law.
Those principles have formed the basis of legal systems across the globe, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the US constitution.
But back in medieval England, the original charter was soon flouted by King John, civil war was renewed, and the vast majority of clauses never translated into later versions that did form the canon of English law.
Only four clauses survive in law to this day, including habeas corpus (forbidding arbitrary detention) and a right to trial by jury, according to the British parliament's website.
Clauses that never reached English statute include 61, which gave the right of resistance to 25 named barons, should the king infringe on their liberties. At no point did Magna Carta give any right to rebel to the populace at large.
Human rights lawyer Adam Wagner offered a word of caution to anyone relying on online conspiracy theories and legal hokum to evade coronavirus curbs.
He noted one case where a car thief, in court, relied on Magna Carta to try to get off after reading ridiculous nonsense he had printed off from the internet.
Suffice to say he was convicted and sent to prison for a number of years, Wagner tweeted.
In July, a British man was jailed for four years, not for trying to rely on Magna Carta but attempting to steal one of only four original versions of the document from Salisbury Cathedral.
Sinead Quinn will get her wish next week, when the England-wide lockdown ends. While her region in Yorkshire will remain in the highest tier of coronavirus restrictions, personal care businesses can reopen.