Council’s Senior Economic Development Officer Harry Bolton has negotiated a loan of the exhibit currently on display at the Canberra Law Courts.

Tenterfield Shire councillor Don Forbes was the first to broach the topic of celebrating the charters 800th anniversary.

“800 years ago they established a rule that no one was above the law – it was a forerunner to our jury system today as we understand it.

“It really paved the way to our freedoms today,” Mr Forbes said.

The Magna Carta – Latin for the 'great charter' – was drawn up in June 1215 as a peace treaty between England's King John and his rebellious barons.

He ripped it up just eight weeks later, but it was reissued by later kings of England and copies were sent around the country to reassure their subjects

It established the principle of trial by jury and that everyone, King included, was subject to the rule of law.

It has come to be regarded as the foundation document of English constitutional law and a cornerstone of democracy.

Magna Carta became law in Australia on January 26, 1788, when Governor Arthur Phillip, by raising the Union Jack on the foreshores of Sydney Harbour, thereby (under imperialist legal theory) imported into the whole country as much of British common law as was capable of application to its conditions.

The exhibition will be set up in the School of Arts from Monday, July 6 to July 24.

It will cost council $3,800 to transport the artefacts and will include expenses for a representative of the Rule of Law Institute of Australia Magna Carta Committee.

“It’s an incredibly important document in my opinion that should be respected,” Mr Forbes said.

An offer has been made for the representative to conduct sessions with Tenterfield school kids.

Mr Forbes said it was important that today’s children are made aware of the charter so its relevance isn’t lost to future generations.

“That’s what I’d like to see – I would hope school kids from outlying areas might come to see it too.

“Our liberal democracy owes a lot to it,” he said.