The Magna Carta's four surviving copies are soon to be reunited for their 800th anniversary.

The event marks the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta, which established the timeless principle that no individual, even a monarch, is above the law.

In 1215, 40 rebellious English barons came together to declare their rights to King John, and he reluctantly consented to their demands in an attempt to avoid civil war. It included acknowledgments that taxes cannot be arbitrary, that free men cannot be imprisoned without first being judged by their peers or the law and that justice cannot be denied or delayed.

But within weeks, the Pope voided the agreement, and England was thrown into war. However, in spite of this, the document was wisely later incorporated into English law.

The original Magna Carta manuscripts were written and sealed in late June and early July, 1215, and sent individually throughout the country, making the upcoming unification unique.

Magna Carta influenced not only Thomas Jefferson when he helped draft the Declaration of Independence, but also the writers of the French constitution and the late South African leader Nelson Mandela, who cited it in his famous speech in his own defence at the Rivonia trial in 1964, Harrison said.