Yet Magna Carta is not a democratic document. Although it established the requirement of common consent to taxation, that consent was to be obtained from an assembly of earls, barons, bishops, and abbots – in the age of chivalry, not even knights were invited to participate.
但大宪章不是一份民主文件。尽管它规定税收必须以一致同意（common consent）为前提，但这一同意是通过高等和低等贵族、主教和修道院长的集会形成——在骑士制度时代，就连骑士也无资格与会。