The Magna Carta, one of the most important documents in the Western world, was sold Tuesday night at Sotheby’s for a price of $21.32
million. The buyer was the co-founder and managing director of the Carlyle Group, David Rubenstein, who intends to lend the document back to the National Archives in Washington D.C., where it has been on display since 1985.

Originally written in 1215, the Magna Carta established key elements of the rule of law, including the writ of habeas corpus, the right to a trial by jury, and the presumption of innocence before the law. King John of England agreed, in 1215, to the demands of his barons and authorized that handwritten copies of the Magna Carta be prepared on parchment, affixed with his seal, and publicly read. Thus he bound not only himself but his “heirs, for ever” to grant “to all freemen of our kingdom” the rights and liberties described in the charter.

Today, the document is recognized as a crucial influence on the American constitution and modern democracy. Sotheby’s had been estimated this copy at between $20 million and $30 million.

Many copies of the Magna Carta were created, but over time only a few have survived. The copy that was auctioned at Sotheby’s entered the British law books in 1297. It was once owned by Edmund Brudenell of Deene Park, Northamptonshire, Central England, who is a descendant of one of Britain’s most prominent medieval families. It is understood that the Brudenell family took possession of the charter in the 16th century, possibly from a monastery ransacked during the Reformation.

The document was later purchased by Texas billionaire and former presidential candidate Ross Perot. In 1985, the Perot Foundation lent the Magna Carta to the National Archives, where it was on public view until the Foundation decided to sell. The money raised in the sale will go
to fund medical research, education, and the families of wounded soldiers.