"Magna Carta required King John of England to proclaim certain rights (pertaining to nobles and barons), respect certain legal procedures, and accept that his will could be bound by the law. It explicitly protected certain rights of the King's subjects, whether free or fettered—most notably the writ of habeas corpus, allowing appeal against unlawful imprisonment.
Magna Carta was arguably the most significant early influence on the extensive historical process that led to the rule of constitutional law today in the English speaking world. Magna Carta influenced the development of the common law and many constitutional documents, including the United States Constitution." (Wikipedia)This democratic tradition continued in France when in 1789, King Louis XVI of France sought to forbid the so-called "Third Estate" or representatives of the people from meeting to discuss urgent national business, they convened on a Paris TENNIS COURT.
That, too, was presumably seen as an "insult" to the ruler, King Louis XVI.
They passed their "Tennis Court Oath" that they would not disperse, adjourn or relent until their right to convene and discuss important public matters as the people's legitimate representatives was acknowledged.
It was the beginning of the French Revolution and of the entire drama of modern representative democracy and popular sovereignty. (Clive S Kessler is Emeritus Professor of Sociology and Anthropology at the School of Social Sciences and International Studies at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia contributed to "The Nut Graph")
The Rowlatt Act, also known as the Black Act, vested the Viceroy's government with extraordinary powers to quell sedition by silencing the press, detaining the political activists without trial, and arresting any individuals suspected of sedition or treason without a warrant. In protest, a nationwide cessation of work (hartal) was called, marking the beginning of widespread, although not nationwide, popular discontent. The provisions of this act probably formed the basis of our own ISA.
Gowalia Tank Maidan (now also known as August Kranti Maidan) is a PARK in central Bombay where Mahatma Gandhi issued the Quit India speech on 8 August 1942 decreeing that the British must leave India immediately or else mass agitations would take place. The call mobilised the citizens to a huge Civil Disobedience movement as the British refused to grant independence till the 2nd World War was over.
The First Continental Congress of the United Colonies of North America met at Carpenter's Hall from September 5 to October 26, 1774, since the Pennsylvania State House (Independence Hall) was being used by the moderate Provincial Assembly of Pennsylvania. At this meeting, Congress organized a boycott of British goods and petitioned the king for repeal of the Coecive Acts 1774. Here, also, Congress resolved to ban further imports of slaves and to discontinue the slave trade within the colonies, a step toward phasing out slavery in British North America. Carpenter's Hall is a Guild House for Carpenters NOT a Government building.
Closer home, Sun Yat Sen Nanyang Memorial Hall, was formerly the headquarters of the Chinese Revolutionary Alliance in Southeast Asia known as Wan Qing Yuan (meaning “a haven of peace in the twilight years”). It was here that Dr. Sun plotted his revolutionary efforts that toppled the Qing dynastic rule and heralded the start of modern China. Sun Yat Sen held meetings at this mansion from February 1906 until the successful Xinhai Revolution in 1911. This mansion was originally built by a rich Chinese for his mistress, Bin Chan, NOT a Government building.
May history record that this meeting be listed among one of the revolutionary political assemblies in the world NOT held in an officially designated Government building.
