Magna Carta: A Commentary on the Great Charter of King John
Chapter Twenty–three.
20th Century William Sharp McKechnie EnglishNec villa nec homo distringatur facere pontes ad riparias, nisi qui ab antiquo et de jure facere debent.
No village or individual shall be compelled to make bridges at river banks, except those who from of old were legally bound to do so.
The object of this chapter is obvious; to compel the King to desist from his practice of illegally increasing the burden of the obligation to keep in repair all bridges over rivers. John might continue to exact what his ancestors had exacted; but nothing more. So much lies on the surface of the Charter, which explains, however, neither the origin of the obligation nor the reasons that made John keen to enforce it.