Harvard Law paid $27 for a copy of Magna Carta. It's an original

Latin jokes and Harvard’s image

• Thread opens with puns about “habeas corpus” and mock Latin declensions for “Harvard.”
• People note Harvard’s formal Latin traditions (Latin salutatory, Latin on seals) and share Latin inscriptions from other universities.
• The tone is lightly mocking toward Harvard’s elite image but generally affectionate.

What counts as an “original” Magna Carta

• Several commenters stress the Harvard document is a circa‑1300 official engrossment of the 1297 confirmation, not a 1215 Runnymede charter.
• Debate over whether it’s accurate to call such a later, reaffirmed version “an original,” or whether it’s more like a historically important “official copy.”
• Some highlight that the 1297 text is the one still partly in force, so each authoritative issue has its own kind of originality.

Viewing and handling the manuscript

• Some users can’t get Harvard’s IIIF manifest to display; others report it working in different browsers.
• Multiple librarians/archivists explain that current best practice is clean bare hands, not gloves, for parchment and most old books; gloves reduce dexterity and increase tear risk.

Historical and legal context

• Commenters compare Magna Carta to other medieval legal compilations (e.g., Alfonso X’s “Seven Partidas”) and note its relative progressiveness for its era.
• Others point out that parts of Magna Carta (via the 1297 charter) remain active in UK law, and nerdier details like punctuation differences in clause 29.

How much was $27 in 1945?

• Large subthread argues how to value the 1945 purchase: CPI (~$450 today) vs. gold-equivalent vs. GDP per capita vs. Big Macs.
• One camp claims gold is a better long‑term yardstick and uses housing and car prices in ounces of gold to argue official inflation understates reality.
• Critics counter that gold is volatile, heavily financialized, and that single commodities (or cars whose quality changes drastically) are poor inflation measures; they prefer broad price indices and income data.
• Side notes on the gold standard era, silver coinage, and the illegality of private gold ownership in 1945.

From $27 to millions: wealth, taxes, and endowments

• Someone computes that going from $27 to ~$21M in 80 years is Buffett‑like compounded returns, then notes Harvard will never sell, so the gain is unrealized.
• This triggers a discussion on taxing unrealized gains and a proposal to treat assets used as loan collateral as “realized” for tax purposes; others warn about side effects (e.g., on farmers, small businesses).
• There’s back‑and‑forth on property taxes vs. wealth taxes and perceived unfairness of ultra‑rich borrowing against appreciated assets.

Libraries, access, and “rare” books

• Anecdotes about “rare books” locked in reading rooms even when cheap used copies exist; librarians clarify “rare” refers to specific editions, not the text’s information.
• Comparisons are made to owning original art vs. gift‑shop reproductions.
• People share experiences visiting Harvard, Stanford, British Library, Salisbury, and the Library of Congress; access restrictions at Harvard contrast with some more open institutions.

Harvard’s priorities and affordability

• Some see the bargain purchase of a priceless artifact as quintessential Harvard behavior alongside high tuition.
• Others note recent Harvard policies waiving tuition and housing costs for many families under a high income threshold, while acknowledging middle‑upper‑middle‑class families still face steep bills.
• There’s a closing note that “elite” vs. “normal” colleges often have comparable outcomes, and that elite research focus can make undergraduates feel secondary.