The Rooster Is On The Run

• Published date: 14 January 2021
• Law Firm: Conyers
• Author: Mr David Lamb

The pursuit of happiness has been an inalienable right, at least in the United States, since July 4, 1776 when it originated as an "unalienable" right in the Declaration of Independence.

One ingredient of happiness is liberty. Predating the Declaration of Independence by more than five centuries, it is arguable that the foundation of liberty in England, in symbolic terms at least, is the Magna Carta Libertatum, the royal charter of rights reluctantly sealed by King John at Runnymede on June 15, 1215 to appease his barons. On the 750th anniversary Lord Denning described the Magna Carter as "the greatest constitutional document of all times - the foundation of the freedom of the individual against the arbitrary authority of the despot".

Humour is a close bedfellow of happiness. "A society that takes itself too seriously risks bottling up its tensions.... Humour is one of the great solvents of democracy. It...