By 1500, England was arguably the most politically advanced nation in Europe. It had been engaged in a centuries-long struggle between the monarchy and nobility that predated the famed Magna Charta (1215). Ever-increasing restraints were being placed on royal authority by an influential representative assembly, the Parliament, but its true flowering still lay in the future. Also noteworthy was the English system of justice, which relied heavily on common law precedents rather than the king's dictates.