WASHINGTON — Okay, liberty lovers — time for your summer-slowdown pop quiz:

True or false? The following sentence appears in the U.S. Constitution:

“No freeman shall be taken, imprisoned … or in any other way destroyed … except by the lawful judgment of his peers, or by the law of the land. To no one will we sell, to none will we deny or delay, right or justice.”

The correct answer: False.

In 1215, scribes for King John of England wrote that declaration, in Latin, into the Magna Carta, after a bunch of barons confronted their despotic king about their rights and demanded, “put it in writing, your Majesty.” It is the oldest document seen as establishing the rule of common law.

Americans may not be carrying around little copies of the Magna Carta in their shirt pockets and purses, in the way that the Constitution and Bill of Rights are the must-have accessory for “tea party” members. But it remains an important piece of animal skin. And both the replica of it in the U.S. Capitol and the real thing at the National Archives are getting spruced up.

The August recess is the moment for important refurbishing, restoring, repainting and reconfiguring at the Capitol and across its ground.