bill of rights

Bill of Rights 1689

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The English Bill of Rights 1689 is an Act of the Parliament of England (1 Will. & Mar. sess. 2 c. 2) with the long title An Act Declaring the Rights and Liberties of the Subject and Settling the Succession of the Crown and also known by its short title, the Bill of Rights. It is one of the basic documents of English constitutional law, alongside Magna Carta, the Act of Settlement and the Parliament Acts. It also forms part of the law of some other Commonwealth nations, such as New Zealand. A separate but similar document applies in Scotland: the Claim of Right.

The Bill of Rights 1689 is largely a statement of certain positive rights that its authors considered that citizens and/or residents of a constitutional monarchy ought to have. It asserts the Subject's right to petition the Monarch and the Subject's right to bear arms for defence. It also sets out (or in the view of its writers, restates) certain constitutional requirements where the actions of the Crown require the consent of the governed as represented in Parliament. In this respect, it differs from other "bills of rights," including the United States Bill of Rights, though many elements of the first eight amendments to the U.S. Constitution echo its contents. This is in part due to the uncodified constitutional traditions of the UK, whereby the English Bill of Rights forms a list of rights in respect of the people as represented in Parliament, in addition to those rights already provided for individuals as set out in Magna Carta.

Background

In the Glorious Revolution, William of Orange landed with his army in England on 5 November 1688. James II attempted to resist the invasion. He then sent representatives to negotiate but finally fled on 23 December 1688.

Before William and Mary were affirmed as co-rulers of England and Ireland, they accepted a Declaration of Rights drawn up by the Convention Parliament which was delivered to them at the Banqueting House, Whitehall, on 13 February 1689. Having accepted the Declaration of Rights, William and Mary were offered the throne, and were crowned as joint monarchs in April 1689. The Declaration of Rights was later embodied in an Act of Parliament, now known as the Bill of Rights, on 16 December 1689.

In the then separate Kingdom of Scotland, the 1689 Claim of Right of the Scottish Estates was expressed in different terms, but to a largely similar effect, declaring William and Mary to be King and Queen of Scotland on 11 April 1689.

Basic tenets

The basic tenets of the Bill of Rights 1689 are:

· Englishmen, as embodied by Parliament, possessed certain immutable civil and political rights. These included:

o freedom from royal interference with the law (the Sovereign was forbidden to establish his own courts or to act as a judge himself)

o freedom from taxation by royal prerogative, without agreement by Parliament

o freedom to petition the King

o freedom from a peace-time standing army, without agreement by Parliament

o freedom [for Protestants] to have arms for defence, as allowed by law

o freedom to elect members of Parliament without interference from the Sovereign

o the freedom of speech in Parliament, in that proceedings in Parliament were not to be questioned in the courts or in any body outside Parliament itself (the basis of modern parliamentary privilege)

o freedom from cruel and unusual punishments, and excessive bail

o freedom from fines and forfeitures without trial

· Certain acts of James II were specifically named and declared illegal on this basis.

· The flight of James from England in the wake of the Glorious Revolution amounted to abdication of the throne.

· Roman Catholics could not be king or queen of England since "it hath been found by experience that it is inconsistent with the safety and welfare of this protestant kingdom to be governed by a papist prince". The Sovereign was required to swear a coronation oath to maintain the Protestant religion.

· William and Mary were the successors of James.

· Succession should pass to the heirs of Mary, then to Mary's sister Princess Anne of Denmark and her heirs, then to any heirs of William by a later marriage.

· The Sovereign was required to summon Parliament frequently, later reinforced by the Triennial Act 1694.