DECLARATION OF THE RIGHTS (the United Kingdom)

Declaration of the rights (the United Kingdom)

Declaration of the rights (the United Kingdom), together of provisions in virtue of which the crown of England was offered to the Orange sovereigns, in 1689. The Declaration of the rights is regarded as one of the major constitutional texts of Great Britain.

The Declaration of the rights, written by the Parliament, is a whole of provisions in virtue of which the crown of England was offered to the prince and to the princess of Orange, Guillaume III and Marie II Stuart, Jacques II whom have had to abdicate after having tried to destroy the Protestant religion, the laws and freedoms of the kingdom. Worked out in 1689, this declaration took the character of a law, after the royal assent. This declaration limited the capacities of the sovereigns: those could not exert judicial powers, take taxes or preserve a standing army in times of peace without the assent of the Parliament; they could not either use their prerogatives to create the new ones run of justice.

Freedoms of the subject were recognized, with a particular emphase on those of the Parliament. All the English enjoyed a right of recourse against the king, were protected from the guarantees from an excessive amount and were to be judged by a jury of landowners if they were shown of treason. The members of the Parliament were to be elected at the time of free elections, to be frequently joined together and to enjoy a freedom of expression without reserve.

The monarch preserved the prerogative to make the war and peace, of the capacities of patronage, such as the right to choose his ministers, to convene, extend and dissolve the Parliament, and the right to strike currency.

Lastly, the order of succession to the throne was defined in the following way: initially heirs to Marie, girl of Jacques, then those of his sister Anne Stuart, then those of Guillaume, succession with the throne being excluded for any catholic or any married heir with one or a catholic. This last condition is always into force at the present time. The Declaration established the supremacy of the law; the monarchs could control but were subjected to the approval of the Parliament. It is one of the reasons which one advanced to justify the term of "glorious" which was used to describe the events of 1688-1689 and which, with Toleration Act (1689), Triennial Act (1694) and the act of Establishment (1701), constituted the bases of the government after the second English revolution.