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.

Declaration of the American rights

Declaration of the American rights

Taking as a starting point three fundamental texts  —the Large Charter, the Petition of right, and the American Declaration of the rights of 1774 — and indicating the first ten amendments of the Constitution of the United States, the Declaration of the rights (or  Bill of Rights) guarantees the safeguard of the individual rights against any attempt of ascribable restriction on the federal government, by ensuring the intangibility of the existing rights.

The Bill of Rights  or the first ten amendments with the Constitution of the United States (1791)

Article the first —Congress will not make any law which touches the establishment or prohibits the free exercise of a religion, nor which restricts the freedom of the word or the press, or the right which have the people to be assembled peacefully and to address petitions to the government for the rectification of its objections.

Art. 2 —a well ordered militia being necessary to the safety of a free State, the right which have the people to hold and to carry weapons will not be violated.

Art. 3 —No soldier will be, in time of peace, placed in a house without the assent of the owner, nor in times of war, if it is not in the way prescribed by the law.

Art. 4 —the civil right to be guaranteed in their person, residence, papers and effects, counters the searchings and unreasonable seizures will not be violated, and no mandate will be delivered, if it is not on probable cause, corroborated by oath or assertion, nor without it particularly describing the place to excavate and people or things to be seized.

Art. 5 —No one will not be put in judgement for a capital or differently defamatory crime, if it is not on declaration of committal for trial  (presentment)  or bill of indictment  (indictment)  presented by a large jury, except for the cases occurring in the sea or Army, or in the militia, when this one is in activity of service in times of war or public menace. No one will not be put twice in danger of life or member for same offence. No one will not be held to testify against itself in a criminal business. No one will not be private of life, freedom or property without regular legal procedure. Null private property will not be taken for public use without right allowance.

Art. 6 —In all the criminal continuations, the defendant will have the right to be judged promptly and publicly by an impartial jury of the State and district where the crime will have been committed  —the district having been beforehand delimited by the law — to be informed of the nature and the cause of the charge, to be confronted with the witnesses for the prosecution, to require by legal means the appearance of witnesses for the defence, and to be assisted by a council for its defense.

Art. 7 —In the lawsuits of common law  (common law)  where the value in litigation will exceed twenty dollars, right to the judgement by jury will be observed, and no fact judged by a jury will be examined again in a court of the United States differently than according to rules' of the "common law".

Art. 8 —Of the excessive guarantees will be required, neither of the imposed excessive fines, nor of the cruel and uncommon punishments inflicted.

Art. 9 —the enumeration, in the Constitution, certain rights will not be interpreted like denying or depreciating the other rights which the people would have retained.

Art. the 10 —powers which are not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor refused by it in the States, are reserved for the States respectively, or to the people.

Source:  The United States of America, a government by the people,  State Department, booklet resulting from the Naturalization and Immigration department from the Department of Justice, the United States.

Declaration of the rights (the United States)

Declaration of the rights (the United States), name given to the first ten amendments of the Constitution of the United States.

The first ten amendments guarantee the safeguard of the individual rights against any attempt of ascribable restriction on the federal government and ensure the intangibility of the existing rights. These provisions find their origin in three fundamental texts: the Large Charter, the Petition of right, and the American Declaration of the rights of 1774.

Virginia, in 1776, then Massachusetts, in 1780, had included declarations of rights in their constitutions of origin; these two States, joined by those of New York and Pennsylvania, refused to ratify the new Constitution as long as this one had not been amended in the direction of the protection of the individuals. In 1790, the Congress submitted twelve amendments to the vote of the States; ten of them were adopted in 1791, and form articles 1 to 10 of the Constitution of the United States.

Legal aid

                 Legal  aid

legal aid, device allowing at the State to assist in the loads resulting from the procedures implemented by the private individuals, when the latter cannot assume the court expenses.

The legal aid exists since the law of January 3 1972 which instituted it out of civil and administrative matter. The law of December 19, 1991 extended the applicability of what it is advisable to name from now on "jurisdictional assistance".

The jurisdictional assistance has the aim of supporting the real equality in the exercise of the rights of defense, equality which is likely to be compromised for reasons of a financial nature: the jurisdictional assistance precisely aims at bringing a help to the people who could not face the court expenses.

The jurisdictional assistance is known as "total" or "partial" according to whether the State takes responsibility for its whole or part costs of proceedings in the place of its recipient. It is a ceiling of incomes, corrected by the family loads with the load of the justiciable one, which determines the amount of this assumption of responsibility. However, the latter is always subjected to a condition of admissibility: the request can be rejected when the committed action appears inadmissible or stripped of base. If there is refusal, the decision must be justified and is likely of recourse. The purpose of the requirement of this condition is to avoid abusive procedures, possibly inspired by certain lawyers to ensure their own subsistence.

Subjected to a minimum of formalism, the request for jurisdictional assistance is informed by the office of jurisdictional assistance which is established with the seat of the Court of Bankruptcy. Composed of a magistrate and a clerk, it receives, for the requests concerning the businesses carried in front of the jurisdictions of first authority or the court of bases, the contest of a lawyer, an usher, a representative of the departmental director of the tax services, of a representative of the departmental director of the medical and social action, as well as person designated with the title of the users. The request for jurisdictional assistance is deposited by the interested person or any agent.

When it is total, the jurisdictional assistance causes to make free the recourse to the lawyer, who is then made of office and whose law envisages the exclusive compensation for the payment of all fees. This device thus facilitates the exercise of the rights of defense in the penal procedures. However, some criticize protested against the fact that, the recipient of the jurisdictional assistance losing the possibility of choosing its lawyer (indicated by the barristers president of the order starting from a list drawn up for this purpose), the relation of confidence between the justiciable one and its council, factor of the most effective possible defense, can be established less easily if the bond between the two parts proceeds not of a choice but of the chance.

Aide judiciaire

                Aide judiciaire

aide judiciaire, dispositif permettant à l'État d'apporter un concours aux charges résultant des procédures mises en œuvre par les particuliers, lorsque ces derniers ne peuvent assumer les frais de justice.

L'aide judiciaire existe depuis la loi du 3 janvier 1972 qui l'a instituée en matière civile et administrative. La loi du 19 décembre 1991 a étendu le domaine d'application de ce qu'il convient de nommer désormais « aide juridictionnelle ».

L'aide juridictionnelle a pour objet de favoriser l'égalité réelle dans l'exercice des droits de la défense, égalité qui risque d'être compromise pour des raisons d'ordre financier : l'aide juridictionnelle vise précisément à apporter un secours aux personnes qui ne pourraient faire face aux frais de justice.

L'aide juridictionnelle est dite « totale » ou « partielle » selon que l'État prend à sa charge tout ou partie des frais de procédure à la place de son bénéficiaire. C'est un plafond de revenus, corrigé par les charges familiales à la charge du justiciable, qui détermine le montant de cette prise en charge. Cependant, cette dernière est toujours soumise à une condition de recevabilité : la demande peut être rejetée lorsque l'action engagée apparaît irrecevable ou dénuée de fondement. S'il y a refus, la décision doit être motivée et est susceptible de recours. L'exigence de cette condition a pour but d'éviter des procédures abusives, éventuellement inspirées par certains avocats pour assurer leur propre subsistance.

Soumise à un minimum de formalisme, la demande d'aide juridictionnelle est instruite par le bureau d'aide juridictionnelle qui est établi au siège du tribunal de grande instance. Composé d'un magistrat et d'un greffier, il reçoit, pour les demandes concernant les affaires portées devant les juridictions de première instance ou la cour d'assises, le concours d'un avocat, d'un huissier, d'un représentant du directeur départemental des services fiscaux, d'un représentant du directeur départemental de l'action sanitaire et sociale, ainsi que d'une personne désignée au titre des usagers. La demande d'aide juridictionnelle est déposée par la personne intéressée ou par tout mandataire.

Lorsqu'elle est totale, l'aide juridictionnelle a pour effet de rendre gratuit le recours à l'avocat, qui est alors commis d'office et dont la loi prévoit l'indemnisation exclusive du versement de tous honoraires. Ce dispositif facilite donc l'exercice des droits de la défense dans les procédures pénales. Cependant, certaines critiques se sont élevées contre le fait que, le bénéficiaire de l'aide juridictionnelle perdant la possibilité de choisir son avocat (désigné par le bâtonnier de l'ordre à partir d'une liste établie à cet effet), la relation de confiance entre le justiciable et son conseil, facteur d'une défense la plus efficace possible, peut s'établir moins facilement si le lien entre les deux parties procède non d'un choix mais du hasard.