| Act of Parliament | |
 | |
| Long title | An Act Declaring the Rights and Liberties of the Subject and Settling the Succession of the Crown. |
|---|---|
| Citation | 1 Will. & Mar. Sess. 2. c. 2 |
| Dates | |
| Royal assent | 16 December 1689 |
| Commencement | 13 February 1689[nb 2] |
| Other legislation | |
| Amended by | |
| Relates to | Absence of King William Act 1689 |
Status: Amended | |
| Text of statute as originally enacted | |
| Text of the Bill of Rights as in force today (including any amendments) within the United Kingdom, from legislation.gov.uk. | |
| The Bill of Rights | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Created | 1689 |
| Location | Parliamentary Archives |
| Author(s) | Parliament of England |
| Purpose | Assert the rights of Parliament and the individual, and ensure a Protestant political supremacy |
| Full text | |
 Bill of Rights 1689 at Wikisource | |
The Bill of Rights 1689 (sometimes known as the Bill of Rights 1688)[1] is an Act of the Parliament of England that set out certain basic civil rights and changed the succession to the English Crown. It remains a crucial statute in English constitutional law.
Largely based on the ideas of political theorist John Locke,[3] the Bill sets out a constitutional requirement for the Crown to seek the consent of the people as represented in Parliament.[4][5] As well as setting limits on the powers of the monarch, it established the rights of Parliament, including regular parliaments, free elections, and parliamentary privilege.[6] It also listed individual rights, including the prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment and the right not to pay taxes levied without the approval of Parliament. Finally, it described and condemned several misdeeds of James II of England.[4] The Bill of Rights received royal assent on 16 December 1689. It is a restatement in statutory form of the Declaration of Right presented by the Convention Parliament to William III and Mary II in February 1689, inviting them to become joint sovereigns of England, displacing James II, who was stated to have abdicated and left the throne vacant.
In the United Kingdom, the Bill is considered a basic document of the uncodified British constitution, along with Magna Carta, the Petition of Right, the Habeas Corpus Act 1679 and the Parliament Acts 1911 and 1949. A separate but similar document, the Claim of Right Act 1689, applies in Scotland. The Bill was one of the models used to draft the United States Bill of Rights, the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights and the European Convention on Human Rights.[6] Along with the Act of Settlement 1701, it remains in effect within all Commonwealth realms, as amended by the Perth Agreement.
- ^ a b c "Bill of Rights [1688]". legislation.gov.uk. Editorial Information, note X1. Retrieved 7 March 2023.
- ^ "Bill of Rights 1689". UK Parliament.
The Bill of Rights 1689 is an iron gall ink manuscript on parchment.
- ^ Schwoerer 1990, pp. 531–548.
- ^ a b "Britain's unwritten constitution". British Library. Archived from the original on 12 March 2015. Retrieved 27 November 2015.
The key landmark is the Bill of Rights (1689), which established the supremacy of Parliament over the Crown. ... The Bill of Rights (1689) then settled the primacy of Parliament over the monarch's prerogatives, providing for the regular meeting of Parliament, free elections to the Commons, free speech in parliamentary debates, and some basic human rights, most famously freedom from 'cruel or unusual punishment'.
- ^ Adams, Meuwese & Hirsch Ballin 2017, p. 97.
- ^ a b "Bill of Rights 1689". Parliament UK. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
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