English Bill of Rights

The English bill of Rights came out of the Glorious Revolution in 1688. Kind James II fled during the time of the revolution. His daughter, Mary succeeded him, along with her husband(William of Orange, a Dutch prince). Parliament presented a Declaration of Rights and presented it to William and Mary on February 13, 1689.

Mary and William accepted the Declaration on Rights, and Parliament then declared them king and queen of England. Parliament added numerous clauses to the declaration and formally named the bill as the Bill of Rights on December 16, 1689. The Bill of Rights incorporated, not only, the problems caused by the king but also basic civil rights for the people. It didn't allow the monarch to suspend laws or levy taxes without permission from the Parliament.

The Bill of Rights also prohibited the monarch from organizing a standing army during a time of peace. The most important things that the Bill of Rights proclaimed were it fundamental liberties, including freedom of elections, freedom of debate in Parliament, and freedom from excessive bail and from cruel and unusual punishments. To prevent religious divisions from occurring,as it did under James II, it also banned Roman Catholics from ruling England.

"Along with the 1701 Act of Settlement the Bill of Rights remains, today, one of the main constitutional laws governing the succession to not only the throne of the United Kingdom, but, following British colonialism, the resultant doctrine of reception, and independence, also to those of the other Commonwealth realms, whether by willing deference to the act as a British statute or as a patriated part of the particular realm's constitution. Since the implementation of the Statute of Westminster in each of the Commonwealth realms (on successive dates from 1931 onwards) the Bill of Rights cannot be altered in any realm except by that realm's own parliament, and then, by convention, and as it touches on the succession to the shared throne, only with the consent of all the other realms."(source)

The Bill of Rights became one of the most vital part of parts of the English constitution. It has also had a significant impact on the law of the United States. Many of the provisions of the English Bill of Rights have become part of the U.S. Constitution and the U.S. Bill of Rights.