Existing comment:
English Bill of Rights
At the end of the revolution that removed King James II from the English throne, Parliament enacted a statute that placed limits on the powers of the monarchy and prescribed basic protections of the liberties of the subject. The Bill of Rights of 1689 laid out several provisions that would later be adapted in the U.S. Bill of Rights, among them the right to bear arms, freedom of speech for members of Parliament, trial by jury, and protection from disproportionate fines and cruel and unusual punishment. It also reemphasized what had become a core principle of English liberty and the basis of parliamentary government -- no taxation without representation, which had appeared in the Petition of Right and could be traced to Magna Carta. |