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The Bill of Rights 1689 is an . The Bill of Rights 1689 is largely not a statement of certain positive Right s that Citizen s and/or Resident s of a free and Democratic Society have (or ought to have). Instead it sets out (or in the view of its writers, restates) certain constitutional requirements where the actions of The Crown require the consent of the governed as represented in Parliament . In this respect, it differs from other "bills of rights," including the United States Bill Of Rights , though many elements of the first eight Amendment s to the U.S. Constitution echo its contents. This is in part due to the un-codified constitutional traditions of the UK, whereby the English Bill of Rights forms a list of rights in respect of the people as represented in Parliament, in addition to those rights already provided for individuals as set out in Magna Carta. BACKGROUND In the Glorious Revolution , William Of Orange landed with his army in England on 5 November 1688 . James II attempted to resist the invasion. He then sent representatives to negotiate, and he finally fled on 23 December 1688 . Before William and Mary were affirmed as co-rulers of England and Ireland , they accepted a Declaration Of Right drawn up by the Convention Parliament which was delivered to them at the Banqueting House , Whitehall , on 13 February 1689 . Having accepted the Declaration of Right, William and Mary were offered the throne, and were crowned as joint monarchs in April 1689. The Declaration of Right was later embodied in an Act of Parliament, now known as the Bill of Rights, on 16 December 1689 . In the then separate Kingdom of Scotland , the 1689 Claim Of Right of the Scottish Estates was expressed in different terms, but to a largely similar effect, declaring William and Mary to be King and Queen of Scotland on 11 April 1689 . BASIC TENETS The basic Tenet s of the Bill of Rights 1689 are:
In addition, the Sovereign was required to summon Parliament frequently, later reinforced by the Triennial Act 1694 . DEVELOPMENT The Bill of Rights 1689 was later supplemented in England by the Act Of Settlement 1701 , and in Scotland the Claim of Right was supplemented by the Act Of Union 1707 . The Bill of Rights and Claim of Right were a major step in the evolution of the governments in Britain towards Parliamentary Supremacy , and the curtailment of the rights of the Monarchy . In doing so they largely settled the political and religious turmoil that had convulsed Scotland , England and Ireland in the 17th Century . After Magna Carta , the Bill of Rights and Claim of Right form an important step in the British progress towards a Constitutional Monarchy . The Bill of Rights 1689 is a predecessor of the United States Constitution , the United Nations Universal Declaration Of Human Rights and the European Convention On Human Rights . For example, like the Bill of Rights, the U.S. Constitution requires jury trials, contains a right to bear arms, and prohibits excessive bail and "cruel and unusual punishments". Similarly, "cruel, inhuman or degrading punishments" are banned under Article 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The Bill of Rights and Claim of Right are still law in the United Kingdom and are occasionally looked to in legal proceedings. On 21 July 1995 , a Libel case brought by Neil Hamilton , then an MP , against '' The Guardian '' was stopped after Mr Justice May ruled that the prohibition on the courts questioning parliamentary proceedings contained in the Bill of Rights would prevent ''The Guardian'' from obtaining a fair trial. Section 13 of the Defamation Act 1996 was enacted subsequently to permit an MP to waive his Parliamentary Privilege . The Bill of Rights was invoked in New Zealand in the 1976 case of '' Fitzgerald V Muldoon And Others ''. Shortly after being elected in 1975 Prime Minister Muldoon issued a press release purporting to abolish a superannuation scheme established by the New Zealand Superannuation Act 1974. Although no law had been passed to abolish the scheme the Prime Minister declared that its abolition had immediate effect because parliament would shortly introduce a law abolishing the scheme with retrospective effect. The Prime Minister's action was challenged in court and the Chief Justice of New Zealand declared that he had acted illegally, because he had violated Article 1 of the Bill of Rights, which provides: :That the pretended power of suspending of laws or the execution of laws by regal authority without consent of Parliament is illegal {Link without Title} . Two special designs of the British commemorative Two Pound Coins were issued in 1989 to celebrate the tercentenary of the Glorious Revolution, one referring to the Bill of Rights and the other to the Claim of Right. Both depict the Cypher of William and Mary and Mace of the House Of Commons ; one also shows a representation of the St. Edward's Crown and the other, the Crown Of Scotland . SEE ALSO
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