Bill of Rights

In the USA, the first ten amendments to the US Constitution, incorporated in 1791:

1 guarantees freedom of worship, of speech, of the press, of assembly, and to petition the government;

2 grants the right to keep and bear arms;

3 prohibits billeting of soldiers in private homes in peacetime;

4 forbids unreasonable search and seizure;

5 guarantees none be ‘deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law’ or compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself or herself;

6 grants the right to speedy trial, to call witnesses, and to have defence counsel;

7 grants the right to trial by jury of one's peers;

8 prevents the infliction of excessive bail or fines, or ‘cruel and unusual punishment’;

9, 10 provide a safeguard to the states and people for all rights not specifically delegated to the central government.

Not originally part of the draft of the Constitution, the Bill of Rights was put forward during the period of ratification (final approval) of the Constitution. Twelve amendments were proposed by Congress in 1789; the ten now called the Bill of Rights were ratified in 1791.

Bill of Rights

In Britain, an act of Parliament of 1689 that established Parliament as the primary governing body of the country. It made provisions limiting royal prerogative (the right to act independently of Parliament) with respect to legislation, executive power, money levies, courts, and the army, and stipulated Parliament's consent to many government functions.

The Bill of Rights embodied the Declaration of Rights which contained the conditions on which William and Mary were offered the throne in the Glorious Revolution. The act made illegal the suspension of laws by royal authority without Parliament's consent; the power to dispense with laws; the establishment of special courts of law; levying money by royal prerogative without Parliament's consent; and the maintenance of a standing army in peacetime without Parliament's consent. It also asserted a right to petition the sovereign, freedom of parliamentary elections, freedom of speech in parliamentary debates, and the necessity of frequent parliaments.

The Bill of Rights is the nearest approach to a written constitution that the United Kingdom possesses. Its provisions, where applicable, were incorporated in the US constitution ratified in 1788.