Bill of Rights
A bill of rights is a formal declaration of the fundamental rights of individuals within a particular domain. Its purpose is to protect those rights from any arbitrary, unfair, or capriciously applied actions by the government. Although such statements are sometimes promulgated by legislative enactments, most usually a bill of rights is part of a nation's constitution. Including a bill of rights in a constitution seeks to immunize them from infringement by legislation and other governmental policies and thereby to set limits on governmental actions on behalf of human rights.
Historical Background
The English Bill of Rights (1689) is usually considered to have ushered in the practice of having a distinct enumeration of "guarantees" designed to protect individual rights. In the Glorious Revolution (1688), parliament had deposed the hereditary King James II (1633–1701) for violating the "true, ancient, and indubitable rights and liberties" of the English people. Those rights and liberties were largely unwritten customary practices stemming from Magna Carta (1215). When parliament offered the throne to William of Orange (1650–1702) and his wife Mary (1662–1694), they wanted to make sure that the new monarchs would respect those rights. Hence parliament drew up the bill of rights and conditioned the offer of the crown on their acceptance by William and Mary.
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