1660 after the restoration of the Stuart dynasty, it began to do the opposite. It not only suppressed the opposition vigorously in an attempt to restore the centralization of the king, but also attempted to restore Catholicism in Britain, which aroused the opposition of the Whigs and some Tories in Britain at that time, and the contradiction gradually intensified. It happened that James II, a Catholic, had a son with his second wife. There is no doubt that the future king will be Catholic in the future! In this way, people thought that after James II's death, his Protestant daughter's hope of succession was dashed, so people decided to take action. Several celebrities, including the Bishop of London, sent a secret letter to Mary and William, daughters of Dutch Protestant James II, inviting them to come to Britain to protect Britain's "religion, freedom and property". For William, what he is most concerned about is how to win the British throne for his wife and himself. At the same time, he also thought that his entry into Britain could prevent Britain from forming an alliance with France against the Netherlands, so he accepted the invitation. ? In order to avoid 1660 drawing lessons from the restoration of the Stuart dynasty, Britain decided to restrict the king's power by law and ensure its own power, so it put forward a "declaration of rights" to William and Mary at the plenary session of the upper and lower houses of parliament, demanding that the king should not stop the legal effect without the consent of the parliament, and no Catholic should collect taxes without the consent of the parliament in the future. William accepted these demands, that is, the British throne is for William III and Mary is the Queen of England, not for Mary Ⅱ. 1689 10, Parliament passed the Declaration of Rights and made it into law, which is the Bill of Rights. The purpose of the British Bill of Rights is to restrict the rights of the king.
The Significance of the British Bill of Rights
Legal protection provided to limit the power of the king.
Established the power of parliament.
From then on, Britain established the bourgeois rule of constitutional monarchy. From the perspective of social transformation, the most significant significance of the Bill of Rights lies in replacing sovereign power with legal rights.
British Bill of Rights? Bill? Yes? Rights), the full name of the Declaration on National Rights and Freedoms and Succession to the Throne >; (Ann? Acting? Declare? That? Right? And then what? Freedom? Yes? That? Theme? And then what? Reconciliation? That? Take over? Yes? That? Crown), the content is not much, only a short 13 articles:
1. The power to stop the law or stop the implementation of the law without the consent of the parliament is illegal.
Recently, it is illegal to abolish the illegal power of laws or to enforce laws with the authority of the king.
3. It is illegal and harmful to instruct the establishment of an imperial court to hear religious affairs and all other similar instructions and courts.
4. It is illegal to collect money for the king or use it for the king without the permission of the Congress, which exceeds the time limit or method permitted by the Congress.
Petition to the king is the right of subjects, and all the convictions or charges against this petition are illegal.
6. It is illegal to recruit or maintain a standing army in this country in peacetime, except with the consent of the National Assembly.
7. In order to defend themselves, all subjects who are Protestants have to consider the situation and equip themselves with weapons within the scope permitted by law.
8. Parliamentary elections should be free.
9. Freedom of speech, debate or deliberation in Congress should not be impeached or questioned in any court or anywhere outside Congress.
10, we should not ask for too much bail, nor should we impose too high a fine, let alone impose cruel and extraordinary penalties indiscriminately.
165438+ 12. Before conviction, all transfers made by a specific person and all commitments made to fines and confiscation of property are illegal and invalid.
13. In order to redress all grievances, amend, strengthen and safeguard laws, Congress should meet from time to time. People can see that the "thirteen articles" mainly include two aspects: ① restricting the king's power and restraining the king's actual sovereignty, such as 1, 2, 4 and 6; (2) Guarantee the legislative power, financial power, judicial power and military power of Parliament, such as Articles 8, 9 and 13.
170 1 year, the British Parliament passed another law of succession to the throne, which was regarded as a supplement to the Bill of Rights. These two laws established the principle of "Parliament is supreme" in Britain and were an important step towards constitutional monarchy. Parliament has gradually become the highest authority of the country. The Bill of Rights is one of the most important bills in British history since the Magna Carta, and the British Bill of Rights can be regarded as the predecessor of the British Constitution. It changed the history of mankind and had a great and far-reaching impact on Britain and the world.
Finally, I would like to add two points by the way: 1 The Bill of Rights plays a constitutional role in Britain and belongs to a constitutional document, but it is not a written constitution. The first written constitution in the world is the American Constitution of 1787;
After the promulgation of the Constitution of the United States 1787, it was substantially revised in 1789, mainly supplemented by the amendment of 10, which is usually called the Bill of Rights (or Bill of Rights).
Since then, the Bill of Rights has turned Britain into a constitutional monarchy.