Bill of rights
Introduction The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen of 1789 is a fundamental document of the French Revolution and in the history of human rights.Draft of the United States Bill of Rights, also from 1789A '''bill of rights''', sometimes called a '''declaration of rights''' or a '''charter of rights''', is a list of the most important rights to the citizens of a country. The purpose is to protect those rights against infringement from public officials and private citizens.Bills of rights may be ''entrenched'' or ''unentrenched''. An entrenched bill of rights cannot be amended or repealed by a country's legislature through regular procedure, instead requiring a supermajority or referendum; often it is part of a country's constitution, and therefore subject to special procedures applicable to constitutional amendments.
History The history of legal charters asserting certain  rights for particular groups goes back to the Middle Ages and earlier. An example is the Magna Carta, an English legal charter agreed between the King and his barons in 1215.In the early modern period, there was renewed interest in the Magna Carta. English common law judge Sir Edward Coke revived the idea of rights based on citizenship (see history of citizenship) by arguing that Englishmen had historically enjoyed such rights. The Petition of Right 1628, the Habeas Corpus Act 1679 and the Bill of Rights 1689 (English Bill of Rights) established certain rights in statute.In the Thirteen Colonies, the English Bill of Rights was one of the influences on the 1776 Virginia Declaration of Rights, which in turn influenced the United States Declaration of Independence later that year. After the Constitution of the United States was adopted in 1789, the United States Bill of Rights was ratified in 1791.The U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights were influenced by British constitutional history.Inspired by the Age of Enlightenment, the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen asserted the universality of rights. It was adopted in 1789 by France's National Constituent Assembly, during the period of the French Revolution.The 20th century saw different groups draw on these earlier documents for influence when drafting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the European Convention on Human Rights and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Exceptions in Western democracies The constitution of the United Kingdom remains uncodified. However, the Bill of Rights 1689 is part of UK law. The Human Rights Act 1998 also incorporates the rights contained in the European Convention on Human Rights into UK law. In the 21st century, there were proposals for a British Bill of Rights and the UK Parliament debated a Bill of Rights Bill but it was not passed into legislation.Australia is the only common law country with neither a constitutional nor federal legislative bill of rights to protect its citizens, although there is ongoing debate in many of Australia's states. In 1973, Federal Attorney-General Lionel Murphy introduced a human rights Bill into parliament, although it was never passed. In 1984, Senator Gareth Evans drafted a Bill of Rights, but it was never introduced into parliament, and in 1985, Senator Lionel Bowen introduced a bill of rights, which was passed by the House of Representatives, but failed to pass the Senate. Former Australian Prime Minister John Howard has argued against a bill of rights for Australia on the grounds it would transfer power from elected politicians to unelected judges and bureaucrats. Victoria, Queensland and the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) are the only states and territories to have a human rights Act. However, the principle of legality present in the Australian judicial system, seeks to ensure that legislation is interpreted so as not to interfere with basic human rights, unless legislation expressly intends to interfere.
List of bills of rights The Bill of Rights 1689 is an Act of the Parliament of England asserting certain rights===General=== Title Effective Year  Realm Notes Charter of Liberties  1100  England Rights of inheritance and marriage, amnesty, and environmental protection Magna Carta 1215  England Rights for barons Great Charter of Ireland  1216  Rights for barons Golden Bull of 1222 1222  Hungary Rights for nobles Statute of Kalisz  1264  Poland Jewish residents' rights Charter of Kortenberg  1312  Brabant  Rights for all citizens "rich and poor" Dušan's Code 1349  Serbia Twelve Articles  1525 Swabian League Pacta conventa 1573 Poland–Lithuania Henrician Articles 1573  Poland–Lithuania  Petition of Right  1628  Declaration of Right, 1689  Bill of Rights 1689  Claim of Right Act 1689 1689   This applied to all British Colonies of the time, and was later entrenched in the laws of those colonies that became nations—for instance in Australia with the Colonial Laws Validity Act 1865 and reconfirmed by the Statute of Westminster 1931 Virginia Declaration of Rights  1776 :  June 1776, Preamble to the United States Declaration of Independence, July 1776 Chapter 1 of the Pennsylvania Constitution  1776 :  July 1776 Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen 1789  Bill of Rights of the United States Constitution  1791  Completed in 1789, ratified in 1791 Declaration of the Rights of the People 1811  Venezuela Article I of the Constitution of Connecticut  1818 :  Constitution of Greece 1822  Hatt-ı Hümayun 1856   Article I of the Constitution of Texas 1875 :  Basic rights and liberties in Finland 1919  Implied Bill of Rights (a theory in Canadian constitutional law) 1938  The bill of rights implied by the Constitution Act, 1867, first identified in Reference Re Alberta Statutes in 1938.Articles 13-28 of the Constitution of Italy 1947  Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948  Fundamental rights and duties of citizens in People's Republic of China 1949  Fundamental Rights of Indian citizens 1950  European Convention on Human Rights  1953  Drafted in 1950 Part II of the Constitution of Malaysia 1957  (until 1963)/ (since 1963)  ''Canadian Bill of Rights'' 1960  Part I of the Constitution of Portugal 1976  International Bill of Human Rights  1976  ''Quebec Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms'' 1976 :  ''Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms'' 1982  Declaration of the Basic Duties of ASEAN Peoples and Governments 1983  Signed in Manila by the Regional Council on Human Rights in Asia, the first to draft a pan-Asian declaration of human rights Article III and XIII of the Constitution of the Philippines 1987  The Bill of Rights encapsulating Article III regulates duties and responsibilities of the government toward the rights of citizens, while Article XIII is specifically about human rights and social justice Article 5 of the Constitution of Brazil 1988  New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990  Charter of Fundamental Rights and Basic Freedoms of the Czech Republic 1991  Hong Kong Bill of Rights Ordinance 1991  Chapter 2 of the Constitution of South Africa 1996  Entitled "Bill of Rights" Human Rights Act 1998 1998  Human Rights Act 2004 2004 :  Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union 2005  Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act 2006 2006 :  Chapter Four of the Constitution of Zimbabwe 2013  Queensland Human Rights Act 2018 2019 : ===Specifically targeted documents===* Consumer Bill of Rights* Homeless Bill of Rights* Taxpayer Bill of Rights* Academic Bill of Rights * Veterans' Bill of Rights* G.I. Bill of Rights, better known as the G.I. Bill* Homosexual Bill of Rights, drafted by North American Conference of Homophile Organizations* Library Bill of Rights, published by the American Library Association* Environmental Bill of Rights or Agenda 21* Creator's Bill of Rights, comic writers and artists* Donor's Bill of Rights, for philanthropic donors* Law Enforcement Officers' Bill of Rights* California Voter Bill of Rights, adaptation of the Voting Rights Act* Islamic Bill of Rights for Women in the Mosque* New Jersey Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights Act* Credit Cardholders' Bill of Rights, contained within the Credit CARD Act of 2009* Sexual Assault Survivors' Bill of Rights (Sexual Assault Survivors' Rights Act)
See also *Inalienable rights*International Bill of Human Rights*International human rights instruments *Natural rights*Rule of law*Second Bill of Rights
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