English Bill of Rights (1689)
Impact
The Bill of Rights has had a lasting impact on England's constitutional development and political history as well as on the formulation of comprehensive bills of rights in other countries. Much of its content was the product of its time, especially of the political upheaval and dramatic events of the Glorious Revolution. As a testament to the bill's definitive nature, however, it is still widely cited today, and it retains statutory force and is considered a pillar of the Revolution Settlement, encompassing a series of acts beginning with the Bill of Rights (1689) and ending with the Act of Settlement (1701), which secured a Protestant succession to the English throne.
The importance of the Bill of Rights as a focal point for individual rights and free and fair government reemerged in the late eighteenth century, when it was widely discussed during the American and French revolutions. The Revolution Society, founded to celebrate the Glorious Revolution of 1688 and...
