RIGHTS, DECLARATION AND BILL OF. The convention which called the prince and princess of Ortinge to the throne of England set forth, in a solemn instrument known by the name of the Declaration of Rights, those fundamental principles of the constitution which were to be imposed on William and Mary on their acceptance of the crown. This declaration, drawn up by a committee of the commons, of which Mr. (afterward lord) was chairman, and assented to by the lords, began by declaring that king James II. had committed certain acts contrary to the laws of the realm. The king, by whose authority these unlawful acts had been done, had abdicated the throne; and the prince of Orange having invited the estates of the realm to meet and deliberate on the security of religion, law, and freedom, the lords and commons had resolved to declare and assert the ancient rights and liberties of England. It was therefore declared that the power of suspend ing and of dispensing with laws by regal authority is illegal; that the commission fur cre ating the late court of commissioners for ecclesiastical causer, and all commissions and courts of the like nature, are illegal; that the levying of money for the use of the crown by prerogative, without grant of parliatnent, is illegal; that it is the right of the subjects to petition the king, and all prosecutions for such petitioning are illegal; that the raising or keeping of a standing army in time of peace, except with consent of parliament, is that Protestant subjects may have arms for their defense; that the election of members of parliament should be free; that freedom of speech in parliament should not be questioned in any place out of parliament; that excessive bail ought not to be required, or excessive fines imposed, or cruel or unusual punishments inflicted; that jurors should be duly impaneled, and that jurors in trials for high treason should be freeholders; that grants and promises of fines and forfeitures before conviction are ille gal; and that for redress of all grievances, and the amendment, strengthening, and pre serving of the laws, parliaments ought to be held frequently. All these things the lords
and commons claimed as their undoubted rights and liberties; and having done so, they resolved that William and Mary should be king and queen of England for their joint and separate lives, the administration being during their joint lives in William alone; and that ou their decease the crown should descend to the issue of the queen, then to that of Anne and her posterity, and, failing them, to the issue of William.
This deelaratioa of rights was presented to the prince and princess of Orange at Whitehall, and accepted by them along with the crown. Being originally a revolution ary instrument, drawn up in an irregular assembly, it was considered necessary that it should be turned into law. The declaration of rights was therefore brought forward in 'the parliament, ifito which the convention had been turned, as a bill of rights, and passed the commons; bus an amendment proposed in the lords regarding the settlement of the crown on the issue of the princess Sophia, in the event of Mary, Anne, and Will ia• all dying without issue, led to several ineffectual conferences between the two houses, which ended in the measure being dropped. The bill was, however, reintro duced in the following session of parliament (1689) without the proposed amendment, when it passed both houses, and obtained the royal assent—a clause, however, being added; which originated in the house of lords, to the effect that the kings and queens of England should be obliged, on coining to the throne, in full parliament or at the corona tion, to repeat and subscribe the declaration against transubstantiation, and that a king or queen who should marry a papist would be incapable of reigning in England, and his subjects would be absolved from their allegiance.