On Limiting the Power of the State: A Collection of Petitions, Charters, Decrees, and Declarations of Rights and Liberties (1215-1848) (2024)

Source

Magna Carta: A Commentary on the Great Charter of King John, with an Historical Introduction,by William Sharp McKechnie (Glasgow: Maclehose, 1914).

Text

S.0 John, by the grace of God, king of England, lord of Ireland, duke of Normandy and Aquitaine, and count of Anjou, to the archbishops, bishops, abbots, earls, barons, justiciars, foresters, sheriffs, stewards, servants, and to all his bailiffs and liege subjects, greeting. Know that, having regard to God and for the salvation of our souls, and those of all our ancestors and heirs, and unto the honour of God and the advancement of holy Church, and for the reform of our realm, [we have granted as underwritten]1 by advice of our venerable fathers, Stephen, archbishop of Canterbury, primate of all England and cardinal of the holy Roman Church, Henry archbishop of Dublin, William of London, Peter of Winchester, Jocelyn of Bath and Glastonbury, Hugh of Lincoln, Walter of Worcester, William of Coventry, Benedict of Rochester, bishops; of master Pandulf, subdeacon and member of the household of our lord the Pope, of brother Aymeric (master of the Knights of the Temple in England), and of the illustrious men2 William Marshal, earl of Pembroke, William, earl of Salisbury, William, earl Warenne, William, earl of Arundel, Alan of Galloway (constable of Scotland), Waren Fitz Gerald, Peter Fitz Herbert, Hubert de Burgh (seneschal of Poitou), Hugh de Neville, Matthew Fitz Herbert, Thomas Basset, Alan Basset, Philip d’Aubigny, Robert of Roppesley, John Marshal, John Fitz Hugh, and others, our liegemen.

S.1 In the first place we have granted to God, and by this our present charter confirmed for us and our heirs for ever that the English church shall be free, and shall have her rights entire, and her liberties inviolate; and we will that it be thus observed; which is apparent from this that the freedom of elections, which is reckoned most important and very essential to the English church, we, of our pure and unconstrained will, did grant, and did by our charter confirm and did obtain the ratification of the same from our lord, Pope Innocent III., before the quarrel arose between us and our barons: and this we will observe, and our will is that it be observed in good faith by our heirs for ever. We have also granted to all freemen of our kingdom, for us and our heirs forever, all the underwritten liberties, to be had and held by them and their heirs, of us and our heirs forever.

S.2 If any of our earls or barons, or others holding of us in chief by military service shall have died, and at the time of his death his heir shall be full of age and owe “relief” he shall have his inheritance on payment of the ancient relief, namely the heir or heirs of an earl, £100 for a whole earl’s barony; the heir or heirs of a baron, £100 for a whole barony; the heir or heirs of a knight, 100s. at most for a whole knight’s fee; and whoever owes less let him give less, according to the ancient custom of fiefs.

S.3 If, however, the heir of any one of the aforesaid has been under age and in wardship, let him have his inheritance without relief and without fine when he comes of age.

S.4 The guardian of the land of an heir who is thus under age, shall take from the land of the heir nothing but reasonable produce, reasonable customs, and reasonable services, and that without destruction or waste of men or goods; and if we have committed the wardship of the lands of any such minor to the sheriff, or to any other who is responsible to us for its issues, and he has made destruction or waste of what he holds in wardship, we will take of him amends, and the land shall be committed to two lawful and discreet men of that fee, who shall be responsible for the issues to us or to him to whom we shall assign them; and if we have given or sold the wardship of any such land to anyone and he has therein made destruction or waste, he shall lose that wardship, and it shall be transferred to two lawful and discreet men of that fief, who shall be responsible to us in like manner as aforesaid.

S.5 The guardian, moreover, so long as he has the wardship of the land, shall keep up the houses, parks,1 fishponds, stanks,2 mills, and other things pertaining to the land, out of the issues of the same land; and he shall restore to the heir, when he has come to full age, all his land, stocked with ploughs and “waynage,”3 according as the season of husbandry shall require, and the issues of the land can reasonably bear.

S.6 Heirs shall be married without disparagement, yet so that before the marriage takes place the nearest in blood to that heir shall have notice.

S.7 A widow, after the death of her husband, shall forthwith and without difficulty have her marriage portion and inheritance; nor shall she give anything for her dower, or for her marriage portion, or for the inheritance which her husband and she held on the day of the death of that husband; and she may remain in the house of her husband for forty days after his death, within which time her dower shall be assigned to her.

S.8 No widow shall be compelled to marry, so long as she prefers to live without a husband; provided always that she gives security not to marry without our consent, if she holds of us, or without the consent of the lord of whom she holds, if she holds of another.

S.9 Neither we nor our bailiffs shall seize any land or rent for any debt, so long as the chattels of the debtor are sufficient to repay the debt; nor shall the sureties of the debtor be distrained so long as the principal debtor is able to satisfy the debt; and if the principal debtor shall fail to pay the debt, having nothing wherewith to pay it, then the sureties shall answer for the debt; and let them have the lands and rents of the debtor, if they desire them, until they are indemnified for the debt which they have paid for him, unless the principal debtor can show proof that he is discharged thereof as against the said sureties.

S.10 If one who has borrowed from the Jews any sum, great or small, die before that loan be repaid, the debt shall not bear interest while the heir is under age, of whomsoever he may hold;1 and if the debt fall into our hands, we will not take anything except the principal sum2 contained in the bond.

S.11And if anyone die indebted to the Jews, his wife shall have her dower and pay nothing of that debt; and if any children of the deceased are left under age, necessaries shall be provided for them in keeping with the holding of the deceased; and out of the residue the debt shall be paid, reserving, however, service due to feudal lords; in like manner let it be done touching debts due to others than Jews.

S.12 No scutage nor aid shall be imposed on our kingdom, unless by common counsel of our kingdom, except for ransoming our person, for making our eldest son a knight, and for once marrying our eldest daughter; and for these there shall not be levied more than a reasonable aid. In like manner it shall be done concerning aids from the city of London.

S.13 And the city of London shall have all its ancient liberties and free customs, as well by land as by water; furthermore, we decree and grant that all other cities, boroughs, towns, and ports shall have all their liberties and free customs.

S.14 And for obtaining the common counsel of the kingdom anent the assessing of an aid (except in the three cases aforesaid) or of a scutage, we will cause to be summoned the archbishops, bishops, abbots, earls, and greater barons, severally by our letters; and we will moreover cause to be summoned generally, through our sheriffs and bailiffs, all others who hold of us in chief, for a fixed date, namely, after the expiry of at least forty days, and at a fixed place; and in all letters of such summons we will specify the reason of the summons. And when the summons has thus been made, the business shall proceed on the day appointed, according to the counsel of such as are present, although not all who were summoned have come.

S.15 We will not for the future grant to any one licence to take an aid from his own free tenants, except to ransom his body, to make his eldest son a knight, and once to marry his eldest daughter; and on each of these occasions there shall be levied only a reasonable aid.

S.16 No one shall be distrained for performance of greater service for a knight’s fee, or for any other free tenement, than is due therefrom.

S.17 Common pleas shall not follow our court, but shall be held in some fixed place.

S.18 Inquests of novel disseisin, of mort d’ancestor, and of darrein presentment, shall not be held elsewhere than in their own country–courts,1 and that in manner following,—We, or, if we should be out of the realm, our chief justiciar, will send two justiciars through every county four times a year, who shall, along with four knights of the county chosen by the county, hold the said assizes in the county court, on the day and in the place of meeting of that court.

S.19 And if any of the said assizes cannot be taken on the day of the county court, let there remain of the knights and freeholders, who were present at the county court on that day, as many as may be required for the efficient making of judgments, according as the business be more or less.

S.20 A freeman shall not be amerced for a slight offence, except in accordance with the degree of the offence; and for a grave offence he shall be amerced in accordance with the gravity of the offence, yet saving always his “contenement”; and a merchant in the same way, saving his “merchandise”; and a villein shall be amerced in the same way, saving his “wainage”—if they have fallen into our mercy: and none of the aforesaid amercements shall be imposed except by the oath of honest men of the neighbourhood.

S.21 Earls and barons shall not be amerced except through their peers, and only in accordance with the degree of the offence.

S.22 A clerk shall not be amerced in respect of his lay holding except after the manner of the others aforesaid; further, he shall not be amerced in accordance with the extent of his ecclesiastical benefice.

S.23 No village or individual2 shall be compelled to make bridges at river banks, except those who from of old were legally bound to do so.

S.24 No sheriff, constable, coroners, or others of our bailiffs, shall hold pleas of our Crown.

S.25 All counties, hundreds, wapentakes, and trithings (except our demesne manors) shall remain at the old rents, and without any additional payment.

S.26 If any one holding of us a lay fief shall die, and our sheriff or bailiff shall exhibit our letters patent of summons for a debt which the deceased owed to us, it shall be lawful for our sheriff or bailiff to attach and catalogue chattels of the deceased, found upon the lay fief, to the value of that debt, at the sight of law–worthy men, provided always that nothing whatever be thence removed until the debt which is evident1 shall be fully paid to us; and the residue shall be left to the executors to fulfil the will of the deceased; and if there be nothing due from him to us, all the chattels shall go to the deceased, saving to his wife and children their reasonable shares.

S.27 If any freeman shall die intestate, his chattels shall be distributed by the hands of his nearest kinsfolk and friends, under supervision of the church, saving to every one the debts which the deceased owed to him.

S.28 No constable or other bailiff of ours shall take corn or other provisions from any one without immediately tendering money therefor, unless he can have postponement thereof by permission of the seller.

S.29 No constable shall compel any knight to give money in lieu of castle–guard, when he is willing to perform it in his own person, or (if he himself cannot do it from any reasonable cause) then by another responsible man. Further, if we have led or sent him upon military service, he shall be relieved from guard in proportion to the time during which he has been on service because of us.

S.30 No sheriff or bailiff of ours, or other person, shall take the horses or carts of any freeman for transport duty, against the will of the said freeman.

S.31 Neither we nor our bailiffs shall take, for our castles or for any other work of ours, wood which is not ours, against the will of the owner of that wood.

S.32 We will not retain beyond one year and one day, the lands of those who have been convicted of felony, and the lands shall thereafter be handed over to the lords of the fiefs.

S.33 All kydells for the future shall be removed altogether from Thames and Medway, and throughout all England, except upon the sea shore.

S.34 The writ which is called praecipe shall not for the future be issued to anyone, regarding any tenement whereby a freeman may lose his court.

S.35 Let there be one measure of wine throughout our whole realm; and one measure of ale; and one measure of corn, to wit, “the London quarter”; and one width of cloth (whether dyed, or russet, or “halberget”),1 to wit, two ells within the selvedges; of weights also let it be as of measures.

S.36 Nothing in future shall be given or taken for a writ of inquisition of life or limbs, but freely it shall be granted, and never denied.

S.37 If anyone holds of us by fee–farm, by socage, or by burgage, and holds also land of another lord by knight’s service, we will not (by reason of that fee–farm, socage, or burgage,) have the wardship of the heir, or of such land of his as is of the fief of that other; nor shall we have wardship of that fee–farm, socage, or burgage, unless such fee–farm owes knight’s service. We will not by reason of any small3 serjeanty which anyone may hold of us by the service of rendering to us knives, arrows, or the like, have wardship of his heir or of the land which he holds of another lord by knight’s service

S.38 No bailiff for the future shall, upon his own unsupported complaint, put anyone to his “law,” without credible witnesses brought for this purpose.

S.39 No freeman shall be taken or [and] imprisoned or disseised or exiled or in any way destroyed, nor will we go upon him nor send upon him, except by the lawful judgment of his peers or [and] by the law of the land.3

S.40 To no one will we sell, to no one will we refuse or delay, right or justice.

S.41 All merchants shall have safe and secure exit from England, and entry to England, with the right to tarry there and to move about as well by land as by water, for buying and selling by the ancient and right customs, quit from all evil tolls, except (in time of war) such merchants as are of the land at war with us. And if such are found in our land at the beginning of the war, they shall be detained, without injury to their bodies or goods, until information be received by us, or by our chief justiciar, how the merchants of our land found in the land at war with us are treated; and if our men are safe there, the others shall be safe in our land.

S.42 It shall be lawful in future for any one (excepting always those imprisoned or outlawed in accordance with the law of the kingdom, and natives of any country at war with us, and merchants, who shall be treated as is above provided) to leave our kingdom and to return, safe and secure by land and water, except for a short period in time of war, on grounds of public policy—reserving always the allegiance due to us.

S.43 If anyone holding of some escheat (such as the honour of Wallingford, Nottingham, Boulogne, Lancaster, or of other escheats which are in our hands and are baronies) shall die, his heir shall give no other relief, and perform no other service to us than he would have done to the baron, if that barony had been in the baron’s hand; and we shall hold it in the same manner in which the baron held it.

S.44 Men who dwell without the forest need not henceforth come before our justiciars of the forest upon a general summons, except those who are impleaded, or who have become sureties for any person or persons attached for forest offences.

S.45 We will appoint as justices, constables, sheriffs, or bailiffs only such as know the law of the realm and mean to observe it well.

S.46 All barons who have founded abbeys, concerning which they hold charters from the kings of England, or of which they have long–continued possession, shall have the wardship of them, when vacant, as they ought to have.

S.47 All forests that have been made such in our time shall forthwith be disafforested; and a similar course shall be followed with regard to river–banks that have been placed “in defence” by us in our time.

S.48 All evil customs connected with forests and warrens, foresters and warreners, sheriffs and their officers, river–banks and their wardens, shall immediately be inquired into in each county by twelve sworn knights of the same county chosen by the honest men of the same county, and shall, within forty days of the said inquest, be utterly abolished, so as never to be restored, provided always that we previously have intimation thereof, or our justiciar, if we should not be in England.

S.49 We will immediately restore all hostages and charters delivered to us by Englishmen, as sureties of the peace or of faithful service.

S.50 We will entirely remove from their bailiwicks, the relations of Gerard of Athée (so that in future they shall have no bailiwick in England); namely, Engelard of Cigogné, Peter, Guy, and Andrew of Chanceaux, Guy of Cigogné, Geoffrey of Martigny with his brothers, Philip Mark with his brothers and his nephew Geoffrey, and the whole brood of the same.

S.51 As soon as peace is restored, we will banish from the kingdom all foreign–born knights, cross–bowmen, serjeants, and mercenary soldiers, who have come with horses and arms to the kingdom’s hurt

S.52 If any one has been dispossessed or removed1 by us, without the legal judgment of his peers, from his lands, castles, franchises, or from his right, we will immediately restore them to him; and if a dispute arise over this, then let it be decided by the five–and–twenty barons of whom mention is made below in the clause for securing the peace.2 Moreover, for all those possessions, from which any one has, without the lawful judgment of his peers, been disseised or removed, by our father, King Henry, or by our brother, King Richard, and which we retain in our hand (or which are possessed by others, to whom we are bound to warrant them) we shall have respite until the usual term of crusaders; excepting those things about which a plea has been raised, or an inquest made by our order, before our taking of the cross; but as soon as we return from our expedition (or if perchance we desist from the expedition) we will immediately grant full justice therein.

S.53 We shall have, moreover, the same respite and in the same manner in rendering justice concerning the disafforestation or retention of those forests which Henry our father and Richard our brother afforested, and concerning the wardship of lands which are of the fief of another (namely, such wardships as we have hitherto had by reason of a fief which anyone held of us by knight’s service), and concerning abbeys founded on other fiefs than our own, in which the lord of the fee claims to have right; and when we have returned, or if we desist from our expedition, we will immediately grant full justice to all who complain of such things.

S.54 No one shall be arrested or imprisoned upon the appeal of a woman, for the death of any other than her husband.

S.55 All fines made with us unjustly and against the law of the land, and all amercements imposed unjustly and against the law of the land, shall be entirely remitted, or else it shall be done concerning them according to the decision of the five–and–twenty barons of whom mention is made below in the clause for securing the peace, or according to the judgment of the majority of the same, along with the aforesaid Stephen, archbishop of Canterbury, if he can be present, and such others as he may wish to bring with him for this purpose, and if he cannot be present the business shall nevertheless proceed without him, provided always that if any one or more of the aforesaid five–and–twenty barons are in a similar suit, they shall be removed as far as concerns this particular judgment, others being substituted in their places after having been selected by the rest of the same five–and–twenty for this purpose only, and after having been sworn.

S.56 If we have disseised or removed Welshmen from lands or liberties, or other things, without the legal judgment of their peers in England or in Wales, they shall be immediately restored to them; and if a dispute arise over this, then let it be decided in the marches by the judgment of their peers; for tenements in England according to the law of England, for tenements in Wales according to the law of Wales, and for tenements in the marches according to the law of the marches. Welshmen shall do the same to us and ours.

S.57 Further, for all those possessions from which any Welshman has, without the lawful judgment of his peers, been disseised or removed by King Henry our father, or King Richard our brother, and which we retain in our hand (or which are possessed by others, to whom we are bound to warrant them) we shall have respite until the usual term of crusaders; excepting those things about which a plea has been raised or an inquest made by our order before we took the cross; but as soon as we return, (or if perchance we desist from our expedition), we will immediately grant full justice in accordance with the laws of the Welsh and in relation to the foresaid regions.

S.58 We will immediately give up the son of Llywelyn and all the hostages of Wales, and the charters delivered to us as security for the peace.

S.59 We will do towards Alexander, King of Scots, concerning the return of his sisters and his hostages, and concerning his franchises, and his right, in the same manner as we shall do towards our other barons of England, unless it ought to be otherwise according to the charters which we hold from William his father, formerly King of Scots; and this shall be according to the judgment of his peers in our court.

S.60 Moreover, all these aforesaid customs and liberties, the observance of which we have granted in our kingdom as far as pertains to us towards our men, shall be observed by all of our kingdom, as well clergy as laymen, as far as pertains to them towards their men

S.61 Since, moreover, for God and the amendment of our kingdom and for the better allaying of the quarrel that has arisen between us and our barons, we have granted all these concessions, desirous that they should enjoy them in complete and firm endurance for ever, we give and grant to them the under–written security, namely, that the barons choose five–and–twenty barons of the kingdom, whomsoever they will, who shall be bound with all their might, to observe and hold, and cause to be observed, the peace and liberties we have granted and confirmed to them by this ou present Charter, so that if we, or our justiciar, or our bailiffs or any one of our officers, shall in anything be at fault toward anyone, or shall have broken any one of the articles of the peace or of this security, and the offence be notified to four barons of the foresaid five–and–twenty, the said four barons shall repair to us (or our justiciar, if we are out of the realm) and, laying the transgression before us, petition to have that transgression redressed without delay. And if we shall not have corrected the transgression (or, in the event of our being out of the realm, if our justiciar shall not have corrected it) within forty days, reckoning from the time it has been intimated to us (or to our justiciar, if we should be out of the realm), the four barons aforesaid shall refer that matter to the rest of the five–and–twenty barons, and those five–and–twenty barons shall, together with the community of the whole land, distrain and distress us in all possible ways, namely, by seizing our castles, lands, possessions, and in any other way they can, until redress has been obtained as they deem fit, saving harmless our own person, and the persons of our queen and children; and when redress has been obtained, they shall resume their old relations towards us. And let whoever in the country desires it, swear to obey the orders of the said five–and–twenty barons for the execution of all the aforesaid matters, and along with them, to molest us to the utmost of his power; and we publicly and freely grant leave to every one who wishes to swear, and we shall never forbid anyone to swear. All those, moreover, in the land who of themselves and of their own accord are unwilling to swear to the twenty–five to help them in constraining and molesting us, we shall by our command compel the same to swear to the effect foresaid. And if any one of the five–and–twenty barons shall have died or departed from the land, or be incapacitated in any other manner which would prevent the foresaid provisions being carried out, those of the said twenty–five barons who are left shall choose another in his place according to their own judgment, and he shall be sworn in the same way as the others. Further, in all matters, the execution of which is intrusted to these twenty–five barons, if perchance these twenty–five are present and disagree about anything, or if some of them, after being summoned, are unwilling or unable to be present, that which the majority of those present ordain or command shall be held as fixed and established, exactly as if the whole twenty–five had concurred in this; and the said twenty–five shall swear that they will faithfully observe all that is aforesaid, and cause it to be observed with all their might. And we shall procure nothing from anyone, directly or indirectly, whereby any part of these concessions and liberties might be revoked or diminished; and if any such thing has been procured, let it be void and null, and we shall never use it personally or by another.

S.62 And all the ill–will, hatreds, and bitterness that have arisen between us and our men, clergy and lay, from the date of the quarrel, we have completely remitted and pardoned to everyone. Moreover, all trespasses occasioned by the said quarrel, from Easter in the sixteenth year of our reign till the restoration of peace, we have fully remitted to all, both clergy and laymen, and completely forgiven, as far as pertains to us. And, on this head, we have caused to be made for them letters testimonial patent of the lord Stephen, archbishop of Canterbury, of the lord Henry, archbishop of Dublin, of the bishops aforesaid, and of Master Pandulf as touching this security and the concessions aforesaid.

S.63 Wherefore it is our will, and we firmly enjoin, that the English Church be free, and that the men in our kingdom have and hold all the aforesaid liberties, rights, and concessions, well and peaceably, freely and quietly, fully and wholly, for themselves and their heirs, of us and our heirs, in all respects and in all places for ever, as is aforesaid. An oath, moreover, has been taken, as well on our part as on the part of the barons, that all these conditions aforesaid shall be kept in good faith and without evil intent. Given under our hand—the above–named and many others being witnesses—in the meadow which is called Runnymede, between Windsor and Staines, on the fifteenth day of June, in the seventeenth year of our reign.

Endnotes

[1 ]The sentence is concluded in chapter one (see infra)—the usual division, here followed, being a purely arbitrary one.

[2 ]The phrase “nobiles viri” was not used here in any technical sense; the modern conception of a distinct class of “noblemen” did not take shape until long after 1215. Cf. what is said of “peerage” under cc. 14 and 39.

[1 ]This term is explained, c. 47. infra.

[2 ]It is difficult to distinguish between vivarium and stagnum. By co*ke, in the Statutes at large, vivarium is translated “warren”; but that word has its Latin form in warrena. Westminster II. (c. 4) speaks of stagnum molendinæ (a millpond). Statute of Merton (c. 11) refers to poachers taken in parcis et vivariis.

[3 ]Discussed infra, under c. 20.

[1 ]The words “de quocumque teneat” include Crown–tenants and under–tenants, and suggest that only freeholders were protected by this clause.

[2 ]Catallum and lucrum were the technical words for “principal” and “interest.” See Round, Ancient Charters (Pipe Roll Society, Vol. X.), No. 51, and John’s Charter to the Jews, Rot. Chart., p. 93.

[1 ]“Comitatus” indicates both the county where the lands lay and the court of that county. It was originally the sphere of influence of a comes or earl. Cf. supra, c. 2.

[2 ]The word “villa,” used at first as synonymous with “manor,” came to be freely applied not only to all villages, but also to chartered towns. Even London was described as a villa in formal writs. “hom*o,” though often loosely used, was the word naturally applied to a feudal tenant. The version given by co*ke (Second Institute, p. 30) reads “liber hom*o,” which is also the reading of one MS. of the Inspeximus of 1297 (25 Edward I.). See Statutes of the Realm, I. 114.

[1 ]Cf. the use of the phrase “a liquid debt” in Scots law.

[1 ]This word, unknown to Ducange, seems to be connected with the “hauberk” or coat–of–mail. It may mean thick cloth worn under a coat–of–mail.

[3 ]Pollock and Maitland, I. 304, read “parva” as an untechnical word. Round, Serjeanties, 35–6, finds in this chapter the origin of the distinction between “grand” and “petty” serjeanties, and compares the distinction made in c. 14 between greater and lesser barons.

[3 ]The usual English rendering has here been followed: Mr. Harcourt (Steward, 219) was possibly right in holding that “interpretation under the guise of translation is in this case an inevitable snare.” This does not, however, absolve the commentator from explaining the text. The Articles of the Barons (29) add “vi” (“nec rex eat vel mittat super eum vi” suggesting the fuller contemporary “per vim et arma”). This shows the inadequacy of the translation contained in the Statutes at Large, “nor will we pass upon him nor condemn him.” The Statutes of the Realm, I. 117, suggest “deal with him” as an alternative. co*ke, as explained infra, originated the error which thus connected “going” and “sending” with legal process.

[1 ]The elongatus of the Charter replaces the prolongatus of the Articles.

[2 ]The so–called “executive clause,” the “forma securitatis ad observandum pacem” of the Articles, which became chapter 61.

Source

Oliver J. Thatcher and Edgar H. McNeal, eds., A Source Book for Mediæval History. Selected Documents Illustrating the History of Europe in the Middle Age (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1907). 316. Breslau Adopts the Charter of Magdeburg (1261), pp. 592-602.

Altmann und Bernheim, no. 167.

Magdeburg was on the frontier between the Germans and the Slavs (Wends and Poles) of the interior. It owed its importance and growth in large part to the fact that it was the centre of the extensive trade between the two peoples. For a long time practically all the commerce between them passed through it. It had the same commercial importance for the Slavs of the interior as L ü beck did for the people along the shores of the Baltic. Because of its position it was raised to be the seat of an archbishop, and given the work of Christianizing the Slavs. Another effect of her position and commerce was seen in the organization of the Slavic cities, all of which adopted her government and laws. These so-called Slavic towns to the east of Magdeburg were established generally by German colonists who made it a condition of their going as colonists that they should have the charter of Magdeburg. And when towns were raised to the rank of cities they asked to have the charter of Magdeburg. So in 1261 when Breslau was made a city, duke Henry and his citizens of Breslau applied to Magdeburg for a copy of its charter. In response to this request the Schoeffen of the city drew up the following statement of the city’s government. Although prolix, unsystematic, and obscure in some points, the student will be able to understand the essential features of it. Compare the legal procedure, delays, etc., with no. 4, the Salic Law.

In a city which had the charter of Magdeburg it might easily happen that a new case would arise which was not provided for in the charter. If the governing body was in doubt as to what to do, a deputation was sent to Magdeburg to ask for instructions from her board of Schoeffen. So in 1338 the citizens of Culm asked for instructions on several points, and the Schoeffen told them what the law on these matters in Magdeburg was. We give these two documents as typical, and as illustrating the government of the cities in Wendish-Polish territory.

(1) When Magdeburg was founded the inhabitants were given a charter such as they wished. They determined that they would choose aldermen every year, who, on their election, should swear that they would guard the law, honor, and interests of the city to the best of their ability and with the advice of the wisest people of the city.

(2) The aldermen [593] have under their jurisdiction false measures, false scales, false weights, offences in the sale of all sorts of provisions, and all kinds of deception in buying and selling. If they find anyone guilty of such things, he shall pay a fine of three Wendish marks, that is, thirtysix shillings.

(3) The aldermen shall take counsel with the wisest people and then appoint their courts at whatever time they wish. Their decisions rendered in court are binding and must be obeyed. If anyone resists their decisions, they shall punish him.

(4) If the bells are rung [to call the inhabitants to court], and anyone does not come, he shall pay a fine of six pence. If he is summoned to the court and does not come, he shall be fined five shillings.

(5) If the people who are called hucksters are convicted of cheating, they shall either be beaten and have their heads shaved, or they shall be fined three shillings, according to the choice of the aldermen.

(6) If anyone is convicted of using false weights or measures, the aldermen shall punish him according to the custom of the city, or fine him thirty-six shillings.

(7) The burggrave is the highest judge. He must hold three courts every year: the first one at St. Agatha’s day [February 5], the second one at St. John’s day [June 24], and the third one a week after St. Martin’s day [November 11]. If these days fall on holy days or on “bound times” [that is, holidays on which, for some reason not here stated, no courts may be held], the court must be put off. If plaintiffs do not appear, the case must be put off. If the Schultheiss does not come, the case must be put off. But the Schultheiss who fails to come must pay the burggrave ten pounds, unless it was impossible for him to come.

(8) All crimes committed 14 days before the burggrave’s court meets belong solely to the jurisdiction of the burggrave. But if the burggrave is not there, the citizens shall choose someone else to judge in his place, if anyone has been taken in the very act of committing a crime. The fee of the burggrave is three pounds. When the burggrave [594] rises from the judge’s chair, his court is dissolved, and he then appoints the court of the Schultheiss to be held 14 days from the next day.

(9) The Schultheiss holds three regular courts every year: the first one, twelve days after Christmas, the second, on the first Tuesday after Easter week, and the third, at the end of the week of Pentecost. At the close of each of these courts he shall appoint another court [if necessary], to be held fourteen days later. If these courts fall on a holy day, he may put off his court for a day or two.

(10) The fee of the Schultheiss is eight shillings. No one shall be summoned to his court except by the Schultheiss himself or by his beadle. His servant shall not summon anyone. If the Schultheiss is not at home when a crime is committed, the people shall choose someone to judge in his place, in case they have taken some offender in the act. The Schultheiss shall receive his authority as a fief from the lord of the land, and he shall have a fief [besides], and he must be of legitimate birth, and born a citizen of the town.

(11) If a man is wounded and cries for help, and seizes his assailant and brings him into court, and has six witnesses, the defendant is to be shown to the witnesses, so that he cannot escape. If a man inflicts a wound as deep as a nail and as long as a finger, his hand shall be cut off; for killing anyone his head shall be cut off.

(12) Neither the burggrave nor the Schultheiss shall compel citizens to render decisions [that is, assist in holding court] at any other time than the regular sessions of the court, except when a criminal has been taken in the act. But the burggrave and the Schultheiss must, every day, try the cases which are brought before them.

(13) If a man is wounded but puts off making complaint [to the proper official] until the next day, the accused may clear himself if he produces six witnesses. If the accused fails to appear at the next three sessions of the court, he shall, at the fourth session, be put under the ban [outlawed, proscribed].

(14) If a man dies [595] leaving a wife, she shall have no share in his property except what he has given her in court, or has appointed for her dower. She must have six witnesses, male or female, to prove her dower. If the man made no provision for her, her children must support her as long as she does not remarry. If her husband had sheep, the widow shall take them.

(15) If a man and woman have children, some of whom are married and have received their marriage portion, and the man dies, the children who are still at home [that is, un-married], shall receive the inheritance. Those who have received their marriage portion shall have no part of it [that is, the inheritance]. Children who have received an inheritance shall not sell it without the consent of their heirs.

(16) If a man surrenders anything to another in court, and the other holds it in peaceable possession for a year and a day, he shall call the judge and the Schoeffen as witnesses to the fact [that he has held it for a year and a day], and thereafter no one shall bring a suit against him to recover it.

(17) If a judge or Schoeffe dies, he shall be declared deposed [that is, his office shall be declared vacant] by a session of court in which at least two Schoeffen and four free citizens are present. Then his wife shall receive her share of his property [that is, not until his office is declared vacant may his widow claim her share of his property].

(18) No one, whether man or woman, shall, on his sick-bed, give away more than three shillings’ worth of his property without the consent of his heirs, and the woman must have the consent of her husband.

(19) If the fee or wergeld of the burggrave has been adjudged to him in court, it must be paid to him within six weeks.

(20) If there are no immediate heirs [that is, children] to an inheritance, the nearest of kin shall share it equally.

(21) If a man is wounded and cries for help [but does not seize his assailant] and comes into court and accuses someone who was present [when he received the wound], the accused must answer in court and defend himself. If a [596] man accuses more persons than he has wounds, only as many persons as he has wounds shall be prosecuted, but the defendants may clear themselves of the charges with six witnesses.

(22) If an inheritance is left to a boy [that is, if his father dies], and he wishes to become a priest, he shall nevertheless receive the inheritance. But if he has an unmarried sister at home, the two shall divide it between them.

(23) If a man transfers a piece of property to another in the presence of the judge and of the Schoeffen, the Schoeffen shall receive a fee of one shilling.

(24) If a man brings a suit against another for a debt and gets a writ of execution against him, the defendant must, on the same day, pay the debt and also the judge’s fee.

(25) If a man is sued for a debt and he confesses to the debt, he must pay it within fourteen days. If he does not pay it within fourteen days, he shall pay the judge’s fee, and the judge shall order him to pay it within eight days. If he does not pay it within eight days, the judge shall order him to pay it the next day. If he does not pay it, he shall pay the judge his fee for every time the judge ordered him to pay. If he does not have the money to pay, his house shall be taken in pawn for the debt. If he has no house, he shall be seized for debt wherever he may be found. Whoever gives him aid, shall pay a fine to the judge.

(26) If a man’s clothes are taken from him by a writ of execution, he has seventeen days in which to call a court session.

(27) If a man of good reputation is accused of having caused a disturbance by day or night, he shall clear himself with six witnesses, provided he was not seen near the place where the disturbance was.

(28) No widow shall use the capital of her dower or sell it. If she dies it shall go to the heirs of her husband.

(29) If an inheritance is left to children, and one of them dies, the others share it equally.

(30) If a man’s house is taken from him as a pawn for a debt, so long as the pawn is unredeemed he shall pay the judge a fine every time he enters the house. [597]

(31) If a man is going out of the country as a pilgrim or as a merchant, no one shall hinder him from going because of a debt, unless he brings suit against him for the debt before the judge.

(32) If anyone reviles a Schoeffe while he is on the bench [that is, while he is performing the duties of his office], he shall pay the Schoeffe the regular fine [for an offence against a Schoeffe ], that is, thirty shillings, and he shall also pay the judge his fee.

(33) If a man reviles the Schoeffen after they have given a decision, he shall pay each of them the regular fine, that is, thirty shillings, and also pay the judge his regular fine. He shall pay the judge’s fine as many times as there are Schoeffen whom he reviled.

(34) if a man needs evidence that a quarrel or feud was legally settled in court, he shall appeal to the judge and Schoeffen in whose presence the feud was settled. If they have died, he shall take the testimony of the free citizens who were in court at the time.

(35) The judge shall not reverse a decision of the Schoeffen.

(36) If a feud is settled out of court and one of the parties afterward renews it, the other party shall prove that it was settled by bringing six witnesses who saw and heard the settlement.

(37) If a feud is settled in court and a pledge given [that the feud shall not be renewed] and some of them [that is, one of the parties to it] renew it and they are convicted of it before the judge and the Schoeffen, they shall lose a hand for inflicting a wound on any of the other party, and their head if they have killed anyone. If a man who did not agree to the settlement of the feud renews it, he shall pay the wergeld, that is, nine pounds for a wound and eighteen for killing anyone.

(38) If a man attacks another with intent to wound, and does wound him, he shall lose a hand for a wound, and his head if he kills him.

(39) If a man is beaten with rods on his back and abdomen so as to make black and blue spots and to cause swellings, he shall show himself to the judge and to the free citizens in court that they may see the effects of the blows, [598] and then he has grounds for suit against those who beat him. But if he is beaten on his head and arms and he has no other proof, the accused shall clear themselves in the regular way. If they confess [that they beat him], each one shall pay his fine and the judge’s fee besides. If the man whom they beat dies, they must all answer in court for his death. If he does not die, only one of them shall answer in court, the others shall go free.

(40) The burggrave and not the Schultheiss shall have jurisdiction over the three crimes of attacking from an ambush, violating women, and attacking with intent to kill. If the one attacked has wounds and shows them to the judge and has witnesses who heard him cry for help, the accused shall answer in court to the charges.

(41) If anyone dies leaving an inheritance and no heirs appear within a year and a day to claim it, it shall go to the king.

(42) If a man who has three or more children is killed, and someone is accused by one of the children of having killed his father, but is not convicted, and the court gives him a certificate that he did not commit the crime, the other children shall not renew the charge against him.

(43) If a man enters suit against another, he shall make a deposit with the judge [to cover expenses?]. He shall not give this deposit to the judge, but he shall receive it back [after the suit is ended].

(44) If a man seizes a horse and declares that it was stolen or taken by force from him, he shall prove it in court. He in whose possession the horse was found, shall appeal to witnesses and name them and swear by the saints that he is not practising any deception in appealing to witnesses. After he has named his witnesses, the man who is called as a witness shall go with him a reasonable distance [that is, to meet the witnesses who have been named]. If he cannot produce the witnesses whom he boasted of having, he shall give security to the judge for the fine and the expenses to which the man who claimed the horse has been put, and he shall set a day when he shall appear in court. If he says that he bought the [599] horse in the public market, he shall restore the horse to its owner and he shall lose the money which he paid for it. But he shall not pay a fine. The judge shall not assess a fine for the non-payment of his fine.

(45) If a man claims a piece of property or an inheritance, he shall not bribe the judge in order to secure a favorable decision. If a man enters a suit against another [but in the meantime the matter is settled out of court], he shall pay nothing except the fee of the judge.

(46) If a man who has been wounded does not wish to make charges against anyone, the judge cannot compel him to do so.

(47) If a man is outlawed or condemned, no one but his heirs shall take his property.

(48) If a man dies without having disposed of his property, it shall go to his children, if they are his equals in birth. If one of the children dies, its share goes to its mother, but she cannot dispose of it without the consent of her heirs.

(49) When a child is twelve years old it may choose whom it will as guardian. The guardian must render an account to the mother and to the children of his management of the inheritance.

(50) If one man says to another, “You are my property,” but the man thus claimed can prove his freedom, no similar claim shall ever be made against him again. A man can prove his freedom by the testimony of three of his mother’s relatives and three of his father’s relatives. These witnesses may be either male or female.

(51) Playing at dice is not a crime.

(52) If a man is security for anything and dies, his children are not responsible for the security. If a man is security for a debt, he must pay it and make everything good.

(53) If a man wounds another in the street within the corporate limits of the city [that is, on ground which is under the jurisdiction of the city] not in self-defence, wrongfully, and without provocation, and the wounded man turns and wounds him and cries for help, but because of his wounds is not able to reach the court first and make charges against his assailant, and his assailant, [600] although he was the first to make the attack, maliciously and insolently comes into court and makes charges, the one who was first attacked shall come into court on the same day and prove by those who heard his cry for help that the other was the first to make the attack. If he can prove this he shall win his case. But he must appear the same day.

(54) If two men who are from Wendish territory, even though they are not both Wends, wound each other within the corporate limits of the city, and one of them comes into court and makes charges against the other according to Wendish law, the other must answer him according to the same law.

(55) When a man dies his wife shall give his sword, his horse and saddle, and his best coat of mail. She shall also give a bed, a pillow, a sheet, a table-cloth, two dishes and a towel. Some say that she should give other things also, but that is not necessary. If she does not have these things, she shall not give them, but she shall give proof for each article that she does not have it.

(56) If two or more children inherit these things [named in § 55], the oldest shall take the sword and they shall share the other things equally.

(57) If the children are minors, the oldest male relative on the father’s side, if he is of the same rank by birth, shall receive all these things [named in § 55] and preserve them for the children. When they become of age, he shall give them to them, and in addition, all their property, unless he can prove that he has used it to their profit, or that it has been stolen or destroyed by some accident without any fault of his. He shall also be the guardian of the widow until she remarries, if he is of the same rank as she is.

(58) After giving the above articles the widow shall take her dower and all that belongs to her; that is, all the sheep, geese, chests, yarn, beds, pillows, cushions, table linen, bed linen, towels, cups, candlesticks, linen, woman’s clothing, finger rings, bracelets, headdress, psalters, and all prayer-books, chairs, drawers, bureaus, carpets, curtains, etc., and there are many other trinkets [601] which belong to her, such as brushes, scissors, and mirrors, but I do not mention them. But uncut cloth, and unworked gold and silver do not belong to her.

(59) All the possessions of the man except those named in § 55 belong to his inheritance. If he has given anything in pledge, he who has the right to shall redeem it if he wishes to do so.

(60) If one of the children becomes a priest he shall share in the inheritance equally with his brothers, but not if he becomes a monk.

(61) If a boy is put into a monastery but leaves it before he becomes of age, he retains his legal status; that is, he may inherit fiefs from his father and has all the protection of the law of the land. But if a man becomes a monk, he loses all his rights and fiefs, because he has denied his military duties. The monks of the monastery which he has entered shall be witnesses of this.

(62) Cases shall be tried in the order in which they are entered. The plaintiff and the defendant have each the right to speak three times during the trial. Each one may speak until the beadle orders him to stop.

(63) In all cities it is the law that the judge shall give decisions. A man who has a representative shall not speak in court. If the judge asks him whether he agrees to what his representative says, he must answer Yes or No, or he may ask for permission to speak.

(64) If anyone wishes to challenge a fellow citizen to an ordeal by duel, he must ask the judge to permit him to challenge the peace-breaker in a legal manner. If this request is granted, the accuser may ask how he should challenge so as to have the support of the law. The answer is, by pulling the defendant at his collar. After the challenge, he shall tell the defendant why he challenged him. He must accuse him of having broken the peace either on the king’s road, or in a village. He shall declare in which way the peace was broken. But he must accuse the defendant of having wounded him and done him violence. And this he may prove by showing his wounds or scars. Further, he shall accuse the defendant of [602] having robbed him of his property and of having taken enough to make an ordeal necessary. He shall accuse him of all these three crimes at once. If he omits one of these he is deprived of the privilege of the ordeal.

The honorable Schoeffen and the aldermen of Magdeburg drew up this law of Magdeburg for the noble duke, Henry, and his citizens of Breslau, and, if necessary, will aid them in keeping it. They gave it at the request of Henry the duke and of his citizens of Breslau. In the year 1261. . . .

Source

HTML from "Lexilogos" [Online elsewhere].

Text

FŒDUS PACTUM

IN NOMINE DOMINI AMEN. Honestati consulitur et utilitati publice providetur, dum pacta quietis et pacis statu debito solidantur.

Noverint igitur universi, quod homines vallis Uranie universitasque vallis de Switz ac communitas hominum Intramontanorum Vallis Inferioris maliciam temporis attendentes, ut se et sua magis defendere valeant et in statu debito melius conservare, fide bona promiserunt invicem sibi assistere auxilio, consilio quolibet ac favore, personis et rebus, infra valles et extra, toto posse, toto nisu contra omnes ac singulos, qui eis vel alicui de ipsis aliquam intulerint violenciam, molestiam aut iniuriam in personis et rebus malum quodlibet machinando.

Ac in omnem eventum quelibet universitas promisit alteri accurrere, cum necesse fuerit, ad succurrendum et in expensis propriis, prout opus fuerit, contra impetus malignorum resistere, iniurias vindicare, prestito super hiis corporaliter iuramento absque dolo servandis antiquam confederationis formam iuramento vallatam presentibus innovando.

Ita tamen, quod quilibet hom*o iuxta sui nominis conditionem domino suo convenienter subesse teneatur et servire.

Communi etiam consilio et favore unanimi promisimus, statuimus ac ordinavimus, ut in vallibus prenotatis nullum iudicem, qui ipsum officium aliquo precio vel peccunia aliqualiter comparaverit vel qui noster incola vel conprovincialis non fuerit, aliquatenus accipiamus vel acceptamus.

Si vero dissensio suborta fuerit inter aliquos conspiratos, prudenciores de conspiratis accedere debent ad sopiendam discordiam inter partes, prout ipsis videbitur expedire, et que pars illam respueret ordinationem, alii contrarii deberent fore conspirati.

Super omnia autem inter ipsos extitit statutum, ut, qui alium fraudulenter et sine culpa trucidaverit, si deprehensus fuerit, vitam ammittat, nisi suam de dicto maleficio valeat ostendere innocenciam, suis nefandis culpis exigentibus, et si forsan discesserit, numquam remeare debet. Receptatores et defensores prefati malefactoris a vallibus segregandi sunt, donec a coniuratis provide revocentur.

Si quis vero quemquam de conspiratis die seu nocte silentio fraudulenter per incendium vastaverit, is numquam haberi debet pro conprovinciali. Et si quis dictum malefactorem fovet et defendit infra valles, satisfactionem prestare debet dampnificato.

Ad hec si quis de coniuratis alium rebus spoliaverit vel dampnificaverit qualitercumque, si res nocentis infra valles possunt reperiri, servari debent ad procurandam secundum iusticiam lesis satisfactionem.

Insuper nullus capere debet pignus alterius, nisi sit manifeste debitor vel fideiussor, et hoc tantum fieri debet de licencia sui iudicis speciali.

Preter hec quilibet obedire debet suo iudici et ipsum, si necesse fuerit, iudicem ostendere infra [valles], sub quo parere potius debeat iuri.

Et si quis iudicio rebellis exstiterit ac de ipsius pertinatia quis de conspiratis dampnif[i]catus fuerit, predictum contumacem ad prestandam satisfactionem iurati conpellere tenentur universi.

Si vero guerra vel discordia inter aliquos de conspiratis suborta fuerit, si pars una litigantium iusticie vel satisfactionis non curat recipere complementum, reliquam defendere tenentur coniurati.

Suprascriptis statutis pro communi utilitate salubriter ordinatis concedente domino in perpetuum duraturis.

In cuius facti evidentiam presens instrumentum ad peti[ci]onem predictorum confectum sigillorum prefatarum trium universitatum et vallium est munimine roboratum.

Actum anno domini MCCLXXXXI primo incipiente mense Augusto.

Source

HTML from "Lexilogos" [Online elsewhere].

Text

IN THE NAME OF GOD - AMEN. Honor and the public weal are promoted when leagues are concluded for the proper establishment of quiet and peace.

Therefore, know all men, that the people of the valley of Uri, the democracy of the valley of Schwyz, and the community of the Lower Valley of Unterwalden, seeing the malice of the age, in order that they may better deffend themselves, and their own, and better preserve them in proper condition, have promised in good faith to assist each other with aid, with every counsel and every favor, with person and goods, within the valley and without, with might and main, against one and all, who may inflict upon any one of them any violence, molestation or injury, or may plot any evil against their persons or goods. And in every case each community has promised to succour the other when necessary, at its own expense, as far as needed in order to withstand the attacks of evil-doers, and to avenge injuries; to this end they have sworn a solemn oath to keep this without guile, and to renew by these presents the ancient form of the league, also confirmed by an oath.

Yet in such a manner that every man, according to his rank, shall obey and serve his overlord as ist behooves him.

We have also vowed, decreed and ordained in common council and by unanimous consent, that we will accept or receive no judge in the aforesaid valleys, who shall have obtained his office for any price, or for money in any way whatever, or one who shall not be a native or a resident with us. But if dissension shall arise between any of the Eidgenossen (confederates; Eid = oath, Genosse = fellow, comrade), the most prudent amongst the confederates shall come forth to settle the difficulty between the parties, as shall seem right to them; and whichever party rejects their verdict shall be held an adversary by the other confederates.

Furthermore it has been established between them that he who deliberately kills another without provocation, shall, if caught, lose his life, as his wicked guilt requires, unless he be able to prove his innocence of said crime; and if perchance he escape, let him never return. Those who conceal and protect said criminal shall be banished from the valley, until they be expressly recalled by the confederates.

But if any one of the confederates, by day, or in the silence of the night, shall maliciously injure another by fire, he shall never again be considered a fellow-countryman. If any man protect and defend the said evil-doer, he shall render satisfaction to the one who has suffered damage.

Furthermore, if any one of the confederates shall spoil another of his goods, or injure him in any way, the goods of the guilty one, if recovered within the valleys, shall be seized in order to pay damages to the injured person, according to justice.

Furthermore, no man shall seize another's goods for debt, unless he be evidently his debtor or surety, and this shall only be done with the special permission of his judge.

Moreover, every man shall obey his judge, and if necessary, must himself indicate the judge in the valley, before whom he ought properly to appear. And if any one rebels against a verdict, and, in consequence of his obstinacy, any one of the confederates is injured, all the confederates are bound to compel the culprit to give satisfaction.

But if war or discord arise amongst any of the confederates and one party of the disputants refuse to accept the verdict of the judge or to give satisfaction, the confederates are bound to defend the other party.

The above-written statutes, decreed for the common welfare and benefit, shall endure forever, God willing. In testimony of which, at the request of the aforesaid parties, the present charter has been drawn up and confirmed with the seals of the aforesaid three communities and valleys.

So done in the year of the Lord 1291 at the beginning of the month of August.

Actum anno domini MCCLXXXXI primo incipiente mense Augusto.

Source

HTML from "American History from Revolution to Reconstruction" [Online elsewhere].

Text

PLAKKAAT VAN VERLATINGHE 26 JULI 1581

De Staten Generael van de geunieerde Nederlanden.

Allen dengenen die dese tegenwoordighe sullen sien ofte hooren lesen, saluyt.

Alsoo een yegelick kennelick is, dat een Prince van den lande van Godt gestelt is hooft over zijne ondersaten, om deselve te bewaren ende beschermen van alle ongelijk, overlast ende ghewelt gelijck een herder tot bewaernisse van zijne schapen: En dat d'ondersaten niet en sijn van Godt geschapen tot behoef van den Prince om hem in alles wat hy beveelt, weder het goddelick of ongoddelick, recht of onrecht is, onderdanig te wesen en als slaven te dienen: maer den Prince om d'ondersaten wille, sonder dewelcke hy egeen Prince en is, om deselve met recht ende redene te regeeren ende voor te staen ende lief te hebben als een vader zijne kinderen ende een herder zijne schapen, die zijn lijf ende leven set om deslve te bewaren. En so wanneer hy sulx niet en doet, maer in stede van zijne ondersaten te beschermen, deselve soeckt te verdrucken, t'overlasten, heure oude vryheyt, privilegien ende oude herkomen te benemen, ende heur te gebieden ende gebruycken als slaven, moet ghehouden worden niet als Prince, maer als een tyran ende voor sulx nae recht ende redene magh ten minsten van zijne ondersaten, besondere by deliberatie van de Staten van den lande, voor egheen Prince meer bekent, maer verlaeten ende een ander in zijn stede tot beschermenisse van henlieden voor overhooft sonder misbruycken ghecosen werden:

Te meer so wanneer d'ondersaten met ootmoedighe verthooninghe niet en hebben heuren voorsz. Prince konnen vermorwen, noch van zijn tirannich opset gekeeren ende also egeen ander middel en hebben om heure eighene, heure huysvrouwen, kinderen ende naecomelinghen aengeboren vryheyt (daer zy na de wet der natueren goet ende bloet schuldigh zijn voor op te setten), te bewaren ende beschermen, gelijck tot diversche reysen uut gelijcke oorsaecken in diversche landen, ende tot diversche tijden geschiet, en d'exempelen ghenoegh bekent zijn: twelck principalick in dese voorsz. landen behoort plaetse te hebben ende stadt te grijpen, die van allen tijden zijn gheregeert geweest ende hebben ook moeten geregeert worden navolgdende den eedt by heure Princen t'heuren aencome gedaen, na uutwijsen heurer privilegien, costumen ende ouden hercomen: hebbende oock meest alle de voorsz. landen haren Prince ontfangen op conditien, contrackten ende accoorden ende welcke brekende, oock nae recht den Prince van de heerschappye van den lande is vervallen.

Nu ist also, dat den Coninck van Spaengien, nae het overlijden van hooger memorie Keyser Kaerle de vijfde, van wien hy alle dese Nederlanden ontfanghen hadde, vergetende de diensten die so sijn Heer vader, als hy, van dese landen ende ondersaten derselver hadden ontfanghen, deur dewelcke besondere de Coninck van Spaengien soo loffelicke victorien teghens zijne vyanden verkregen hadde, dat zijnen naem ende macht alle de wereldt deur vernaemt ende ontsien wert: vergetende oock de vermaninge die de voorsz. Keiserlicke Majesteydt hem t'anderen tijden ter contrarien hadde ghedaen, heeft dien van den Raede van Spaengien (neffens hen wesende) die deurdien zy in dese landen en vermochten egheen bevel te hebben te gouverneren oft de principale staten te bedienen, gelijck zy in de Coninckrijcken van Napels, Sicilien, tot Milanen, in Indien ende ander plaetsen, onder des Conincks geweldt wesende, deden, kennende den meestendeel van hen den rijckdom ende macht derselver, hadden eenen nijt teghens dese voorsz. landen ende de vryheyt derselver in hen herte genomen, ghehoor ende gheloof ghegheven, denwelcken Raedt van Spaengien, oft eenighe van de principale van dien, den voorsz. Coninck tot diversche reysen voor ooghen ghehouden hebben, dat voor zijn reputatie ende Majesteyt beter was, dese voorsz. landen van nieuws te conquesteren, om daerover vryelick ende absolutelick te moghen bevelen (t'welck is tyranniseren nae zijn beliefte) dan onder alsulcken conditien ende restrictien (als hy hadde in 't overnemen van de heerschappye van deselve landen moeten zweeren) die te regeren. Welcke volgende den Coninck zedert alle middelen ghesocht heeft dese voorsz. lande te brenghen uyt heure oude vryheydt in een slavernye onder 't gouvernement van de Spaegnaerden: hebbende eerst, onder 't decxsel van de religie, willen in de principaelste ende machtighste steden stellen nieuwe bisschoppen, deselve begiftende ende doterende met toevoeginghe ende incorporatie van de rijckste abdyen, ende hen bysettende negen canonicken, die souden wesen van zijnen Raedt, waeraf de drie souden besonderen last hebben over d'inquisitie, door dewelcke incorporatie deselve bisschoppen (die souden moghen geweest hebben sowel vreemdelingen als ingheborene) souden hebben ghehadt d'eerste plaetsen ende voysen in de vergaderinge van de Staten van de voorsz. landen ende geweest zijne creaturen, staende tot zijne bevele ende devotie: ende deur de voorsz. toegevoechde canonicken de Spaensche inquisitie ingebrocht, dewelcke in dese landen altijt so schrickelick ende odieus, als de uuterste slavernye selve, gheweest is, so een yegelijck is kennelick: sodat de voorsz. Keyserlicke Majesteyt deselve t'anderen tijden den landen voorgeslagen hebbende, deur die remonstrantie die men aen Zijne Majesteyt daerteghens gedaen heeft (thonende d'affectie die hy zijne ondersaten was toedraghende) die heeft laten varen: maer niettegenstaende diversche remonstrantien, so by perticulire steden ende provincien, alsoock van eenige principale heeren van den lande, namentlic den heere van Mongtiny ende den grave van Egmondt, tot dien eynde by consente van de hertoghinne van Parma, doen ter tijt regente over deselve landen, by advijse van den Rade van State ende Generaliteyt, na Spaengien tot distincte reysen gesonden, mondelinge gedaen: ende dat ook den voorsz. Coninck van Spaengien deselve mondelinghe goede hope hadde ghegheven van, naevolgende haer versoeck, daerinne te versien, heeft ter contrarien corts daernaer by brieven scherpelick bevolen de voorsz. bisschoppen, op zijn indignatie, terstont t'onfangen ende te stellen in de possessie van heure bisdommen ende geincorporeerde abdyen, de inquisitie te werck te stellen daer se te vooren was, ende d'ordonnantie van het concilie van Trenten (die in vele poincten contrarieerden de privilegien van de voorsz. landen) t'achtervolgen. Twelck gekomen zijnde ter ooren van de ghemeynte, heeft met redenen oorsake ghegheven van een groote beroerte onder haer ende eenen aftreck van de goede affectie, die zy als goede ondersaten den voorsz. Coninck van Spaengien ende zijne voorsaten altijdt toeghedragen hadden, besonder aenmerckende dat hy niet alleenlick en sochte te tyranniseren over hunne personen ende goet, maer ooc over heure conscientien, waervan zy verstonden niemant, dan aen Godt alleene, ghehouden te wesen rekeninge te gheven oft te verantwoorden: waerdeur ende uut medelijden van de voorsz. ghemeynte, de principaelste van den adel van den lande hebben in den jare 1566 seker remonstrantie overghegheven, versoeckende dat, om de ghemeynte te stillen ende alle oproer te verhoeden, Zijne Majesteydt soude de voorsz. poincten, ende besonder nopende de rigoureuse ondersoeckinge ende straffe over de religie willen versoeten, daerinne thoonende de liefde ende affectie die hy tot zijne ondersaten, als een goedertieren Prince was draghende.

Ende om t'selfde al naerder ende met meerder authoriteyt den voorsz. Coninck van Spaegnien te kennen te gheven ende te verthoonen hoe nootelick het was voor het lants welvaren, ende om t'selfde te houden in ruste, sulcke nieuwicheden af te doen ende het rigeur van de contraventie van den placcate, op de saken van der religien gemaeckt, te versoeten, ter begeerte van de voorsz. Gouvernante, Rade van State ende van de Staten Generael van alle de landen, als ghesanten zijn nae Spaengnien gheschikt gheweest den Marckgrave van Berghen ende den voorsz. heere van Montigni in stede van dewelcke ghehoor te gheven ende te versiene op de inconvenienten die men voorghehouden hadde (die mits het uutstal van daerinne in tijts te remedieren so den noot uut heyschte, alreede onder de gemeynte meest in alle de landen begonst waren hen t'openbaren) heeft, door opruyen van den voorsz. Spaenschen Raedt, de persoonen, de voorsz. remonstrantie ghedaen hebbende, doen verclaren rebel ende schuldig van het crym van lesae Majestatis ende alsoo strafbaer in lijf ende goet: hebbende daerenboven de voorsz. heeren ghesanten namaels (meynende de voorsz. landen deur 't gheweldt van den Hertogh van Alve gheheelick gebrocht te hebben onder zijn subjectie ende tyrannye) tegens alle gemeyne rechten, oock onder de wreetste ende tyrannichste Princen altijt onverbrekelick onderhouden, doen vanghen, dooden ende heure goeden confisqueren.

Ende al wast alsoo dat meest de beroerte in dese voorsz. landen deur toedoen van de voorsz. regente ende heure adherenten in 't voorsz. jaer 1566 opghestaen, was gheslist, ende veele die de vryheyt des lants voorstonden, verjaeght, ende d'andere verdruct ende t'onder ghebrocht, soodat den Coninck egheen oorsake ter werelt meer en hadde, om de voorsz. landen met gewelt ende wapenen t'overvallen: nochtans om sulcken oorsake die den voorseyden Spaenschen Raet langhen tijdt ghesocht ende verwacht hadde (so opentlick de opgehouden ende gheintercipieerde brieven van den ambassadeur van Spaengien, Alana, in Vrankrijck wesende, aen de Herthoginne van Parma, doen ter tijt geschreven, dat uutwijsden) om te niet te mogen doen alle des landts privilegien, dat nae heuren wille by Spaengnaerden tyrannichlick te mogen gouverneren, als de Indien ende nieuwe geconquesteerde landen, heeft deur ingeven ende raedt van deselve Spaengnaerden (thoonende de cleyne aff*cktie die hy zijnen goeden ondersaten was toedraghende, contrarie van 't gene hy heur, als heur Prince, beschermer ende goede herder schuldigh was te doen) nae dese landen, om deselve t'overvallen, gheschickt met groote heyrcracht den Hertogh van Alva, vermaert van strafheyt ende crudelitett, een van de principale vyanden van deselve landen, verselschapt, om als Raden neffens hem te wesen, met persoonen van gelijcke natuere ende humeuren.

Ende al wast so dat hy hier in de landen sonder slach oft stoot is gecomen ende met alle reverentie ende eere is ontfanghen van de arme inghesetene, die niet en verwachten dan alle goedertierenheyt ende clementie, ghelijck den Coninck hen dickwils met zijne brieven gheveynsdelick hadde toegheseyt: jae dat hy selfs van meyninge was te comen in persoone, om in als tot ghenoeghe van eenen yeghelicken ordre te stellen: hebbende oock ten tijden van het vertreck van den Hertoghe van Alve nae dese landen een vlote van schepen in Spaegnien, om hem te voeren, ende een in Zeelant om hem tegens te comen, tot grooten excessiven coste van den lande doen toereeden, om zijne voorsz. ondersaten t'abuseren ende te beter in 't net te brengen: heeft niettemin den voorsz. Hertoghe van Alve terstont na zijn comste, wesende een vreemdelinck, ende niet van den bloede van den voorsz. Coninc, verclaert gehadt commissie van den Coninck te hebben van opperste Capiteyn, ende corts daernaer van Gouverneur Generael van den lande, teghens de privilegien ende oude hercomen desselfs. Ende openbarende ghenoegh zijn voornemen, heeft terstont de principale steden ende sloten met volcke beset, casteelen ende sterckten in de principaelste ende machtichste steden, om die te houden in subjectie, opgherecht, de principaelste heeren, onder 't decksel van heuren raet van doen te hebben ende te willen employeren in den dienst van den lande, uut last van den Coninck vriendelick ontboden: die hem gehoor ghegheven hebben, doen vanghen, tegens de previlegien uut Brabant, daer se ghevanghen waren, ghevoert, voor hem selven (niet wesende heuren competenten rechter) doen betichten, ten lesten, sonder hen volkomelick te horen, ter doot veroordeelt ende openbaerlick en schandelick doen dooden: d'andere, beter kennisse van de gheveynstheyt der Spaengaerden hebbende, hun uuten lande houdende, verclaert verbeurt te hebben lijf ende goet, voor sulcks hun goet aenveerdt ende gheconfisqueert, omdat de voorsz. arme inghesetene hun niet en souden, t'ware met hare stercten oft Princen die heure vryheyt souden moghen voorstaen, connen oft mogen teghens 't Paus geweld behelpen, behalvens noch ontallicke andere edelmans ende treffelicke borghers, die hy soo om den hals ghebrocht als verjaeght heeft, om hunne goeden te confisqueren. De reste van de goede inghesetene, boven den overlast die zy in heur wijfs, kinderen ende goeden leden, deur gemeyne Spaensche soldaten t'heuren huyse in gharnisoen ligghende, travaillerende met sovele diversche schattinghe, so mits heur bedwinghende tot gheldinghe tot de bouwinghe van de nieuwe casteelen ende forticicatie van de steden tot heure eyghen verdruckinghe, als met opbrenghen van honderste, twintighste ende thiende penninghen, tot betalinghe van den crijghslieden, so by hen medegebracht, als die hy hier te lande oplichte, om t'employeren tegens heur mede landtsaten en degene die het lants vryheyt met perijckel van heuren lijve aventuerden voor te staene, opdat, de voorsz. ondersaten verarmt wesende, egeen middel ter werelt en soude overblijven om zijn voornemen te beletten ende d'instrucktie, hem in Spaegnien gegeven, van het lant te trackteren als van nieuws geconquesteert, te beter te volbrenghen. Tot welcken eynde hy oock begonst heeft in de principale plaetsen d'ordre van justitie nae de maniere van Spaegnien (dierecktelick teghens de previlegien van den lande) te veranderen, nieuwe Raden te stellen ende ten lesten wesende buyten alle vreese, soo hem dochte, eenen thienden penninck fortselick willen oprechten op de coopmanschappen ende handtwercken, tot gantsche verderfenisse van den lande, gheheelick op de voorsz. coopmanschap ende handtwerck staende, nietthegenstaende menichvuldighe remonstrantien, by elck landt in 't particulier, ende oock by allegader in 't generael hem ter contrarien ghedaen: hetwelck hy oock met ghewelt soude volbracht hebben, ten ware gheweest dat deur toedoen van mijnen heere den Prince van Orangien ende diversche edelmans ende andere goede ingheborene, by den voorsz. Hertogh van Alve uuten lande gebannen, Zijne Vorst[elijke] G[enade] volgende ende meest in haren dienst wesende, ende andere inghesetene, wel gheaffectioneerde tot de vryheyt van het voorsz. vaderlant, Hollant ende Zeelandt corts daernaer niet meest en hadde hem afghevallen ende hun begeven onder de bescherminghe van den voorsz. heere Prince, tegens dewelcke twee landen den voorsz. Hertoge van Alve duerende zijn gouvernement, ende daernaer den groten Commandeur (die naer den voorsz. Hertogh van Alve, niet om te verbeteren, maer om denselven voet van tyrannie by bedeckter middelen te vervolghen, den voorsz. Coninck van Spaegnien hier te lande gheschickt hadde) hebben d'andere landen, die zy met heure garnisoenen ende opgerechte casteelen hielden in de Spaensche subjectie, bedwongen om heure persoonen ende alle heure macht te ghebruycken om die te helpen t'onderbrenghen, dies niet meer deselve landen, die zy tot heure assistentie als vooren emploeyeerde, verschoonende, dan oft se heur selfs vyanden waren gheweest: latende de Spaengnaerden, onder 't decksel van ghemutineert te zijne, ten aensien van den grooten Commandeur in de stadt van Antwerpen gheweldichlick comen, daer ses weken lanck, tot laste van de burgheren, nae hunne discretie teeren ende daerenboven tot betalinghe van heure gheheyschte soldije, dieselve borgheren bedwinghende binnen middelen tijden (omme van het gheweldt van deselve Spaegnaerden ontslaghen te wesen) vier hondert duysent guldenen op te brengen, hebbende daernaer de voorsz. Spaensche soldaten, meerder stouticheydt ghebruyckende, hen vervoordert de wapenen openbaerlick teghens het landt aen te nemen, meynende eerst de stadt van Bruessele inne te nemen ende in stede van d'ordinarise residentie van den Prince van den lande, daer wesende, aldaer haren roofnest te houden, t'welk haer niet gheluckende, hebben de stadt van Aelst overweldigtt, daernaer de stadt van Maestricht ende de voorsz. stadt van Antwerpen gheweldichlick overvallen, ghesaccageert, gepilleert, ghemoort, gebrant en soo getrackteert, dat de tyrannichste ende crueelste vyanden van den lande niet meer oft arger en souden connen doen, tot onuutsprekelicke schade niet alleenlick van de arme ingesetene, maer oock van meest allen de natien van der werelt, die aldaer hadden haer coopmanschap ende ghelt. Ende niettegenstaende dat de voorsz. Spaegnaerden by den Rade van State (by denwelcken doen ter tijt mits de doot van den voorsz. grooten Commandeur te voren geschiet, het gouvernement van den lande was uut laste ende commissie van den voorsz. Coninc van Spaegnien aenveert) ten byzijne van Hieronomo de Rhoda, om heur overlast, fortse ende gewelt, 'twelck zy deden, verclaert ende ghecondicht waren voor vyanden van den lande, heeft denselven Rhoda uut zijne authoriteydt (oft, soo 't te presumeren is, uut krachte van seker secrete instrucktie die hy van Spaegnien hebben mochte) aenghenomen hooft te wesen van de voorsz. Spaegnaerden ende heure adherenten: ende (sonder aensien van den voorsz. Raet van Staten) te gebruycken den naem ende authoriteyt van den Coninck, te conterfeyten zijnen zegel, hem openbaerlick te dragen als gouverneur ende lieutenant van den Coninck, waerdeur de Staten zijn geoorsaeckt geweest ten selven tijde met mijnen voorsz. heere den Prince ende de Staten van Hollant ende Zeelant t'accorderen:

welck accoort by den voorsz. Raede van State, als wettige gouverneurs van den lande, is gheapprobeert ende goetgevonden geweest, om gelijkerhant ende eendrachtelick de Spangnaerden, des ghemeynen landts vyanden, te moghen aenvechten ende uut den lande verdrijven, niet latende nochtans, als goede ondersaten, binnen middelen tijden by diversche ootmoedighe remonstrantien neffens den voorsz. Coninck van Spaegnien, met alder vlijt ende alle bequame middelen moghelick wesende, te vervolghen ende bidden, dat den Coninck ooge ende regardt nemende op de troublen ende inconvenienten, dier alrede in dese landen gheschiedt waren ende noch apparentelick stonden te gheschieden, soude willen de Spaegnaerden doen vertrecken uuten lande ende straffen degene die oorsake geweest hadden van het saccagheren ende bederven van zijne principale steden ende andere onuutsprekelicke overlasten die zijn arme ondersaten geleden hadden, tot een vertroostinge van degene dien t'overkomen was ende tot een exempel van andere: 10.maer den Coninck, al was 't, dat hy met woorden hem gheliet of teghens zijnen danke en wille t'selfde gheschiet was ende dat hy van meyninghe was te straffen de hoofden daeraf ende voortane op de ruste van den lande met alle goedertierenheydt (als een Prince toebehoordt) te willen ordre stellen, heeft nochtans niet alleenlick egheen justitie oft straffe over deselve doen doen, maer ter contrarien ghenoegh met der daet blijckende, dat met zijnen consente ende voorgaenden Raede van Spaegnien al gheschiedt was, is by opghehouden brieven corts daernaer bevonden, dat aen Rhoda ende andre capiteynen (oorsake van 't voorsz. quaet) by den Coninck selve gheschreven wort, dat hy niet alleenlick heur feyt goet vont, maer heur daeraf prees ende beloefde te recompenseeren, besondere den voorsz. Rhoda, als hem gedaen hebbende eenen sonderlinghen dienst, ghelijck hy hem oock tot zijnder wedercoomste in Spagnien ende alle andere (zijne dienaers van de voorsz. tyrannie in des landen gheweest hebbende) metter daet heeft bewesen. Heeft oock ten selven tijde (meynende des te meer d'oogen van de ondersaten te verblinden) den Coninck in dese landen gesonden voor gouverneur zijnen bastaerdtbroeder Don Johan van Oistenrijck, als wesende van zijnen bloede, diewelcke onder 't decksel van goet te vinden ende t'approberen d'accord tot Gent gemackt, het toeseggen van de Staten voor te staene, de Spaengaerden te doen vertrecken ende d'auteurs van de ghewelden ende desordren in dese voorsz. landen gheschiedt te doen straffen ende ordre op de ghemeyne ruste van den lande ende heur oude vryheyd te stellen, sochte de voorsz. Staten te scheyden ende d'een landt voor, d'ander naer t'onder te brenghen, soo corts daernaer door de ghehenghenisse Gods (vyand van alle tyrannie) ondeckt is door opghehouden en gheintercipieerde brieven, daerby bleeck dat hy van den Coninck last hadde om hem te reguleren na de instructie ende het bescheet dat hem Roda soude gheven, tot meerder gheveynsthedt verbiedende, dat se malcanderen niet en souden sien oft spreken ende dat hy hem soude neffens de principaele heeren minlick draghen ende deselve winnen, totter tijt toe dat hy deur heure middel ende assistentie soude mogen Hollant ende Zeelandt in zijn gewelt crijgen, om dan voorts metten anderen te doen na zijnen wille. Gelijc oock Don Johan, niettegenstaende hy de pacificatie van Gent ende seker accoord, tussen hem ende de Staten van alle de landen doen gemaeckt, hadde solempnelick in presentie van alle de voorsz. Staten belooft ende gesworen t'onderhouden, contrarie van dien alle middelen sochte om de Duytsche soldaten, die doen ter tijdt alle de principaelste stercten ende steden hadden in bewaernissen, deur middel van hunne colonellen, die hy hadde tot zijnen wille ende devotie, met groote beloften te winnen ende so deselve stercten ende steden te krijghen in zijn gheweldt, ghelijck hy den meestendeel alreede ghewonnen hadde ende de plaetsen hiel voor hem toeghedaen, om deur dien middel deghene die hen t'soecken souden willen maken, om den voorsz. heer Prince ende die van Hollandt ende Zeelandt oorloge te helpen aendoen, feytelick daertoe te bedwinghen ende also een straffer ende crueelder inlandtsche oorloge te verwecken, dan oyt te vooren hadde geweest, twelk (gelijck 't ghene dat geveynsdelick ende teghens de meyninge uutwendichlick gehandelt wort, niet langhe en can bedeckt blijven) uutbrekende eer hy volcomelick zijne intentie geeffectueert hadde, heeft t'selve nae zijn voornemen niet connen volbrengen, maer nochtans een nieuwe oorloghe in stede van vrede (daer hy hem t'zijner koemste af vanteerde) verweckt, noch jeghenwoordelick duerende.

Alle t'welck ons meer dan ghenoegh wettighe oorsake ghegeven heeft om den Coninck van Spaegnien te verlaten ende een ander machtigh ende goedertieren Prince, om de voorsz. landen te helpen beschermen en voor te staen, te versoecken, te meer dat in alsulcken desordre ende overlast de landen bat dan twintigh jaren van heuren Coning zijn verlaten geweest ende ghetrackteert niet als ondersaten, maer als vyanden, heur soeckende heur eyghen heer met cracht van wapenen t'onder te brengen, hebbende oock naer de aflijvicheydt van Don Johan deur den Baron van Selle, onder 't decksel van eenighe bequame middelen van accoorde voor te houdene, ghenoegh verclaert de Pacificatie van Gendt, die Don Johan uut zijnen naem besworen hadde, niet te willen advoyeren en alsoo daghelicks zwaerder conditien voorgheslaghen. Dien niettegenstaende hebben niet willen laten by schriftelijcke ende ootmoedighe remonstrantien, met intercessie van de principaelste Princen van Kerstenrijck sonder ophouden te versoecken met den voorsz. Coninck te reconcilieren ende accorderen, hebbende oock lestmael langhe tijdt onse Ghesanten ghehadt tot Colen, hopende aldaer, deur tusschenspreken van de Keyserlicke Majesteydt en de Keurvorsten die daer mede ghemoeyt waren, te verkrijghen eenen versekerden peys, met eenighe gracelicke vryheyt, besondere van der religie (de conscientie ende Godt principalic raeckende), maer hebben by experientie bevonden, dat wy met deselve remonstrantien ende handelinghen niet en consten yet van den Coninc verwerven, maer dat deselve handelingen ende communicatien alleenlick voorgheslaghen werden ende dienden om de landen onderlinghe twistich te maecken ende te doen scheyden d'een van den anderen, om des te gevoechelicker d'een voor ende d'ander naer t'onder brenghen ende heur eerste voornemen nu met alder rigeur teghens haer te werke te stellen: t'welck naederhant wel openbaerlick gebleken is by seker placcaet van proscriptien, by den Coninck laten uutgaen, by denwelcken wy ende alle de officiren ende ingesetene van de voorsz. geunieerde landen ende heure partye volgende (om ons tot meerder desperatie te brenghen, alomme odieus te makene, de trafficque ende handelinge te beletten) verclaert worden voor rebellen, en als sulcx verbeurt te hebben lijf ende goet, settende daerenboven op het lijf van den voorsz. heere Prince groote sommen van penninghen, soodat wy gantselick van alle middele van reconciliatie wanhopende ende oock van alle andere remedie ende secours verlaten wesende, hebben, volghende de wet der natueren, tot beschermenisse ende bewaernisse van onsen ende den andere landtsaten rechten, privilegien, oude hercomen ende vryheden van ons vaderlant, van het leven ende eere van onse huysvrouwen, kinderen ende nacomelingen, opdat se niet en souden vallen in de slavernye van de Spaegnaerden, verlatende met rechte den Coninc van Spaegnien, andere middelen bedwongen geweest voor te wenden, die wy tot onse meeste versekeringe ende bewaernisse van onse rechten, privilegien ende vryheden voorsz. hebben te rade gevonden.

Doen te wetene, dat wy t'gene voorsz. overgemerckt ende door den uutersten noot, als voore gedrongen zijnde, by gemeynen accoorde, deliberatie ende overdrage, den Coninc van Spaegnien verclaert hebben ende verclaren mits desen, ipso jure, vervallen van zijne heerschapye, gerechticheyt ende erffenisse van de voorsz. landen ende voortaene van egeene meyninghe te zijne denselven te kennen in eenige saken, den Prince, zijne hoocheyt, jurisdictie ende domeynen van dese voorsz. landen raeckende, zijnen naem als overheer meer te gebruycken oft by yemanden toelaten gebruyckt te worden, verclarende oock dien volghende alle officiers, justiciers, smale heeren, vassalen ende alle andere ingesetene van den voorsz. lande, van wat conditie oft qualiteyt die zijn, voortane ontslagen van den eede die zy den Coninck van Spaegnien, als heere van dese voorsz. landen gheweest hebbende, moghen eenichsins ghedaen hebben oft in hem ghehouden wesen.

Ende gemerckt uut oorsaken voorsz. den meestendeel van de geunieerde landen, by gemeynen accoorde ende consente van heure leden, hebben hun begheven ghehadt onder de heerschappye ende gouvernemente van den Doorluchtighen Prince den Hertogh van Anjou op seker conditien ende poincten, met Zijne Hoogheyt aenghegaen ende ghesloten, dat oock de Doorluchticheyt van den Eertzhertogh Matthias het gouvernement generael van den lande in onse handen heeft geresigneert ende by ons is geaccepteert gheweest, ordonneren ende bevelen allen justiciers, officiers ende andere die t'selfde eenichsins aengaen ende raken mag, dat zy voortaene den naem, titele, groote ende cleyne zeghelen, contre-zeghelen ende cachetten van den Coninck van Spaegnien verlaten ende niet meer en gebruycken en dat in plaetse van dien, soo langhe de Hoocheydt van den voorsz. Hertogh van Anjou, om noodelicke affairen, het welvaren van dese voorsz. landen rakende, noch van hier absent is (voor so vele den landen met de Hoogheyt van den voorsz. Hertogh van Anjou gecontrackteert hebbende aengaet) ende andersins d'andere by maniere van voorraet ende provisie sullen aennemen ende ghebruycken den tytele ende naem van 't hooft ende landtraet, en middelertijdt dat t'selve hooft ende Raeden volcomelik ende dadelick ghenoemt, beschreven ende in oeffeninghe van hennen staet ghetreden sullen zijn, onsen voorsz. name.

Welverstaende dat men in Hollandt ende Zeelant sal ghebruycken den naem van hoogh geboren Vorst den Prince van Oraengien ende de Staeten van deselven landen, totter tijt toe den voorsz. landtraedt datelick sal inghestelt wesen, en sullen hun alsdan reguleren achtervolghende de consenten, by hun-lieden, op de instrucktie van den lantraet ende contrackt, met Zijne Hoogheyt aengegaen, ende in plaetse van des voorsz. Conincks zeghelen, men voortaene gebruycken sal onsen grooten zeghel, contre-zeghel ende cachetten in saecken, raeckende de ghemeyne regeringhe, daertoe den landtraedt volghende heure instructie sal gheauthoriseert wesen: maer in saecken, raeckende politie, administratie van juistitie ende andere particuliere, in elck lant besondere, sal gebruyckt worden by de Provinciale ende andere Raden den naem ende titele ende zeghel van den lande respectivelick, daer t'selfde valt te doene, sonder ander, al op de pene van nulliteyt van de brieven, bescheeden oft depeschen, die contrarie van t'gene voorsz. is, ghedaen oft gheseghelt zullen wesen. Ende tot beter ende sekerder volcominghe ende effectuatie van t'gene voorsz. is, hebben gheordonneert ende bevolen, ordonneren ende bevelen mits desen, dat alle des Conincks van Spaegnien zeghelen, in dese voorsz. geunieerde landen wesende, terstont nae de publicatie van desen, ghebrocht sullen moeten worden in handen van de Staten van elcke van de voorsz. landen respecktivelick oft denghenen, die daertoe by deselve Staten specialick sullen wesen ghecommitteert ende geauthoriseert, op pene van arbitrale correcktie. Ordoneren ende bevelen daerenboven, dat voortaene in egeenderhande munte van de voorsz. gheunieerde landen sal gheslaghen worden den naem, titele ofte wapenen van den voorsz. Coninck van Spaegnien, maer alsulcken slagh ende forme als gheordonneert sal worden tot eenen nieuwen gouden ende silveren penninck met zijne ghedeelten. Ordoneren ende bevelen insghelijcks den president ende andere heeren van den Secreeten Raede, mitsgaders alle andere cantselers, presidenten ende heeren van den Raeden provinciael ende alle die presidenten oft eerste rekenmeesters ende andere van allen de rekenkameren, in de voorsz. landen respecktive wesende, ende alle andere officiers ende justiciers, dat zy (als heur voortaene ontslagen houdende van den eedt, die zy den Coninc van Spaegnien hebben respectivelic naer luyt heurer commissien gedaen) schuldich ende gehouden sullen wesen in handen van den Staten 's lants, daeronder zy respective resorteren, oft heur speciale gecommitteerde te doen eenen nieuwen eedt, daermede zy ons sweeren ghetrouwicheydt teghens den Coninck van Spaegnien ende allen zijne aenhanghers, al naervolghende het formulair, daerop by de Generale Staten gheraempt.

Ende sal men de voorsz. raeden, justiciers ende officiers, geseten onder de landen (met de Hoocheydt van den Hertogh van Anjou ghecontrackteerdt hebbende, van onsent wegen) gheven ackte van continuatie in hunne offitien, ende dat by maniere van provisie, totter aencompste toe van zijne voorsz. Hoogheyt, in plaetse van nieuwe commissien, inhoudende cassatie van heure voorgaende, ende voorsz. raeden, justiciers ende officiers, gheseten in den landen, met zijne voorseyde Hoogheyt niet ghecontrackteert hebbende, nieuwe commissien onder onsen naem ende zeghel, ten ware nochtans dat d'impetranten van heure voorsz. eerste commissien wedersproken ende achterhaelt werden van contraventie der previlegien des landts, onbehoorlickheyt oft ander diergelijcke saecken.

Ontbieden voorts den president ende luyden van den Secreten Raede, cancelier van den Hertoghdomme van Brabandt, mitsgaders den cantseler van den Furstendomme Gelre ende Graeffschap Zutphen, (president ende luyden van den Raede in Vlaenderen), president ende luyden van den Raede in Hollant, rentmeesteren oft de hooghe officieren van Beoist- ende Bewesterschelt van Zeelant, president ende Raede in Vrieslant, den schoutet van Mechelen, president ende luyden van den Raede van Utrecht ende allen anderen iusticieren ende officieren wien dat aengaen mach, heuren stedehouderen ende eenen yeghelicken van henlieden besondere, soo hem toebehooren sal, dat zy dese onse ordonnantie condighen ende uutroepen over alle den bedrijve van heure jurisdictie ende daer men is gewoonlick publicatie ende uutroepinge te doene, sodat niemant des cause van ignorantie pretenderen en mach, ende deselve ordonnantie doen onderhouden ende achtervolghen onverbrekelick ende sonder infracktie, daertoe rigoreuselick bedwinghende die overtreders in der manieren voorsz. sonder verdrach oft dissimulatie: want wy tot welvaren van den lande also hebben bevonden te behooren. Ende van des te doene ende wes daeraen cleeft, gheven wy u ende elcken van u die 't aengaen mach, volcomen macht, authoriteydt ende sonderlingh bevel.

Des t'oorconde hebben wy onsen zegel hieraen doen hanghen.

Ghegheven in onse vergaderinghe in 's Gravenhaghe, den sessentwintichsten Julij MDLXXXI.

Op de plijcke stont gheschreven: Ter ordonnantie van de voornoemde Staten.

Ende ghetekent, J. van Asseliers.

Source

HTML from "American History from Revolution to Reconstruction" [Online elsewhere].

Oliver J. Thatcher, ed., The Library of Original Sources (Milwaukee: University Research Extension Co., 1907), Vol. V: 9th to 16th Centuries, pp. 189-197.

Text

The States General of the United Provinces of the Low Countries, to all whom it may concern, do by these Presents send greeting:

As it is apparent to all that a prince is constituted by God to be ruler of a people, to defend them from oppression and violence as the shepherd his sheep; and whereas God did not create the people slaves to their prince, to obey his commands, whether right or wrong, but rather the prince for the sake of the subjects (without which he could be no prince), to govern them according to equity, to love and support them as a father his children or a shepherd his flock, and even at the hazard of life to defend and preserve them. And when he does not behave thus, but, on the contrary, oppresses them, seeking opportunities to infringe their ancient customs and privileges, exacting from them slavish compliance, then he is no longer a prince, but a tyrant, and the subjects are to consider him in no other view. And particularly when this is done deliberately, unauthorized by the states, they may not only disallow his authority, but legally proceed to the choice of another prince for their defense. This is the only method left for subjects whose humble petitions and remonstrances could never soften their prince or dissuade him from his tyrannical proceedings; and this is what the law of nature dictates for the defense of liberty, which we ought to transmit to posterity, even at the hazard of our lives. And this we have seen done frequently in several countries upon the like occasion, whereof there are notorious instances, and more justifiable in our land, which has been always governed according to their ancient privileges, which are expressed in the oath taken by the prince at his admission to the government; for most of the Provinces receive their prince upon certain conditions, which he swears to maintain, which, if the prince violates, he is no longer sovereign.

Now thus it was that the king of Spain after the demise of the emperor, his father, Charles the Fifth, of the glorious memory (of whom he received all these provinces), forgetting the services done by the subjects of these countries, both to his father and himself, by whose valor he got so glorious and memorable victories over his enemies that his name and power became famous and dreaded over all the world, forgetting also the advice of his said imperial majesty, made to him before to the contrary, did rather hearken to the counsel of those Spaniards about him, who had conceived a secret hatred to this land and to its liberty, because they could not enjoy posts of honor and high employments here under the states as in Naples, Sicily, Milan and the Indies, and other countries under the king's dominion. Thus allured by the riches of the said provinces, wherewith many of them were well acquainted, the said counselors, we say, or the principal of them, frequently remonstrated to the king that it was more for his Majesty's reputation and grandeur to subdue the Low Countries a second time, and to make himself absolute (by which they mean to tyrannize at pleasure), than to govern according to the restrictions he had accepted, and at his admission sworn to observe. From that time forward the king of Spain, following these evil counselors, sought by all means possible to reduce this country (stripping them of their ancient privileges) to slavery, under the government of Spaniards having first, under the mask of religion, endeavored to settle new bishops in the largest and principal cities, endowing and incorporating them with the richest abbeys, assigning to each bishop nine canons to assist him as counselors, three whereof should superintend the inquisition.

By this incorporation the said bishops (who might be strangers as well as natives) would have had the first place and vote in the assembly of the states, and always the prince's creatures at devotion; and by the addition of the said canons he would have introduced the Spanish inquisition, which has been always as dreadful and detested in these provinces as the worst of slavery, as is well known, in so much that his imperial majesty, having once before proposed it to these states, and upon whose remonstrances did desist, and entirely gave it up, hereby giving proof of the great affection he had for his subjects. But, notwithstanding the many remonstrances made to the king both by the provinces and particular towns, in writing as well as by some principal lords by word of mouth; and, namely, by the Baron of Montigny and Earl of Egmont, who with the approbation of the duch*ess of Parma, then governess of the Low Countries, by the advice of the council of state were sent several times to Spain upon this affair. And, although the king had by fair words given them grounds to hope that their request should be complied with, yet by his letters he ordered the contrary, soon after expressly commanding, upon pain of his displeasure, to admit the new bishops immediately, and put them in possession of their bishoprics and incorporated abbeys, to hold the court of the inquisition in the places where it had been before, to obey and follow the decrees and ordinances of the Council of Trent, which in many articles are destructive of the privileges of the country.

This being come to the knowledge of the people gave just occasion to great uneasiness and clamor among them, and lessened that good affection they had always borne toward the king and his predecessors. And, especially, seeing that he did not only seek to tyrannize over their persons and estates, but also over their consciences, for which they believed themselves accountable to God only. Upon this occasion the chief of the nobility in compassion to the poor people, in the year 1566, exhibited a certain remonstrance in form of a petition, humbly praying, in order to appease them and prevent public disturbances, that it would please his majesty (by showing that clemency due from a good prince to his people) to soften the said points, and especially with regard to the rigorous inquisition, and capital punishments for matters of religion. And to inform the king of this affair in a more solemn manner, and to represent to him how necessary it was for the peace and prosperity of the public to remove the aforesaid innovations, and moderate the severity of his declarations published concerning divine worship, the Marquis de Berghen, and the aforesaid Baron of Montigny had been sent, at the request of the said lady regent, council of state, and of the states-general as ambassadors to Spain, where the king, instead of giving them audience, and redress the grievances they had complained of (which for want of a timely remedy did always appear in their evil consequences among the common people), did, by the advice of Spanish council, declare all those who were concerned in preparing the said remonstrance to be rebels, and guilty of high treason, and to be punished with death, and confiscation of their estates; and, what is more (thinking himself well assured of reducing these countries under absolute tyranny by the army of the Duke of Alva), did soon after imprison and put to death the said lords the ambassadors, and confiscated their estates, contrary to the law of nations, which has been always religiously observed even among the most tyrannic and barbarous princes.

And, although the said disturbances, which in the year 1566 happened on the aforementioned occasion, were now appeased by the governess and her ministers, and many friends to liberty were either banished or subdued, in so much that the king had not any show of reason to use arms and violence, and further oppress this country, yet for these causes and reasons, long time before sought by the council of Spain (as appears by intercepted letters from the Spanish ambassador, Alana, then in France, writ to the duch*ess of Parma), to annul all the privileges of this country, and govern it tyrannically at pleasure as in the Indies; and in their new conquests he has, at the instigation of the council of Spain, showing the little regard he had for his people, so contrary to the duty which a good prince owes to his subjects), sent the Duke of Alva with a powerful army to oppress this land, who for his inhuman cruelties is looked upon as one of its greatest enemies, accompanied with counselors too like himself. And, although he came in without the least opposition, and was received by the poor subjects with all marks of honor and clemency, which the king had often hypocritically promised in his letters, and that himself intended to come in person to give orders to their general satisfaction, having since the departure of the Duke of Alva equipped a fleet to carry him from Spain, and another in Zealand to come to meet him at the great expense of the country, the better to deceive his subjects, and allure them into the toils, nevertheless the said duke, immediately after his arrival (though a stranger, and no way related to the royal family), declared that he had a captain-general's commission, and soon after that of governor of these provinces, contrary to all its ancient customs and privileges; and, the more to manifest his designs, he immediately garrisoned the principal towns and castles, and caused fortresses and citadels to be built in the great cities to awe them into subjection, and very courteously sent for the chief nobility in the king's name, under pretense of taking their advice, and to employ them in the service of their country. And those who believed his letters were seized and carried out of Brabant, contrary to law, where they were imprisoned and prosecuted as criminals before him who had no right, nor could be a competent judge; and at last he, without hearing their defense at large, sentenced them to death, which was publicly and ignominiously executed.

The others, better acquainted with Spanish hypocrisy, residing in foreign countries, were declared outlawed, and had their estates confiscated, so that the poor subjects could make no use of their fortresses nor be assisted by their princes in defense of their liberty against the violence of the pope; besides a great number of other gentlemen and substantial citizens, some of whom were executed, and others banished that their estates might be confiscated, plaguing the other honest inhabitants, not only by the injuries done to their wives, children and estates by the Spanish soldiers lodged in their houses, as likewise by diverse contributions, which they were forced to pay toward building citadels and new fortifications of towns even to their own ruin, besides the taxes of the hundredth, twentieth, and tenth penny, to pay both the foreign and those raised in the country, to be employed against their fellow-citizens and against those who at the hazard of their lives defended their liberties. In order to impoverish the subjects, and to incapacitate them to hinder his design, and that he might with more ease execute the instructions received in Spain, to treat these countries as new conquests, he began to alter the course of justice after the Spanish mode, directly contrary to our privileges; and, imagining at last he had nothing more to fear, he endeavored by main force to settle a tax called the tenth penny on merchandise and manufacture, to the total ruin of these countries, the prosperity of which depends upon a flourishing trade, notwithstanding frequent remonstrances, not by a single province only, but by all of them united, which he had effected, had it not been for the Prince of Orange with diverse gentlemen and other inhabitants, who had followed this prince in his exile, most of whom were in his pay, and banished by the Duke of Alva with others who between him and the states of all the provinces, on the contrary sought, by all possible promises made to the colonels already at his devotion, to gain the German troops, who were then garrisoned in the principal fortresses and the cities, that by their assistance he might master them, as he had gained many of them already, and held them attached to his interest in order, by their assistance, to force those who would not join with him in making war against the Prince of Orange, and the provinces of Holland and Zealand, more cruel and bloody than any war before. But, as no disguises can long conceal our intentions, this project was discovered before it could be executed; and he, unable to perform his promises, and instead of that peace so much boasted of at his arrival a new war kindled, not yet extinguished.

All these considerations give us more than sufficient reason to renounce the King of Spain, and seek some other powerful and more gracious prince to take us under his protection; and, more especially, as these countries have been for these twenty years abandoned to disturbance and oppression by their king, during which time the inhabitants were not treated as subjects, but enemies, enslaved forcibly by their own governors.

Having also, after the decease of Don Juan, sufficiently declared by the Baron de Selles that he would not allow the pacification of Ghent, the which Don Juan had in his majesty's name sworn to maintain, but daily proposing new terms of agreement less advantageous. Notwithstanding these discouragements we used all possible means, by petitions in writing, and the good offices of the greatest princes in Christendom, to be reconciled to our king, having lastly maintained for a long time our deputies at the Congress of Cologne, hoping that the intercession of his imperial majesty and of the electors would procure an honorable and lasting peace, and some degree of liberty, particularly relating to religion (which chiefly concerns God and our own consciences), at last we found by experience that nothing would be obtained of the king by prayers and treaties, which latter he made use of to divide and weaken the provinces, that he might the easier execute his plan rigorously, by subduing them one by one, which afterwards plainly appeared by certain proclamations and proscriptions published by the king's orders, by virtue of which we and all officers of the United Provinces with all our friends are declared rebels and as such to have forfeited our lives and estates. Thus, by rendering us odious to all, he might interrupt our commerce, likewise reducing us to despair, offering a great sum to any that would assassinate the Prince of Orange.

So, having no hope of reconciliation, and finding no other remedy, we have, agreeable to the law of nature in our own defense, and for maintaining the rights, privileges, and liberties of our countrymen, wives, and children, and latest posterity from being enslaved by the Spaniards, been constrained to renounce allegiance to the King of Spain, and pursue such methods as appear to us most likely to secure our ancient liberties and privileges. Know all men by these presents that being reduced to the last extremity, as above mentioned, we have unanimously and deliberately declared, and do by these presents declare, that the King of Spain has forfeited, ipso jure, all hereditary right to the sovereignty of those countries, and are determined from henceforward not to acknowledge his sovereignty or jurisdiction, nor any act of his relating to the domains of the Low Countries, nor make use of his name as prince, nor suffer others to do it. In consequence whereof we also declare all officers, judges, lords, gentlemen, vassals, and all other the inhabitants of this country of what condition or quality soever, to be henceforth discharged from all oaths and obligations whatsoever made to the King of Spain as sovereign of those countries. And whereas, upon the motives already mentioned, the greater part of the United Provinces have, by common consent of their members, submitted to the government and sovereignty of the illustrious Prince and Duke of Anjou, upon certain conditions stipulated with his highness, and whereas the most serene Archduke Matthias has resigned the government of these countries with our approbation, we command and order all justiciaries, officers, and all whom it may concern, not to make use of the name, titles, great or privy seal of the King of Spain from henceforward; but in lieu of them, as long as his highness the Duke of Anjou is absent upon urgent affairs relating to the welfare of these countries, having so agreed with his highness or otherwise, they shall provisionally use the name and title of the President and Council of the Province.

And, until such a president and counselors shall be nominated, assembled, and act in that capacity, they shall act in our name, except that in Holland and Zealand where they shall use the name of the Prince of Orange, and of the states of the said provinces until the aforesaid council shall legally sit, and then shall conform to the directions of that council agreeable to the contract made with his highness. And, instead of the king's seal aforesaid, they shall make use of our great seal, center-seal, and signet, in affairs relating to the public, according as the said council shall from time to time be authorized. And in affairs concerning the administration of justice, and transactions peculiar to each province, the provincial council and other councils of that country shall use respectively the name, title, and seal of the said province, where the case is to be tried, and no other, on pain of having all letters, documents, and despatches annulled. And, for the better and effectual performance hereof, we have ordered and commanded, and do hereby order and command, that all the seals of the King of Spain which are in these United Provinces shall immediately, upon the publication of these presents, be delivered to the estate of each province respectively, or to such persons as by the said estates shall be authorized and appointed, upon peril of discretionary punishment.

Moreover, we order and command that from henceforth no money coined shall be stamped with the name, title, or arms of the King of Spain in any of these United Provinces, but that all new gold and silver pieces, with their halfs and quarters, shall only bear such impressions as the states shall direct. We order likewise and command the president and other lords of the privy council, and all other chancellors, presidents, accountants-general, and to others in all the chambers of accounts respectively in these said countries, and likewise to all other judges and officers, as we hold them discharged from henceforth of their oath made to the King of Spain, pursuant to the tenor of their commission, that they shall take a new oath to the states of that country on whose jurisdiction they depend, or to commissaries appointed by them, to be true to us against the King of Spain and all his adherents, according to the formula of words prepared by the states-general for that purpose. And we shall give to the said counselors, justiciaries, and officers employed in these provinces, who have contracted in our name with his highness the Duke of Anjou, an act to continue them in their respective offices, instead of new commissions, a clause annulling the former provisionally until the arrival of his highness. Moreover, to all such counselors, accomptants, justiciaries, and officers in these Provinces, who have not contracted with his highness, aforesaid, we shall grant new commissions under our hands and seals, unless any of the said officers are accused and convicted of having acted under their former commissions against the liberties and privileges of this country or of other the like maladministration.

We farther command of the president and members of the privy council, chancellor of the Duchy of Brabant, also the chancellor of the Duchy of Guelders, and county of Zutphen, to the president and members of the council of Holland, to the receivers of great officers of Beoostersheldt and Bewestersheldt in Zealand, to the president and council of Friese, and to the Escoulet of Mechelen, to the president and members of the council of Utrecht, and to all other justiciaries and officers whom it may concern, to the lieutenants all and every of them, to cause this our ordinance to be published and proclaimed throughout their respective jurisdictions, in the usual places appointed for that purpose, that none may plead ignorance. And to cause our said ordinance to be observed inviolably, punishing the offenders impartially and without delay; for so it is found expedient for the public good. And, for better maintaining all and every article hereof, we give to all and every one of you, by express command, full power and authority.

In witness whereof we have hereunto set our hands and seals,

dated in our assembly at the Hague, the six and twentieth day of July, 1581, indorsed by the orders of the states-general,

and signed J. De Asseliers.

Source

The National Archives (Britain) [Online elsewhere and here].

Text

To the King’s most excellent Majesty.

Soit droit fait come est desire

‘HUMBLY shew unto our Sovereign Lord the King, the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in Parliament assembled, That whereas it is declared and enacted by a Statute made in the time of the Reign of KingEdwardthe First, commonly calledStatutum de Tallagio non concedendo,that no Tallage or Aid shall be laid or levied by the King or his Heirs in this Realm, without the good Will and Assent of the Archbishops, Bishops, Earls, Barons, Knights, Burgesses and other the Freemen of the Commonalty of this Realm; and by the Authority of Parliament holden in the Five and twentieth Year of the Reign of KingEdwardthe Third, it is declared and enacted, that from thenceforth no Person should be compelled to make any Loans to the King against his Will, because such Loans were against Reason and the Franchise of the Land; and by other Laws of this Realm it is provided, that none should be charged by any Charge or Imposition called a Benevolence, nor by such like Charge; by which the Statutes before mentioned, and other the good Laws and Statutes of this Realm, Your Subjects have inherited this Freedom, that they should not be compelled to contribute to any Tax, Tallage, Aid or other like Charge not set by Common Consent in Parliament.

‘II. Yet nevertheless, of late divers Commissions directed to sundry Commissioners in several Counties, with Instructions, have issued; by means whereof Your People have been in divers Places assembled, and required to lend certain Sums of Money unto Your Majesty, and many of them, upon their Refusal so to do, have had an Oath administered unto them not warrantable by the Laws or Statutes of this Realm; and have been constrained to become bound to make Appearance and give Attendance before Your Privy Council and in other Places; and others of them have been therefore imprisoned, confined, and sundry other Ways molested and disquieted; and divers other Charges have been laid and levied upon Your People in several Counties by Lord Lieutenants, Deputy Lieutenants, Commissioners for Musters, Justices of Peace and others, by Command or Direction from Your Majesty, or Your Privy Council, against the Laws and Free Customs of the Realm.

‘III. And where also by the Statute calledThe Great Charter of the Liberties of England,it is declared and enacted, That no Freeman may be taken or imprisoned, or be disseised of his Freehold or Liberties, or his Free Customs, or be outlawed or exiled, or in any manner destroyed, but by the lawful Judgment of his Peers, or by the Law of the Land.

‘IV.And in the Eight and twentieth Year of the Reign of KingEdwardthe Third, it was declared and enacted by Authority of Parliament, That no Man of what Estate or Condition that he be, should be put out of his Land or Tenements, nor taken, nor imprisoned, nor disherited, nor put to Death, without being brought to answer by due Process of Law.

‘V. Nevertheless against the Tenor of the said Statutes, and other the good Laws and Statutes of Your Realm to that End provided, divers of Your Subjects have of late been imprisoned without any Cause shewed; and when for their Deliverance they were brought before your Justices by Your Majesty’s Writs ofHabeas Corpus, there to undergo and receive as the Court should order, and their Keepers commanded to certify the Causes of their Detainer, no Cause was certified, but that they were detained by Your Majesty’s special Command, signified by the Lords of Your Privy Council, and yet were returned back to several Prisons, without being charged with any Thing to which they might make Answer according to the Law.

‘VI. And whereas of late great Companies of Soldiers and Mariners have been dispersed into divers Counties of the Realm, and the Inhabitants against their Wills have been compelled to receive them into their Houses, and there to suffer them to sojourn, against the Laws and Customs of this Realm, and to the great Grievance and Vexation of the People:

‘VII.And whereas also by Authority of Parliament, in the Five and twentieth Year of the Reign of KingEdwardthe Third, it is declared and enacted, That no Man should be forejudged of Life or Limb against the Form of the Great Charter and the Law of the Land; and by the said Great Charter and other the Laws and Statutes of this Your Realm, no Man ought to be adjudged to Death but by the Laws established in this Your Realm, either by the Customs of the same Realm, or by Acts of Parliament: And whereas no Offender of what Kind soever is exempted from the Proceedings to be used, and Punishments to be inflicted by the Laws and Statutes of this Your Realm: Nevertheless of late times divers Commissions under Your Majesty’s Great Seal have issued forth, by which certain Persons have been assigned and appointed Commissioners, with Power and Authority to proceed within the Land, according to the Justice of Martial Law, against such Soldiers or Mariners, or other dissolute Persons joining with them, as should commit any Murther, Robbery, Felony, Mutiny or other Outrage or Misdemeanour whatsoever, and by such summary Course and Order as is agreeable to Martial Law, and as is used in Armies in time of War, to proceed to the Trial and Condemnation of such Offenders, and them to cause to be executed and put to Death according to the Law Martial:

‘VIII.By Pretext whereof some of Your Majesty’s Subjects have been by some of the said Commissioners put to Death, when and where, if by the Laws and Statutes of the Land they had deserved Death, by the same Laws and Statutes also they might, and by no other ought to have been judged and executed:

‘IX. And also sundry grievous Offenders, by colour thereof claiming an Exemption, have escaped the Punishments due to them by the Laws and Statutes of this Your Realm, by reason that divers of your Officers and Ministers of Justice have unjustly refused or forborn to proceed against such Offenders according to the same Laws and Statutes, upon Pretence that the said Offenders were punishable only by Martial Law, and by Authority of such Commissions as aforesaid: Which Commissions, and all other of like Nature, are wholly and directly contrary to the said Laws and Statutes of this Your Realm:’

X. They do therefore humbly pray Your most excellent Majesty, That no Man hereafter be compelled to make or yield any Gift, Loan, Benevolence, Tax or such like Charge, without Common Consent by Act of Parliament; and that none be called to make Answer, or take such Oath, or to give Attendance, or be confined, or otherwise molested or disquieted concerning the same, or for Refusal thereof; and that no Freeman, in any such Manner as is before mentioned, be imprisoned or detained; and that Your Majesty would be pleased to remove the said Soldiers and Mariners; and that Your People may not be so burthened in time to come; and that the aforesaid Commissions for proceeding by Martial Law, may be revoked and annulled; and that hereafter no Commissions of like Nature may issue forth to any Person or Persons whatsoever to be executed as aforesaid, lest by colour of them any of Your Majesty’s Subjects be destroyed, or put to Death contrary to the Laws and Franchise of the Land.

XI. All which they most humbly pray of Your most excellent Majesty as their Rights and Liberties according to the Laws and Statutes of this Realm; and that Your Majesty would also vouchsafe to declare, that the Awards, Doings and Proceedings, to the Prejudice of Your People in any of the Premises shall not be drawn hereafter into Consequence or Example; and that Your Majesty would be also graciously pleased, for the further Comfort and Safety of Your People, to declare Your Royal Will and Pleasure, that in the Things aforesaid all your Officers and Ministers shall serve You according to the Laws and Statutes of this Realm, as they tender the Honour of Your Majesty, and the Prosperity of this Kingdom.

[Which Petition being read the 2nd of June, 1628, the King's answer was thus delivered unto it.

The King willeth that right be done according to the laws and customs of the realm; and that the statutes be put in due execution, that his subjects may have no cause to complain of any wrong or oppressions, contrary to their just rights and liberties, to the preservation whereof he holds himself as well obliged as of his prerogative.]

Source

Old South Leaflets (Boston: Directors of the Old South Work, n.d. [c. 1900]), 7: 261-280.

HTML from the Hanover Historical Texts Project [Online elsewhere].

Text

[261]

THE LIBERTIES OF THE MASSACHUSETS COLLONIE IN NEW ENGLAND, 1641.

The free fruition of such liberties Immunities and priveledges as humanitie, Civilitie, and Christianitie call for as due to every man in his place and proportion without impeachment and Infringement hath ever bene and ever will be the tranquillitie and Stabilitie of Churches and Commonwealths. And the deniall or deprivall thereof, the disturbance if not the ruine of both.

We hould it therefore our dutie and safetie whilst we are about the further establishing of this Government to collect and expresse all such freedomes as for present we foresee may concerne us, and our posteritie after us, And to ratify them with our sollemne consent.

Wee doe therefore this day religiously and unanimously decree and confirme these following Rites, liberties and priveledges concerneing our Churches, and Civill State to be respectively impartiallie and inviolably enjoyed and observed throughout our Jurisdiction for ever.

1. No mans life shall be taken away, no mans honour or good name shall be stayned, no mans person shall be arested, restrayned, banished, dismembred, nor any wayes punished, no man shall be deprived of his wife or children, no mans goods or estaite shall be taken away from him, nor any way indammaged under colour of law or Countenance of Authoritie, unlesse it be by vertue or equitie of some expresse law of the Country waranting the same, established by a generall Court and sufficiently published, or in case of the defect of a law in any parteculer case by the word of God. And in Capitall cases, or in cases concerning [262] dismembring or banishment according to that word to be judged by the Generall Court.

2. Every person within this Jurisdiction, whether Inhabitant or forreiner shall enjoy the same justice and law, that is generall for the plantation, which we constitute and execute one towards another without partialitie or delay.

3. No man shall be urged to take any oath or subscribe any articles, covenants or remonstrance, of a publique and Civill nature, but such as the Generall Court hath considered, allowed and required.

4. No man shall be punished for not appearing at or before any Civill Assembly, Court, Councell, Magistrate, or Officer, nor for the omission of any office or service, if he shall be necessarily hindred by any apparent Act or providence of God, which he could neither foresee nor avoid. Provided that this law shall not prejudice any person of his just cost or damage, in any civill action.

5. No man shall be compelled to any publique worke or service unlesse the presse be grounded upon some act of the generall Court, and have reasonable allowance therefore.

6. No man shall be pressed in person to any office, worke, warres or other publique service, that is necessarily and suffitiently exempted by any naturall or personall impediment, as by want of yeares, greatnes of age, defect of minde, fayling of sences, or impotencie of Lymbes.

7. No man shall be compelled to goe out of the limits of this plantation upon any offensive warres which this Comonwealth or any of our freinds or confederats shall volentarily undertake. But onely upon such vindictive and defensive warres in our owne behalfe or the behalfe of our freinds and confederats as shall be enterprized by the Counsell and consent of a Court generall, or by authority derived from the same.

8. No mans Cattel or goods of what kinde soever shall be pressed or taken for any publique use or service, unlesse it be by warrant grounded upon some act of the generall Court, nor without such reasonable prices and hire as the ordinarie rates of the Countrie do afford. And if his Cattle or goods shall perish or suffer damage in such service, the owner shall be suffitiently recompenced.

9. No monopolies shall be granted or allowed amongst us, but of such new Inventions that are profitable to the Countrie, and that for a short time.

[263]

10. All our lands and heritages shall be free from all fines and licenses upon Alienations, and from all hariotts, wardships, Liveries, Primer-seisins, yeare day and wast, Escheates, and forfeitures, upon the deaths of parents or Ancestors, be they naturall, casuall or Juditiall.

11. All persons which are of the age of 21 yeares, and of right understanding and meamories, whether excommunicate or condemned shall have full power and libertie to make there wills and testaments, and other lawfull alienations of theire lands and estates.

12. Every man whether Inhabitant or fforreiner, free or not free shall have libertie to come to any publique Court, Councel, or Towne meeting, and either by speech or writeing to move any lawfull, seasonable, and materiall question, or to present any necessary motion, complaint, petition, Bill or information, whereof that meeting hath proper cognizance, so it be done in convenient time, due order, and respective manner.

13. No man shall be rated here for any estaite or revenue he hath in England, or in any forreine partes till it be transported hither.

14. Any Conveyance or Alienation of land or other estaite what so ever, made by any woman that is married, any childe under age, Ideott or distracted person, shall be good if it be passed and ratified by the consent of a generall Court.

15. All Covenous or fraudulent Alienations or Conveyances of lands, tenements, or any heriditaments, shall be of no validitie to defeate any man from due debts or legacies, or from any just title, clame or possession, of that which is so fraudulently conveyed.

16. Every Inhabitant that is an howse holder shall have free fishing and fowling in any great ponds and Bayes, Coves and Rivers, so farre as the sea ebbes and flowes within the presincts of the towne where they dwell, unlesse the free men of the same Towne or the Generall Court have otherwise appropriated them, provided that this shall not be extended to give leave to any man to come upon others proprietie without there leave.

17. Every man of or within this Jurisdiction shall have free libertie, notwithstanding any Civill power to remove both himselfe, and his familie at their pleasure out of the same, provided there be no legall impediment to the contrarie.

[264]

Rites Rules and Liberties concerning Juditiall proceedings.

18. No mans person shall be restrained or imprisoned by any authority whatsoever, before the law hath sentenced him thereto, if he can put in sufficient securitie, bayle or mainprise, for his appearance, and good behaviour in the meane time, unlesse it be in Crimes Capitall, and Contempts in open Court, and in such cases where some expresse act of Court doth allow it.

19. If in a general Court any miscariage shall be amongst the Assistants when they are by themselves that may deserve an Admonition or fine under 20 sh. it shall be examined and sentenced amongst themselves, If amongst the Deputies when they are by themselves, it shall be examined and sentenced amongst themselves, If it be when the whole Court is togeather, it shall be judged by the whole Court, and not severallie as before.

20. If any which are to sit as Judges in any other Court shall demeane themselves offensively in the Court, The rest of the Judges present shall have power to censure him for it, if the cause be of a high nature it shall be presented to and censured at the next superior Court.

21. In all cases where the first summons are not served six dayes before the Court, and the cause breifly specified in the warrant, where appearance is to be made by the partie summoned, it shall be at his libertie whether he will appeare or no, except all cases that are to be handled in Courts suddainly called, upon extraordinary occasions, In all cases where there appeares present and urgent cause any assistant or officer apointed shal have power to make out attaichments for the first summons.

22. No man in any suit or action against an other shall falsely pretend great debts or damages to vex his adversary, if it shall appeare any doth so, The Court shall have power to set a reasonable fine on his head.

23. No man shall be adjudged to pay for detaining any debt from any Creditor above eight pounds in the hundred for one yeare, And not above that rate proportionable for all somes what so ever, neither shall this be a coulour or countenance to allow any usurie amongst us contrarie to the law of god.

24. In all Trespasses or damages done to any man or men, If it can be proved to be done by the meere default of him or them to whome the trespasse is done, It shall be judged no trespasse, nor any damage given for it.

25. No Summons pleading Judgement, or any kinde of proceeding [285] in Court or course of Justice shall be abated, arested or reversed upon any kinde of cerc*mstantiall errors or mistakes, If the person and cause be rightly understood and intended by the Court.

26. Every man that findeth himselfe unfit to plead his owne cause in any Court shall have Libertie to imploy any man against whom the Court doth not except, to helpe him, Provided he give him noe fee or reward for his paines. This shall not exempt the partie him selfe from Answering such Questions in person as the Court shall thinke meete to demand of him.

27. If any plantife shall give into any Court a declaration of his cause in writeing, The defendant shall also have libertie and time to give in his answer in writeing, And so in all further proceedings betwene partie and partie, So it doth not further hinder the dispach of Justice then the Court shall be willing unto.

28. The plantife in all Actions brought in any Court shall have libertie to withdraw his Action, or to be nonsuited before the Jurie hath given in their verdict, in which case he shall alwaies pay full cost and chardges to the defendant, and may afterwards renew his suite at an other Court if he please.

29. In all actions at law it shall be the libertie of the plantife and defendant by mutual consent to choose whether they will be tryed by the Bensh or by a Jurie, unlesse it be where the law upon just reason hath otherwise determined. The like libertie shall be granted to all persons in Criminall cases.

30. It shall be in the libertie both of plantife and defendant, and likewise every delinquent (to be judged by a Jurie) to challenge any of the Jurors. And if his challenge be found just and reasonable by the Bench, or the rest of the Jurie, as the challenger shall choose it shall be allowed him, and tales de cerc*mstantibus impaneled in their room.

31. In all cases where evidences is so obscure or defective that the Jurie cannot clearely and safely give a positive verdict, whether it be a grand or petit Jurie, It shall have libertie to give a non Liquit, or a spetiall verdict, in which last, that is in a spetiall verdict, the Judgement of the cause shall be left to the Court, And all Jurors shall have libertie in matters of fact if they cannot finde the maine issue, yet to finde and present in their verdict so much as they can, If the Bench and Jurors shall so suffer at any time about their verdict that either of them cannot proceede with peace of conscience the case shall be referred to the Generall Court, who shall take the question from both and determine it.

[266]

32. Every man shall have libertie to replevy his Cattell or goods impounded, distreined, seised, or extended, unlesse it be upon execution after Judgement, and in paiment of fines. Provided he puts in good securitie to prosecute his replevin, And to satisfie such demands as his Adversary shall recover against him in Law.

33. No mans person shall be arrested, or imprisoned upon execution or judgment for any debt or fine, If the law can finde competent meanes of satisfaction otherwise from his estaite, and if not his person may be arrested and imprisoned where he shall be kept at his owne charge, not the plantife's till satisfaction be made, unlesse the Court that had cognizance of the cause or some superior Court shall otherwise provide.

34. If any man shall be proved and Judged a commen Barrator vexing others with unjust frequent and endlesse suites, It shall be in the power of Courts both to denie him the benefit of the law, and to punish him for his Barratry.

35. No mans corne nor hay that is in the feild or upon the Cart, nor his garden stuffe, nor any thing subject to present decay, shall be taken in any distresse, unles he that takes it doth presently bestow it where it may not be imbesled nor suffer spoile or decay, or give securitie to satisfie the worth thereof if it comes to any harme.

36. It shall be in the libertie of every man cast condemned or sentenced in any cause in any Inferior Court, to make their appeale to the Court of Assistants, provided they tender their appeale and put in securitie to prosecute it, before the Court be ended wherein they were condemned, And within six dayes next ensuing put in good securitie before some Assistant to satisfie what his Adversarie shall recover against him; And if the cause be of a Criminall nature for his good behaviour, and appearance, And everie man shall have libertie to complaine to the Generall Court of any Injustice done him in any Court of Assistants or other.

37. In all cases where it appeares to the Court that the plantife hath wilingly and witingly done wronge to the defendant in commenceing and prosecuting an action or complaint against him, They shall have power to impose upon him a proportionable fine to the use of the defendant or accused person, for his false complaint or clamor.

38. Everie man shall have libertie to Record in the publique Rolles of any Court any Testimony given upon oath in the same Court, or before two Assistants, or any deede or evidence legally [267] confirmed there to remaine in perpetuam rei memoriam, that is for perpetuall memoriall or evidence upon occasion.

39. In all actions both reall and personall betweene partie and partie, the Court shall have power to respite execution for a convenient time, when in their prudence they see just cause so to doe.

40. No Conveyance, Deede, or promise whatsoever shall be of validitie, If it be gotten by Illegal violence, imprisonment, threatening, or any kinde of forcible compulsion called Dures.

41. Everie man that is to Answere for any criminall cause, whether he be in prison or under bayle, his cause shall be heard and determined at the next Court that hath proper Cognizance thereof, And may be done without prejudice of Justice.

42. No man shall be twise sentenced by Civill Justice for one and the same Crime, offence, or Trespasse.

43. No man shall be beaten with above 40 stripes, nor shall any true gentleman, nor any man equall to a gentleman be punished with whipping, unles his crime be very shamefull, and his course of life vitious and profligate.

44. No man condemned to dye shall be put to death within fower dayes next after his condemnation, unles the Court see spetiall cause to the contrary, or in case of martiall law, nor shall the body of any man so put to death be unburied 12 howers unlesse it be in case of Anatomie.

45. No man shall be forced by Torture to confesse any Crime against himselfe nor any other unlesse it be in some Capitall case, where he is first fullie convicted by cleare and suffitient evidence to be guilty, After which if the cause be of that nature, That it is very apparent there be other conspiratours, or confederates with him, Then he may be tortured, yet not with such Tortures as be Barbarous and inhumane.

46. For bodilie punishments we allow amongst us none that are inhumane Barbarous or cruel.

47. No man shall be put to death without the testimony of two or three witnesses or that which is equivalent thereunto.

48. Every Inhabitant of the Countrie shall have free libertie to search and veewe any Rooles, Records, or Regesters of any Court or office except the Councell, And to have a transcript or exemplification thereof written examined, and signed by the hand of the officer of the office paying the appointed fees therefore.

49. No free man shall be compelled to serve upon Juries above two Courts in a yeare, except grand Jurie men, who shall hould two Courts together at the least.

[268]

50. All Jurors shall be chosen continuallie by the freemen of the Towne where they dwell.

51. All Associates selected at any time to Assist the Assistants in Inferior Courts, shall be nominated by the Townes belonging to that Court, by orderly agreement amonge themselves.

52. Children, Idiots, Distracted persons, and all that are strangers, or new comers to our plantation, shall have such allowances and dispensations in any cause whether Criminal or other as religion and reason require.

53. The age of discretion for passing away of lands or such kinde of herediments, or for giveing, of votes, verdicts or Sentence in any Civill Courts or causes, shall be one and twentie yeares.

54. Whensoever any thing is to be put to vote, any sentence to be pronounced, or any other matter to be proposed, or read in any Court or Assembly, If the president or moderator thereof shall refuse to performe it, the Major parte of the members of that Court or Assembly shall have power to appoint any other meete man of them to do it, And if there be just cause to punish him that should and would not.

55. In all suites or Actions in any Court, the plaintife shall have libertie to make all the titles and claims to that he sues for he can. And the Defendant shall have libertie to plead all the pleas he can in answere to them, and the Court shall judge according to the intire evidence of all.

56. If any man shall behave himselfe offensively at any Towne meeting, the rest of the freemen then present, shall have power to sentence him for his offence. So be it the mulct or penaltie exceede not twentie shilings.

57. Whensoever any person shall come to any very suddaine untimely and unnaturall death, Some assistant, or the Constables of that Towne shall forthwith sumon a Jury of twelve free men to inquire of the cause and manner of their death, and shall present a true verdict thereof to some neere Assistant, or the next Court to be helde for that Towne upon their oath.

Liberties more peculiarlie concerning the free men.

58. Civill Authoritie hath power and libertie to see the peace, ordinances and Rules of Christ observed in every church according to his word. so it be done in a Civill and not in an Ecclesiastical way.

59. Civill Authoritie hath power and libertie to deale with any [269] Church member in a way of Civill Justice, notwithstanding any Church relation, office or interest.

60. No church censure shall degrade or depose any man from any Civill dignitie, office, or Authoritie he shall have in the Commonwealth.

61. No Magestrate, Juror, Officer, or other man shall be bound to informe present or reveale any private crim or offence, wherein there is no perill or danger to this plantation or any member thereof, when any necessarie tye of conscience binds him to secresie grounded upon the word of god, unlesse it be in case of testimony lawfully required.

62. Any Shire or Towne shall have libertie to choose their Deputies whom and where they please for the Generall Court. So be it they be free men, and have taken there oath of fealtie, and Inhabiting in this Jurisdiction.

63. No Governor, Deputy Governor, Assistant, Associate, or grand Jury man at any Court, nor any Deputie for the Generall Court, shall at any time beare his owne chardges at any Court, but their necessary expences shall be defrayed either by the Towne or Shire on whose service they are, or by the Country in generall.

64. Everie Action betweene partie and partie, and proceedings against delinquents in Criminall causes shall be briefly and destinctly entered on the Rolles of every Court by the Recorder thereof. That such actions be not afterwards brought againe to the vexation of any man.

65. No custome or prescription shall ever prevaile amongst us in any morall cause, our meaneing is maintaine anythinge that can be proved to be morrallie sinfull by the word of god.

66. The Freemen of every Towneship shall have power to make such by laws and constitutions as may concerne the wellfare of their Towne, provided they be not of a Criminall, but onely of a prudential nature, And that their penalties exceede not 20 sh. for one offence. And that they be not repugnant to the publique laws and orders of the Countrie. And if any Inhabitant shall neglect or refuse to observe them, they shall have power to levy the appointed penalties by distresse.

67. It is the constant libertie of the free men of this plantation to choose yearly at the Court of Election out of the freemen all the General officers of this Jurisdiction. If they please to dischardge them at the day of Election by way of vote. They may do it without shewing cause. But if at any other generall Court, we hould it due justice, that the reasons thereof be alleadged and [270] proved. By Generall officers we meane, our Governor, Deputy Governor, Assistants, Treasurer, Generall of our warres. And our Admirall at Sea, and such as are or hereafter may be of the like generall nature.

68. It is the libertie of the freemen to choose such deputies for the Generall Court out of themselves, either in their owne Townes or elsewhere as they judge fitest. And because we cannot foresee what varietie and weight of occasions may fall into future consideration, And what counsells we may stand in neede of, we decree. That the Deputies (to attend the Generall Court in the behalfe of the Countrie) shall not any time be stated or inacted, but from Court to Court, or at the most but for one yeare, that the Countrie may have an Annuall libertie to do in that case what is most behoofefull for the best welfaire thereof.

69. No Generall Court shall be desolved or adjourned without the consent of the Major parte thereof.

70. All Freemen called to give any advise, vote, verdict, or sentence in any Court, Counsell, or Civill Assembly, shall have full freedome to doe it according to their true Judgements and Consciences, So it be done orderly and inofensively for the manner.

71. The Governor shall have a casting voice whensoever an Equi vote shall fall out in the Court of Assistants, or generall assembly, So shall the presedent or moderator have in all Civill Courts or Assemblies.

72. The Governor and Deputy Governor Joyntly consenting or any three Assistants concurring in consent shall have power out of Court to reprive a condemned malefactour, till the next quarter or generall Court. The generall Court onely shall have power to pardon a condemned malefactor.

73. The Generall Court hath libertie and Authoritie to send out any member of this Comanwealth of what qualitie, condition or office whatsoever into forreine parts about any publique message or Negotiation. Provided the partie sent be acquainted with the affaire he goeth about, and be willing to undertake the service.

74. The freemen of every Towne or Towneship, shall have full power to choose yearly or for lesse time out of themselves a convenient number of fitt men to order the planting or prudentiall occasions of that Towne, according to Instructions given them in writeing, Provided nothing be done by them contrary to the publique laws and orders of the Countrie, provided also the number of such select persons be not above nine.

75. It is and shall be the libertie of any member or members of [271] any Court Councell or Civill Assembly in cases of makeing or executing any order or law, that properlie concerne religion, or any cause capitall, or warres, or Subscription to any publique Articles or Remonstrance, in case they cannot in Judgement and conscience consent to that way the Major vote or suffrage goes, to make their contra Remonstrance or protestation in speech or writeing, and upon request to have their dissent recorded in the Rolles of that Court. So it be done Christianlie and respectively for the manner. And their dissent onely be entered without the reasons thereof, for the avoiding of tediousnes.

76. Whensoever any Jurie of trialls or Jurours are not cleare in their Judgments or consciences conserneing any cause wherein they are to give their verdict, They shall have libertie in open Court to advise with any man they thinke fitt to resolve or direct them, before they give in their verdict.

77. In all cases wherein any freeman is to give his vote, be it in point of Election, makeing constitutions and orders or passing sentence in any case of Judicature or the like, if he cannot see reason to give it positively one way or an other, he shall have libertie to be silent, and not pressed to a determined vote.

78. The Generall or publique Treasure or any parte thereof shall never be exspended but by the appointment of a Generall Court, nor any Shire Treasure, but by the appointment of the freemen thereof, nor any Towne Treasurie but by the freemen of that Township.

Liberties of Women.

79. If any man at his death shall not leave his wife a competent portion of his estaite, upon just complaint made to the Generall Court she shall be relieved.

80. Everie marryed woeman shall be free from bodilie correction or stripes by her husband, unlesse it be in his owne defence upon her assalt. If there be any just cause of correction complaint shall be made to Authoritie assembled in some Court, from which onely she shall receive it.

Liberties of Children.

81. When parents dye intestate, the Elder sonne shall have a doble portion of his whole estate reall and personall, unlesse the Generall Court upon just cause alleadged shall judge otherwise.

[272]

82. When parents dye intestate haveing noe heires males of their bodies their Daughters shall inherit as Copartners, unles the Generall Court upon just reason shall judge otherwise.

83. If any parents shall wilfullie and unreasonably deny any childe timely or convenient mariage, or shall exercise any unnaturall severitie towards them, such childeren shall have free libertie to complaine to Authoritie for redresse.

84. No Orphan dureing their minoritie which was not committed to tuition or service by the parents in their life time, shall afterwards be absolutely disposed of by any kindred, freind, Executor, Towneship, or Church, nor by themselves without the consent of some Court, wherein two Assistants at least shall be present.

Liberties of Servants.

85. If any servants shall flee from the Tiranny and crueltie of their masters to the howse of any freeman of the same Towne, they shall be there protected and susteyned till due order be taken for their relife. Provided due notice thereof be speedily given to their maisters from whom they fled. And the next Assistant or Constable where the partie flying is harboured.

86. No servant shall be put of for above a yeare to any other neither in the life time of their maister nor after their death by their Executors or Administrators unlesse it be by consent of Authoritie assembled in some Court or two Assistants.

87. If any man smite out the eye or tooth of his man-servant, or maid servant, or otherwise mayme or much disfigure him, unlesse it be by meere casualtie, he shall let them goe free from his service. And shall have such further recompense as the Court shall allow him.

88. Servants that have served deligentlie and faithfully to the benefitt of their maisters seaven yeares, shall not be sent away emptie. And if any have bene unfaithfull, negligent or unprofitable in their service, notwithstanding the good usage of their maisters, they shall not be dismissed till they have made satisfaction according to the Judgement of Authoritie.

Liberties of Forreiners and Strangers.

89. If any people of other Nations professing the true Christian Religion shall flee to us from the Tiranny or oppression of their persecutors, or from famyne, warres, or the like necessary and [273] compulsarie cause, They shall be entertayned and succoured amongst us, according to that power and prudence, god shall give us.

90. If any ships or other vessels, be it freind or enemy, shall suffer shipwrack upon our Coast, there shall be no violence or wrong offerred to their persons or goods. But their persons shall be harboured, and relieved, and their goods preserved in safety till Authoritie may be certified thereof, and shall take further order therein.

91. There shall never be any bond slaverie, villinage or Captivitie amongst us unles it be lawfull Captives taken in just warres, and such strangers as willingly selle themselves or are sold to us. And these shall have all the liberties and Christian usages which the law of god established in Israell concerning such persons doeth morally require. This exempts none from servitude who shall be Judged thereto by Authoritie.

Off the Bruite Creature.

92. No man shall exercise any Tirranny or Crueltie towards any bruite Creature which are usuallie kept for man's use.

93. If any man shall have occasion to leade or drive Cattel from place to place that is far of, so that they be weary, or hungry, or fall sick, or lambe, It shall be lawful to rest or refresh them, for competant time, in any open place that is not Corne, meadow, or inclosed for some peculiar use.

94. Capitall Laws.

1. (Deut. 13. 6, 10. Deut. 17. 2, 6. Ex. 22.20) If any man after legall conviction shall have or worship any other god, but the lord god, he shall be put to death.

2. (Ex. 22. 18. Lev. 20. 27. Dut. 18. 10.) If any man or woeman be a witch, (that is hath or consulteth with a familiar spirit,) They shall be put to death.

3. (Lev. 24. 15,16.) If any person shall Blaspheme the name of god, the father, Sonne or Holie Ghost, with direct, expresse, presumptuous or high handed blasphemie, or shall curse god in the like manner, he shall be put to death.

[274]

4. (Ex. 21. 12. Numb. 35. 13, 14, 30, 31.) If any person committ any wilfull murther, which is manslaughter, committed upon premeditated malice, hatred, or Crueltie, not in a mans necessarie and just defence, nor by meere casualtie against his will, he shall be put to death.

5. (Numb. 25, 20, 21. Lev. 24. 17) If any person slayeth an other suddaienly in his anger or Crueltie of passion, he shall be put to death.

6. (Ex. 21. 14.) If any person shall slay an other through guile, either by poysoning or other such divelish practice, he shall be put to death.

7. (Lev. 20. 15,16.) If any man or woeman shall lye with any beaste or bruite creature by Carnall Copulation, They shall surely be put to death. And the beast shall be slaine, and buried and not eaten.

8. (Lev. 20. 13.) If any man lyeth with mankinde as he lyeth with a woeman, both of them have committed abhomination, they both shall surely be put to death.

9. Lev. 20. 19. and 18, 20. Dut. 22. 23, 24.) If any person committeth Adultery with a maried or espoused wife, the Adulterer and Adulteresse shall surely be put to death.

10. (Ex. 21. 16.) If any man stealeth a man or mankinde, he shall surely be put to death.

11. (Deut. 19. 16, 18, 19.) If any man rise up by false witnes, wittingly and of purpose to take away any mans life, he shall be put to death.

12. If any man shall conspire and attempt any invasion, insurrection, or publique rebellion against our commonwealth, or shall [275] indeavour to surprize any Towne or Townes, fort or forts therein, or shall treacherously and perfediouslie attempt the alteration and subversion of our frame of politie or Government fundamentallie, he shall be put to death.

95. A Declaration of the Liberties the Lord Jesus hath given to the Churches.

1. All the people of god within this Jurisdiction who are not in a church way, and be orthodox in Judgement, and not scandalous in life, shall have full libertie to gather themselves into a Church Estaite. Provided they doe it in a Christian way, with due observation of the rules of Christ revealed in his word.

2. Every Church hath full libertie to exercise all the ordinances of god, according to the rules of scripture.

3. Every Church hath free libertie of Election and ordination of all their officers from time to time, provided they be able, pious and orthodox.

4. Every Church hath free libertie of Admission, Recommendation, Dismission, and Expulsion, or deposall of their officers, and members, upon due cause, with free exercise of the Discipline and Censures of Christ according to the rules of his word.

5. No Injunctions are to be put upon any Church, Church officers or member in point of Doctrine, worship or Discipline, whether for substance or cerc*mstance besides the Institutions of the lord.

6. Every Church of Christ hath freedome to celebrate dayes of fasting and prayer, and of thanksgiveing according to the word of god.

[276]

7. The Elders of Churches have free libertie to meete monthly, Quarterly, or otherwise, in convenient numbers and places, for conferences, and consultations about Christian and Church questions and occasions.

8. All Churches have libertie to deale with any of their members in a church way that are in the hand of Justice. So it be not to retard or hinder the course thereof.

9. Every Church hath libertie to deale with any magestrate, Deputie of Court or other officer what soe ever that is a member in a church way in case of apparent and just offence given in their places, so it be done with due observance and respect.

10. Wee allowe private meetings for edification in religion amongst Christians of all sortes of people. So it be without just offence for number, time, place, and other cerc*mstances.

11. For the preventing and removeing of errour and offence that may grow and spread in any of the Churches in this Jurisdiction, And for the preserveing of trueith and peace in the severall churches within themselves, and for the maintenance and exercise of brotherly communion, amongst all the churches in the Countrie, It is allowed and ratified, by the Authoritie of this Generall Court as a lawfull libertie of the Churches of Christ. That once in every month of the yeare (when the season will beare it) It shall be lawfull for the minesters and Elders, of the Churches neere adjoyneing together, with any other of the breetheren with the consent of the churches to assemble by course in each severall Church one after an other. To the intent after the preaching of the word by such a minister as shall be requested thereto by the Elders of the church where the Assembly is held, The rest of the day may be spent in publique Christian Conference about the discussing and resolveing of any such doubts and cases of conscience concerning matter of doctrine or worship or government of the church as shall be propounded by any of the Breetheren [277] of that church, will leave also to any other Brother to propound his objections or answeres for further satisfaction according to the word of god. Provided that the whole action be guided and moderated by the Elders of the Church where the Assemblie is helde, or by such others as they shall appoint. And that no thing be concluded and imposed by way of Authoritie from one or more churches upon an other, but onely by way of Brotherly conference and consultations. That the trueth may be searched out to the satisfying of every mans conscience in the sight of god according his worde. And because such an Assembly and the worke thereof can not be duely attended to if other lectures be held in the same weeke. It is therefore agreed with the consent of the Churches. That in that weeke when such an Assembly is held, All the lectures in all the neighbouring Churches for that weeke shall be forborne. That so the publique service of Christ in this more solemne Assembly may be transacted with greater deligence and attention.

96. Howsoever these above specified rites, freedomes Immunities, Authorites and priveledges, both Civill and Ecclesiastical are expressed onely under the name and title of Liberties, and not in the exact forme of Laws or Statutes, yet we do with one consent fullie Authorise, and earnestly intreate all that are and shall be in Authoritie to consider them as laws, and not to faile to inflict condigne and proportionable punishments upon every man impartiallie, that shall infringe or violate any of them.

97. Wee likewise give full power and libertie to any person that shall at any time be denyed or deprived of any of them, to commence and prosecute their suite, Complaint or action against any man that shall so doe in any Court that hath proper Cognizance or judicature thereof.

98. Lastly because our dutie and desire is to do nothing suddainlie which fundamentally concerne us, we decree that these rites and liberties, shall be Audably read and deliberately weighed at every Generall Court that shall be held, within three yeares next insueing, And such of them as shall not be altered or repealed they shall stand so ratified, That no man shall infringe them without due punishment.

And if any Generall Court within these next thre yeares shall faile or forget to reade and consider them as abovesaid. The Governor and Deputy Governor for the time being, and every Assistant present at such Courts, shall forfeite 20sh. a man, and everie Deputie 10sh. a man for each neglect, which shall be paid [278] out of their proper estate, and not by the Country or the Townes which choose them, and whensoever there shall arise any question in any Court amonge the Assistants and Associates thereof about the explanation of these Rites and liberties, The Generall Court onely shall have power to interprett them.

Source

John Lilburne, William Walwyn, Thomas Prince, Richard Overton, An Agreement of the Free People of England. Tendered as a Peace-Offering to this distressed Nation. By Lieutenant Colonel John Lilburne, Master William Walwyn, Master Thomas Prince, and Master Richard Overton, Prisoners in the Tower of London, May the 1. 1649. (London, Printed for Gyles Calvert at the black spread-Eagle at the West end of Pauls, 1649).

Text

Full title

John Lilburne, William Walwyn, Thomas Prince, Richard Overton, An Agreement of the Free People of England. Tendered as a Peace-Offering to this distressed Nation. By Lieutenant Colonel John Lilburne, Master William Walwyn, Master Thomas Prince, and Master Richard Overton, Prisoners in the Tower of London, May the 1. 1649.

Matth. 5.verse 9. Blessed are the Peace-makers for they shall be called the children of God.

London, Printed for Gyles Calvert at the blaclkspread-Eagle at the West end of Pauls, 1649.

The Tract contains the following parts:

1. A Preparative to all sorts of people
2. The Agreement it selfe

Source

The Founders' Constitution. Edited by Philip B. Kurland and Ralph Lerner (The University of Chicago Press, 1986), vol. III, p. 310. [Online elsewhere].

Text

Habeas Corpus Act
31 Car. 2, c. 2, 27 May 1679

Whereas great delays have been used by sheriffs, gaolers and other officers, to whose custody any of the King's subjects have been committed for criminal or supposed criminal matters, in making returns of writs of habeas corpus to them directed, by standing out an alias and pluries habeas corpus, and sometimes more, and by other shifts to avoid their yielding obedience to such writs, contrary to their duty and the known laws of the land, whereby many of the King's subjects have been and hereafter may be long detained in prison, in such cases where by law they are bailable, to their great charges and vexation:

II. For the prevention whereof, and the more speedy relief of all persons imprisoned for any such criminal or supposed criminal matters; (2) be it enacted by the King's most excellent majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the lords spiritual and temporal, and commons, in this present parliament assembled, and by the authority thereof, That whensoever any person or persons shall bring any habeas corpus directed unto any sheriff or sheriffs, gaoler, minister or other person whatsoever, for any person in his or her custody, and the said writ shall be served upon the said officer, or left at the gaol or prison with any of the under-officers, under-keepers or deputy of the said officers or keepers, that the said officer or officers, his or their under-officers, under-keepers or deputies, shall within three days after the service thereof as aforesaid (unless the commitment aforesaid were for treason or felony, plainly and specially expressed in the warrant of commitment) upon payment or tender of the charges of bringing the said prisoner, to be ascertained by the judge or court that awarded the same, and endorsed upon the said writ, not exceeding twelve pence per mile, and upon security given by his own bond to pay the charges of carrying back the prisoner, if he shall be remanded by the court or judge to which he shall be brought according to the true intent of this present act, and that he will not make any escape by the way, make return of such writ; (3) and bring or cause to be brought the body of the party so committed or restrained, unto or before the lord chancellor, or lord keeper of the great seal of England for the time being, or the judges or barons of the said court from whence the said writ shall issue, or unto and before such other person or persons before whom the said writ is made returnable, according to the command thereof; (4) and shall then likewise certify the true causes of his detainer or imprisonment, unless the commitment of the said party be in any place beyond the distance of twenty miles from the place or places where such court or person is or shall be residing; and if beyond the distance of twenty miles, and not above one hundred miles, then within the space of ten days, and if beyond the distance of one hundred miles, then within the space of twenty days, after such delivery aforesaid, and not longer.

III. And to the intent that no sheriff, gaoler or other officer may pretend ignorance of the import of any such writ; (2) be it enacted by the authority aforesaid, That all such writs shall be marked in this manner, Per statutum tricesimo primo Caroli secundi Regis, and shall be signed by the person that awards the same; (3) and if any person or persons shall be or stand committed or detained as aforesaid, for any crime, unless for felony or treason plainly expressed in the warrant of commitment, in the vacation-time, and out of term, it shall and may be lawful to and for the person or persons so committed or detained (other than persons convict or in execution by legal process) or any one on his or their behalf, to appeal or complain to the lord chancellor or lord keeper, or any one of his Majesty's justices, either of the one bench or of the other, or the barons of the exchequer of the degree of the coif; (4) and the said lord chancellor, lord keeper, justices or barons or any of them, upon view of the copy or copies of the warrant or warrants of commitment and detainer, or otherwise upon oath made that such copy or copies were denied to be given by such person or persons in whose custody the prisoner or prisoners is or are detained, are hereby authorized and required, upon request made in writing by such person or persons, or any on his, her or their behalf, attested and subscribed by two witnesses who were present at the delivery of the same, to award and grant an habeas corpus under the seal of such court whereof he shall then be one of the judges, (5) to be directed to the officer or officers in whose custody the party so committed or detained shall be, returnable immediate before the said lord chancellor or lord keeper, or such justice, baron or any other justice or baron of the degree of the coif of any of the said courts; (6) and upon service thereof as aforesaid, the officer or officers, his or their under-officer or under-officers, under-keeper or under-keepers, or their deputy, in whose custody the party is so committed or detained, shall within the times respectively before limited, bring such prisoner or prisoners before the said lord chancellor or lord keeper, or such justices, barons or one of them, before whom the said writ is made returnable, and in case of his absence before any other of them, with the return of such writ, and the true causes of the commitment and detainer; (7) and thereupon within two days after the party shall be brought before them, the said lord chancellor or lord keeper, or such justice or baron before whom the prisoner shall be brought as aforesaid, shall discharge the said prisoner from his imprisonment, taking his or their recognizance, with one or more surety or sureties, in any sum according to their discretions, having regard to the quality of the prisoner and nature of the offence, for his or their appearance in the court of King's bench the term following, or at the next assizes, sessions or general gaol-delivery of and for such county, city or place where the commitment was, or where the offence was committed, or in such other court where the said offence is properly cognizable, as the case shall require, and then shall certify the said writ with the return thereof, and the said recognizance or recognizances into the said court where such appearance is to be made; (8) unless it shall appear unto the said lord chancellor or lord keeper, or justice or justices, or baron or barons, that the party so committed is detained upon a legal process, order or warrant, out of some court that hath jurisdiction of criminal matters, or by some warrant signed and sealed with the hand and seal of any of the said justices or barons, or some justice or justices of the peace, for such matters or offences for the which by the law the prisoner is not bailable.

IV. Provided always, and be it enacted, That if any person shall have wilfully neglected by the space of two whole terms after his imprisonment, to pray a habeas corpus for his enlargement, such person so wilfully neglecting shall not have any habeas corpus to be granted in vacation-time, in pursuance of this act.

V. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That if any officer or officers, his or their under-officer or under-officers, under-keeper or under-keepers, or deputy, shall neglect or refuse to make the returns aforesaid, or to bring the body or bodies of the prisoner or prisoners according to the command of the said writ, within the respective times aforesaid, or upon demand made by the prisoner or person in his behalf, shall refuse to deliver, or within the space of six hours after demand shall not deliver, to the person so demanding, a true copy of the warrant or warrants of commitment and detainer of such prisoner, which he and they are hereby required to deliver accordingly, all and every the head gaolers and keepers of such prisons, and such other person in whose custody the prisoner shall be detained, shall for the first offence forfeit to the prisoner or party grieved the sum of one hundred pounds; (2) and for the second offence the sum of two hundred pounds, and shall and is hereby made incapable to hold or execute his said office; (3) the said penalties to be recovered by the prisoner or party grieved, his executors or administrators, against such offender, his executors or administrators, by any action of debt, suit, bill, plaint or information, in any of the King's courts at Westminster, wherein no essoin, protection, privilege, injunction, wager of law, or stay of prosecution by Non vult ulterius prosequi, or otherwise, shall be admitted or allowed, or any more than one imparlance; (4) and any recovery or judgment at the suit of any party grieved, shall be a sufficient conviction for the first offence; and any after recovery or judgment at the suit of a party grieved for any offence after the first judgment, shall be a sufficient conviction to bring the officers or person within the said penalty for the second offence.

VI. And for the prevention of unjust vexation by reiterated commitments for the same offence; (2) be it enacted by the authority aforesaid, That no person or persons which shall be delivered or set at large upon any habeas corpus, shall at any time hereafter be again imprisoned or committed for the same offence by any person or persons whatsoever, other than by the legal order and process of such court wherein he or they shall be bound by recognizance to appear, or other court having jurisdiction of the cause; (3) and if any other person or persons shall knowingly contrary to this act recommit or imprison, or knowingly procure or cause to be recommitted or imprisoned, for the same offence or pretended offence, any person or persons delivered or set at large as aforesaid, or be knowingly aiding or assisting therein, then he or they shall forfeit to the prisoner or party grieved the sum of five hundred pounds; any colourable pretence or variation in the warrant or warrants of commitment notwithstanding, to be recovered as aforesaid.

VII. Provided always, and be it further enacted, That if any person or persons shall be committed for high treason or felony, plainly and specially expressed in the warrant of commitment, upon his prayer or petition in open court the first week of the term, or first day of the sessions of oyer and terminer or general gaol-delivery, to be brought to his trial, shall not be indicted some time in the next term, sessions of oyer and terminer or general gaol-delivery, after such commitment; it shall and may be lawful to and for the judges of the court of King's bench and justices of oyer and terminer or general gaol-delivery, and they are hereby required, upon motion to them made in open court the last day of the term, sessions or gaol-delivery, either by the prisoner or any one in his behalf, to set at liberty the prisoner upon bail, unless it appear to the judges and justices upon oath made, that the witnesses for the King could not be produced the same term, sessions or general gaol-delivery; (2) and if any person or persons committed as aforesaid, upon his prayer or petition in open court the first week of the term or first day of the sessions of oyer and terminer and general gaol-delivery, to be brought to his trial, shall not be indicted and tried the second term, sessions of oyer and terminer or general gaol-delivery, after his commitment, or upon his trial shall be acquitted, he shall be discharged from his imprisonment.

VIII. Provided always, That nothing in this act shall extend to discharge out of prison any person charged in debt, or other action, or with process in any civil cause, but that after he shall be discharged of his imprisonment for such his criminal offence, he shall be kept in custody according to the law, for such other suit.

IX. Provided always, and be it enacted by the authority aforesaid, That if any person or persons, subjects of this realm, shall be committed to any prison or in custody of any officer or officers whatsoever, for any criminal or supposed criminal matter, that the said person shall not be removed from the said prison and custody into the custody of any other officer or officers; (2) unless it be by habeas corpus or some other legal writ; or where the prisoner is delivered to the constable or other inferior officer to carry such prisoner to some common gaol; (3) or where any person is sent by order of any judge or assize or justice of the peace, to any common workhouse or house of correction; (4) or where the prisoner is removed from one prison or place to another within the same county, in order to his or her trial or discharge in due course of law; (5) or in case of sudden fire or infection, or other necessity; (6) and if any person or persons shall after such commitment aforesaid make out and sign, or countersign any warrant or warrants for such removal aforesaid, contrary to this act; as well he that makes or signs, or countersigns such warrant or warrants, as the officer or officers that obey or execute the same, shall suffer and incur the pains and forfeitures in this act before mentioned, both for the first and second offence respectively, to be recovered in manner aforesaid by the party grieved.

X. Provided also, and be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That it shall and may be lawful to and for any prisoner and prisoners as aforesaid, to move and obtain his or their habeas corpus as well out of the high court of chancery or court of exchequer, as out of the courts of King's bench or common pleas, or either of them; (2) and if the said lord chancellor or lord keeper, or any judge or judges, baron or barons for the time being, of the degree of the coif, of any of the courts aforesaid, in the vacation time, upon view of the copy or copies of the warrant or warrants of commitment or detainer, or upon oath made that such copy or copies were denied as aforesaid, shall deny any writ of habeas corpus by this act required to be granted, being moved for as aforesaid, they shall severally forfeit to the prisoner or party grieved the sum of five hundred pounds, to be recovered in manner aforesaid.

XI. And be it declared and enacted by the authority aforesaid, That an habeas corpus according to the true intent and meaning of this act, may be directed and run into any county palatine, the cinque-ports, or other privileged places within the kingdom of England, dominion of Wales, or town of Berwick upon Tweed, and the islands of Jersey or Guernsey; any law or usage to the contrary notwithstanding.

XII. And for preventing illegal imprisonments in prisons beyond the seas; (2) be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That no subject of this realm that now is, or hereafter shall be an inhabitant or resiant of this kingdom of England, dominion of Wales, or town of Berwick upon Tweed, shall or may be sent prisoner into Scotland, Ireland, Jersey, Guernsey, Tangier, or into parts, garrisons, islands or places beyond the seas, which are or at any time hereafter shall be within or without the dominions of his Majesty, his heirs or successors; (3) and that every such imprisonment is hereby enacted and adjudged to be illegal; (4) and that if any of the said subjects now is or hereafter shall be so imprisoned, every such person and persons so imprisoned, shall and may for every such imprisonment maintain by virtue of this act an action or actions of false imprisonment, in any of his Majesty's courts of record, against the person or persons by whom he or she shall be so committed, detained, imprisoned, sent prisoner or transported, contrary to the true meaning of this act, and against all or any person or persons that shall frame, contrive, write, seal or countersign any warrant or writing for such commitment, detainer, imprisonment or transportation, or shall be advising, aiding or assisting, in the same, or any of them; (5) and the plaintiff in every such action shall have judgment to recover his treble costs, besides damages, which damages so to be given, shall not be less than five hundred pounds; (6) in which action no delay stay or stop of proceeding by rule, order or command, nor no injunction, protection or privilege whatsoever, nor any more than one imparlance shall be allowed, excepting such rule of the court wherein the action shall depend, made in open court, as shall be thought in justice necessary, for special cause to be expressed in the said rule; (7) and the person or persons who shall knowingly frame, contrive, write, seal or countersign any warant for such commitment, detainer or transportation, or shall so commit, detain, imprison or transport any person or persons contrary to this act, or be any ways advising, aiding or assisting therein, being lawfully convicted thereof, shall be disabled from thenceforth to bear any office of trust or profit within the said realm of England, dominion of Wales, or town of Berwick upon Tweed, or any of the islands, territories or dominions thereunto belonging; (8) and shall incur and sustain the pains, penalties and forfeitures limited, ordained and provided in and by the statute of provision and praemunire made in the sixteenth year of King Richard the Second; (9) and be incapable of any pardon from the King, his heirs or successors, of the said forfeitures, losses or disabilities, or any of them.

XIII. Provided always, That nothing in this act shall extend to give benefit to any person who shall by contract in writing agree with any merchant or owner of any plantation, or other person whatsoever, to be transported to any parts beyond the seas, and receive earnest upon such agreement, although that afterwards such person shall renounce such contract.

XIV. Provided always, and be it enacted, That if any person or persons lawfully convicted of any felony, shall in open court pray to be transported beyond the seas, and the court shall think fit to leave him or them in prison for that purpose, such person or persons may be transported into any parts beyond the seas, this act or any thing therein contained to the contrary notwithstanding.

XV. Provided also, and be it enacted, That nothing herein contained shall be deemed, construed or taken, to extend to the imprisonment of any person before the first day of June one thousand six hundred seventy and nine, or to any thing advised, procured, or otherwise done, relating to such imprisonment; any thing herein contained to the contrary notwithstanding.

XVI. Provided also, That if any person or persons at any time resiant in this realm, shall have committed any capital offence in Scotland or Ireland, or any of the islands, or foreign plantations of the King, his heirs or successors, where he or she ought to be tried for such offence, such person or persons may be sent to such place, there to receive such trial, in such manner as the same might have been used before the making of this act; any thing herein contained to the contrary notwithstanding.

XVII. Provided also, and be it enacted, That no person or persons shall be sued, impleaded, molested, or troubled for any offence against this act, unless the party offending be sued or impleaded for the same within two years at the most after such time wherein the offence shall be committed, in case the party grieved shall not be then in prison; and if he shall be in prison, then within the space of two years after the decease of the person imprisoned, or his or her delivery out of prison, which shall first happen.

XVIII. And to the intent no person may avoid his trial at the assizes or general gaol-delivery, by procuring his removal before the assizes, at such time as he cannot be brought back to receive his trial there; (2) be it enacted, That after the assizes proclaimed for that county where the prisoner is detained, no person shall be removed from the common gaol upon any habeas corpus granted in pursuance of this act, but upon any such habeas corpus shall be brought before the judge of assize in open court, who is thereupon to do what to justice shall appertain.

XIX. Provided nevertheless, That after the assizes are ended, any person or persons detained, may have his or her habeas corpus according to the direction and intention of this act.

XX. And be it also enacted by the authority aforesaid, That if any information, suit or action shall be brought or exhibited against any person or persons for any offence committed or to be committed against the form of this law, it shall be lawful for such defendants to plead the general issue, that they are not guilty, or that they owe nothing, and to give such special matter in evidence to the jury that shall try the same, which matter being pleaded had been good and sufficient matter in law to have discharged the said defendant or defendants against the said information, suit or action, and the said matter shall be then as available to him or them, to all intents and purposes, as if he or they had sufficiently pleaded, set forth or alledged the same matter in bar or discharge of such information suit or action.

XXI. And because many times persons charged with petty treason or felony, or as accessaries thereunto, are committed upon suspicion only, whereupon they are bailable, or not, according as the circ*mstances making out that suspicion are more or less weighty, which are best known to the justices of peace that committed the persons, and have the examinations before them, or to other justices of the peace in the county; (2) be it therefore enacted, That where any person shall appear to be committed by any judge or justice of the peace and charged as accessary before the fact, to any petty treason or felony, or upon suspicion thereof, or with suspicion of petty treason or felony, which petty treason or felony shall be plainly and specially expressed in the warrant of commitment, that such person shall not be removed or bailed by virtue of this act, or in any other manner than they might have been before the making of this act.

Source

The Avalon Law Project at the Yale Law School, Lillian Goldman Law Library [Online elsewhere].

Text

Bill of Rights (1689)↩

An Act Declaring the Rights and Liberties of the Subject and Settling the Succession of the Crown

Whereas the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons assembled at Westminster, lawfully, fully and freely representing all the estates of the people of this realm, did upon the thirteenth day of February in the year of our Lord one thousand six hundred eighty-eight [old style date] present unto their Majesties, then called and known by the names and style of William and Mary, prince and princess of Orange, being present in their proper persons, a certain declaration in writing made by the said Lords and Commons in the words following, viz.:

Whereas the late KingJames the Second, by the assistance of divers evil counsellors, judges and ministers employed by him, did endeavour to subvert and extirpate the Protestant religion and the laws and liberties of this kingdom;

By assuming and exercising a power of dispensing with and suspending of laws and the execution of laws without consent of Parliament;

By committing and prosecuting divers worthy prelates for humbly petitioning to be excused from concurring to the said assumed power;

By issuing and causing to be executed a commission under the great seal for erecting a court called the Court of Commissioners for Ecclesiastical Causes;

By levying money for and to the use of the Crown by pretence of prerogative for other time and in other manner than the same was granted by Parliament;

By raising and keeping a standing army within this kingdom in time of peace without consent of Parliament, and quartering soldiers contrary to law;

By causing several good subjects being Protestants to be disarmed at the same time when papists were both armed and employed contrary to law;

By violating the freedom of election of members to serve in Parliament;

By prosecutions in the Court of King's Bench for matters and causes cognizable only in Parliament, and by divers other arbitrary and illegal courses;

And whereas of late years partial corrupt and unqualified persons have been returned and served on juries in trials, and particularly divers jurors in trials for high treason which were not freeholders;

And excessive bail hath been required of persons committed in criminal cases to elude the benefit of the laws made for the liberty of the subjects;

And excessive fines have been imposed;

And illegal and cruel punishments inflicted;

And several grants and promises made of fines and forfeitures before any conviction or judgment against the persons upon whom the same were to be levied;

All which are utterly and directly contrary to the known laws and statutes and freedom of this realm;

And whereas the said late KingJames the Secondhaving abdicated the government and the throne being thereby vacant, his Highness the prince of Orange (whom it hath pleased Almighty God to make the glorious instrument of delivering this kingdom from popery and arbitrary power) did (by the advice of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and divers principal persons of the Commons) cause letters to be written to the Lords Spiritual and Temporal being Protestants, and other letters to the several counties, cities, universities, boroughs and cinque ports, for the choosing of such persons to represent them as were of right to be sent to Parliament, to meet and sit at Westminster upon the two and twentieth day of January in this year one thousand six hundred eighty and eight [old style date], in order to such an establishment as that their religion, laws and liberties might not again be in danger of being subverted, upon which letters elections having been accordingly made;

And thereupon the said Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons, pursuant to their respective letters and elections, being now assembled in a full and free representative of this nation, taking into their most serious consideration the best means for attaining the ends aforesaid, do in the first place (as their ancestors in like case have usually done) for the vindicating and asserting their ancient rights and liberties declare

That the pretended power of suspending the laws or the execution of laws by regal authority without consent of Parliament is illegal;

That the pretended power of dispensing with laws or the execution of laws by regal authority, as it hath been assumed and exercised of late, is illegal;

That the commission for erecting the late Court of Commissioners for Ecclesiastical Causes, and all other commissions and courts of like nature, are illegal and pernicious;

That levying money for or to the use of the Crown by pretence of prerogative, without grant of Parliament, for longer time, or in other manner than the same is or shall be granted, is illegal;

That it is the right of the subjects to petition the king, and all commitments and prosecutions for such petitioning are illegal;

That the raising or keeping a standing army within the kingdom in time of peace, unless it be with consent of Parliament, is against law;

That the subjects which are Protestants may have arms for their defence suitable to their conditions and as allowed by law;

That election of members of Parliament ought to be free;

That the freedom of speech and debates or proceedings in Parliament ought not to be impeached or questioned in any court or place out of Parliament;

That excessive bail ought not to be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted;

That jurors ought to be duly impanelled and returned, and jurors which pass upon men in trials for high treason ought to be freeholders;

That all grants and promises of fines and forfeitures of particular persons before conviction are illegal and void;

And that for redress of all grievances, and for the amending, strengthening and preserving of the laws, Parliaments ought to be held frequently.

And they do claim, demand and insist upon all and singular the premises as their undoubted rights and liberties, and that no declarations, judgments, doings or proceedings to the prejudice of the people in any of the said premises ought in any wise to be drawn hereafter into consequence or example; to which demand of their rights they are particularly encouraged by the declaration of his Highness the prince of Orange as being the only means for obtaining a full redress and remedy therein. Having therefore an entire confidence that his said Highness the prince of Orange will perfect the deliverance so far advanced by him, and will still preserve them from the violation of their rights which they have here asserted, and from all other attempts upon their religion, rights and liberties, the said Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons assembled at Westminster do resolve thatWilliamandMary, prince and princess of Orange, be and be declared king and queen of England, France and Ireland and the dominions thereunto belonging, to hold the crown and royal dignity of the said kingdoms and dominions to them, the said prince and princess, during their lives and the life of the survivor to them, and that the sole and full exercise of the regal power be only in and executed by the said prince of Orange in the names of the said prince and princess during their joint lives, and after their deceases the said crown and royal dignity of the same kingdoms and dominions to be to the heirs of the body of the said princess, and for default of such issue to the Princess Anne of Denmark and the heirs of her body, and for default of such issue to the heirs of the body of the said prince of Orange. And the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons do pray the said prince and princess to accept the same accordingly.

And that the oaths hereafter mentioned be taken by all persons of whom the oaths have allegiance and supremacy might be required by law, instead of them; and that the said oaths of allegiance and supremacy be abrogated.

I, A.B., do sincerely promise and swear that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to their Majesties KingWilliamand QueenMary. So help me God.

I, A.B., do swear that I do from my heart abhor, detest and abjure as impious and heretical this damnable doctrine and position, that princes excommunicated or deprived by the Pope or any authority of the see of Rome may be deposed or murdered by their subjects or any other whatsoever. And I do declare that no foreign prince, person, prelate, state or potentate hath or ought to have any jurisdiction, power, superiority, pre-eminence or authority, ecclesiastical or spiritual, within this realm. So help me God.

Upon which their said Majesties did accept the crown and royal dignity of the kingdoms of England, France and Ireland, and the dominions thereunto belonging, according to the resolution and desire of the said Lords and Commons contained in the said declaration. And thereupon their Majesties were pleased that the said Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons, being the two Houses of Parliament, should continue to sit, and with their Majesties' royal concurrence make effectual provision for the settlement of the religion, laws and liberties of this kingdom, so that the same for the future might not be in danger again of being subverted, to which the said Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons did agree, and proceed to act accordingly. Now in pursuance of the premises the said Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons in Parliament assembled, for the ratifying, confirming and establishing the said declaration and the articles, clauses, matters and things therein contained by the force of law made in due form by authority of Parliament, do pray that it may be declared and enacted that all and singular the rights and liberties asserted and claimed in the said declaration are the true, ancient and indubitable rights and liberties of the people of this kingdom, and so shall be esteemed, allowed, adjudged, deemed and taken to be; and that all and every the particulars aforesaid shall be firmly and strictly holden and observed as they are expressed in the said declaration, and all officers and ministers whatsoever shall serve their Majesties and their successors according to the same in all time to come. And the said Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons, seriously considering how it hath pleased Almighty God in his marvellous providence and merciful goodness to this nation to provide and preserve their said Majesties' royal persons most happily to reign over us upon the throne of their ancestors, for which they render unto him from the bottom of their hearts their humblest thanks and praises, do truly, firmly, assuredly and in the sincerity of their hearts think, and do hereby recognize, acknowledge and declare, that King James the Second having abdicated the government, and their Majesties having accepted the crown and royal dignity as aforesaid, their said Majesties did become, were, are and of right ought to be by the laws of this realm our sovereign liege lord and lady, king and queen of England, France and Ireland and the dominions thereunto belonging, in and to whose princely persons the royal state, crown and dignity of the said realms with all honours, styles, titles, regalities, prerogatives, powers, jurisdictions and authorities to the same belonging and appertaining are most fully, rightfully and entirely invested and incorporated, united and annexed. And for preventing all questions and divisions in this realm by reason of any pretended titles to the crown, and for preserving a certainty in the succession thereof, in and upon which the unity, peace, tranquility and safety of this nation doth under God wholly consist and depend, the said Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons do beseech their Majesties that it may be enacted, established and declared, that the crown and regal government of the said kingdoms and dominions, with all and singular the premises thereunto belonging and appertaining, shall be and continue to their said Majesties and the survivor of them during their lives and the life of the survivor of them, and that the entire, perfect and full exercise of the regal power and government be only in and executed by his Majesty in the names of both their Majesties during their joint lives; and after their deceases the said crown and premises shall be and remain to the heirs of the body of her Majesty, and for default of such issue to her Royal Highness the Princess Anne of Denmark and the heirs of the body of his said Majesty; and thereunto the said Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons do in the name of all the people aforesaid most humbly and faithfully submit themselves, their heirs and posterities for ever, and do faithfully promise that they will stand to, maintain and defend their said Majesties, and also the limitation and succession of the crown herein specified and contained, to the utmost of their powers with their lives and estates against all persons whatsoever that shall attempt anything to the contrary. And whereas it hath been found by experience that it is inconsistent with the safety and welfare of this Protestant kingdom to be governed by a popish prince, or by any king or queen marrying a papist, the said Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons do further pray that it may be enacted, that all and every person and persons that is, are or shall be reconciled to or shall hold communion with the see or Church of Rome, or shall profess the popish religion, or shall marry a papist, shall be excluded and be for ever incapable to inherit, possess or enjoy the crown and government of this realm and Ireland and the dominions thereunto belonging or any part of the same, or to have, use or exercise any regal power, authority or jurisdiction within the same; and in all and every such case or cases the people of these realms shall be and are hereby absolved of their allegiance; and the said crown and government shall from time to time descend to and be enjoyed by such person or persons being Protestants as should have inherited and enjoyed the same in case the said person or persons so reconciled, holding communion or professing or marrying as aforesaid were naturally dead; and that every king and queen of this realm who at any time hereafter shall come to and succeed in the imperial crown of this kingdom shall on the first day of the meeting of the first Parliament next after his or her coming to the crown, sitting in his or her throne in the House of Peers in the presence of the Lords and Commons therein assembled, or at his or her coronation before such person or persons who shall administer the coronation oath to him or her at the time of his or her taking the said oath (which shall first happen), make, subscribe and audibly repeat the declaration mentioned in the statute made in the thirtieth year of the reign of King Charles the Second entitled, _An Act for the more effectual preserving the king's person and government by disabling papists from sitting in either House of Parliament._ But if it shall happen that such king or queen upon his or her succession to the crown of this realm shall be under the age of twelve years, then every such king or queen shall make, subscribe and audibly repeat the same declaration at his or her coronation or the first day of the meeting of the first Parliament as aforesaid which shall first happen after such king or queen shall have attained the said age of twelve years. All which their Majesties are contented and pleased shall be declared, enacted and established by authority of this present Parliament, and shall stand, remain and be the law of this realm for ever; and the same are by their said Majesties, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons in Parliament assembled and by the authority of the same, declared, enacted and established accordingly.

II. And be it further declared and enacted by the authority aforesaid, that from and after this present session of Parliament no dispensation by _non obstante_ of or to any statute or any part thereof shall be allowed, but that the same shall be held void and of no effect, except a dispensation be allowed of in such statute, and except in such cases as shall be specially provided for by one or more bill or bills to be passed during this present session of Parliament.

III. Provided that no charter or grant or pardon granted before the three and twentieth day of October in the year of our Lord one thousand six hundred eighty-nine shall be any ways impeached or invalidated by this Act, but that the same shall be and remain of the same force and effect in law and no other than as if this Act had never been made.

Source

HTML from "The National Archives", America's Founding Documents [Online elsewhere].

Text

In Congress, July 4, 1776

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circ*mstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circ*mstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

Source

The Declaration of Independence for the United States of America, translated into in German and printed in Philadelphia in 1776 by Steiner and Cist.

Facsimile from Gettysburg College Musselman Library [Online elsewhere].

HTML version from Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media at George Mason University [Online elsewhere].

Text

Im Congreß, den 4ten July, 1776.
Eine Erklärung
durch die Repräsentanten der
Vereinigten Staaten von America,
im General-Congreß versammelt.

Wenn es im Lauf menschlicher Gegebenheiten für ein Volk nöthig wird die Politische Bande, wodurch es mit einem andern verknüpft gewesen, zu trennen, und unter den Mächten der Erden eine abgesonderte und gleiche Stelle einzunehmen, wozu selbiges die Gesetze der Natur und des Gottes der Natur berechtigen, so erfordern Anstand und Achtung für die Meinungen des menschlichen Geschlechtes, daß es die Ursachen anzeige, wodurch es zur Trennung getrieben wird.

Wir halten diese Wahrheiten für ausgemacht, daß alle Menschen gleich erschaffen worden, daß sie von ihrem Schöpfer mit gewissen unveräusserlichen Rechten begabt worden, worunter sind Leben, Freiheit und das Streben nach Glückseligkeit. Daß zur Versicherung dieser Rechte Regierungen unter den Menschen eingeführt worden sind, welche ihre gerechte Gewalt von der Einwilligung der Regierten herleiten; daß sobald einige Regierungsform diesen Endzwecken verderblich wird, es das Recht des Volkes ist sie zu verändern oder abzuschaffen, und eine neue Regierung einzusetzen, die auf solche Grundsätze gegründet, und deren Macht und Gewalt solchergestalt gebildet wird, als ihnen zur Erhaltung ihrer Sicherheit und Glückseligkeit am schicklichsten zu seyn dünket. Zwar gebietet Klugheit, daß von langer Zeit her eingeführte Regierungen nicht um leichter und vergänglicher Ursachen willen verändert werden sollen; und demnach hat die Erfahrung von jeher gezeigt, daß Menschen, so lang das Uebel noch zu ertragen ist, lieber leiden und dulden wollen, als sich durch Umstossung solcher Regierungsformen, zu denen sie gewöhnt sind, selbst Recht und Hülfe verschaffen. Wenn aber eine lange Reihe von Mißhandlungen und gewaltsamen Eingriffen auf einen und eben den Gegenstand unabläßig gerichtet, einen Anschlag an den Tag legt sie unter unumschränkte Herrschaft zu bringen , so ist es ihr Recht, ja ihre Pflicht, solche Regierunng abzuwerfen , und sich für ihre künftige Sicherheit neue Gewähren zu verschaffen. Dis war die Weise, wie die Kolonien ihre Leiden geduldig ertrugen; und so ist jetzt die Nothwendigkeit geschaffen, welche sie zwinget ihre vorigen Regierungssysteme zu verändern. Die Geschichte des jetzigen Königs von Großbrittannien ist eine Geschichte von wiederholten Ungerechtigkeiten und gewaltsamen Eingriffen, welche alle die Errichtung einer absoluten Tyranney über diese Staaten zum geraden Endzweck haben. Dis zu beweisen, wollen wir der unpartheyischen Welt folgende Facta vorlegen:

Er hat seine Einstimmung zu den heilsamsten und zum Oeffentlichen Wohl nöthigsten Gesetzen versagt.

Er hat seinen Guvernörs verboten, Gesetze von unverzüglicher und dringender Wichtigkeit heraus zu geben, es sey dann, daß sie so lange keine Kraft haben solten, bis seine Einstimmung erhalten würde; und wenn ihre Kraft und Gültigkeit so aufgeschoben war, hat er solche gänzlich aus der Acht gelassen.

Er hat sich geweigert andere Gesetze zu bekräftigen zur Bequemlichket von grossen Districten von Leuten, wofern diese Leute das Recht der Repräsentation in der Gesetzgebung nicht fahren lassen wolten, ein Recht, das ihnen unschätzbar, und nur Tyrannen fürchterlich ist.

Er hat Gesetzgebenden Körper an ungewöhnlichen, unbequemen und von der Niederlage ihrer öffentlichen Archiven entfernten Plätzen zusammen berufen, zu dem einzigen Zweck, um sie so lange zu plagen, bis sie sich zu seinen Maaßregeln gequemen würden.

Er hat die Häuser der Repräsentanten zu wiederholten malen aufgehoben, dafür, daß sie mit männlicher Standhaftigkeit seinen gewaltsamen Eingriffen auf die Rechten des Volks widerstanden haben.

Er hat, nach solchen Aufhebungen, sich eine lange Zeit widersetzt, daß andere erwählt werden solten; wodurch die Gesetzgebende Gewalt, die keiner Vernichtung fähig ist, zum Volk überhaupt wiederum zur Ausübung zurück gekehrt ist; mittlerweile daß der Staat allen äusserlichen Gefahren und innerlichen Zerrüttungen unterworfen blieb.

Er hat die Bevölkerung dieser Staaten zu verhindern gesucht; zu dem Zweck hat er die Gesetze zur Naturalisation der Ausländer gehindert; andere, zur Beförderung ihrer Auswanderung hieher, hat er sich geweigert heraus zu geben, und hat die Bedingungen für neue Anweisungen von Ländereyen erhöht.

Er ist der Verwaltung der Gerechtigkeit verhinderlich gewesen, indem er seine Einstimmung zu Gesetzen versagt hat, um Gerichtliche Gewalt einzusetzen.

Er hat Richter von seinem Willen allein abhängig gemacht, in Absicht auf die Besitzung ihrer Aemter, und den Belauf und die Zahlung ihrer Gehalte.

Er hat eine Menge neuer Aemter errichtet, und einen Schwarm von Beamten hieher geschickt, um unsere Leute zu plagen, und das Mark ihres Vermögens zu verzehren.

Er hat unter uns in Friedenszeiten Stehende Armeen gehalten, ohne die Einstimmung unserer Gesetzgebungen.

Er hat sich bemühet die Kriegsmacht von der Bürgerlichen Macht unabhängig zu machen, ja über selbige zu erhöhen.

Er hat sich mit andern zusammen gethan uns einer Gerichtsbarkeit, die unserer Landsverfassung ganz fremd ist, und die unsere Gesetze nicht erkennen, zu unterwerfen; indem er seine Einstimmung zu ihren Acten angemaßter Gesetzgebung ertheilt hat, näml.

Um grosse Haufen von bewaffneten Truppen bey uns einzulegen:

Um solche durch ein Schein-Verhör vor Bestrafung zu schützen für einige Mordthaten, die sie an den Einwohnern dieser Staaten begehen würden:

Um unsere Handlung mit allen Theilen der Welt abzuschneiden:

Um Taxen auf uns zu legen, ohne unsere Einwilligung.

Um uns in vielen Fällen der Wohltat eines Verhörs durch eine Jury zu berauben:

Um uns über See zu führen, für angegebene Verbrechen gerichtet zu werden:

Um das freye System Englischer Gesetze in einer benachbarten Provinz abzuschaffen, eine willkührliche Regierung darin einzusetzen, und deren Grenzen auszudehnen, um selbige zu gleicher Zeit zu einem Exempel sowol als auch zu einem geschickten Werkzeug zu machen, dieselbe absolute Regierung in diese Kolonien einzuführen:

Um unsere Freyheitsbriefe uns zu entziehen, unsere kostbarsten Gesetze abzuschaffen, und die Form unserer Regierungen von Grund aus zu verändern:

Um unsere eigenen Gesetzgebungen aufzuheben, und sich selbst zu erklären, als wenn sie mit voller Macht versehen wären, uns in allen Fällen Gesetze vorzuschreiben.

Er hat die Regierung allhier niedergelegt, undem er uns ausser seinen Schutz erklärt hat, und gegen uns Krieg führet.

Er hat unsere Seen geplündert, unsere Küsten verheert, unsere Städte verbrannt, und unser Volk ums Leben gebracht.

Er ist, zu dieser Zeit, beschäftigt mit Herübersendung grosser Armeen von fremden Mieth-Soldaten, um die Werke des Todes, der Zerstörung und Tyranney zu vollführen, die bereits mit solchen Umständen von Grausamkeit und Treulosigkeit angefangen worden, welche selbst in den barabrischen Zeiten ihres Gleichen nicht finden, und dem Haupt einer gesitteten Nation gänzlich unanständig sind.

Er hat unsere auf der hohen See gefangenen Mitbürger gezwungen die Waffen gegen ihr Land zu tragen, um die Henker ihrer Freunde und Brüder zu werden, oder von ihren Händen den Tod zu erhalten.

Er hat unter uns häuslichen Empörungen und Aufstände erregt, und gestrebt über unsere Grenz-Einwohner die unbarmherzigen wilden Indianer zu bringen, deren bekannter Gebrauch den Krieg zu führen ist, ohne Unterschied von Alter, Geschlecht und Stand, alles niederzumetzeln.

Auf jeder Stufe dieser Drangsale haben wir in den demüthigsten Ausdrücken um Hülfe und Erleichterung geflehet: Unsere wiederholten Bittschriften sind nur durch wiederholte Beleidigungen beantwortet worden. Ein Fürst, dessen Character so sehr jedes einen Tyrannen unterscheidendes Merkmal trägt, ist unfähig der Regierer eines freyen Volkes zu seyn.

Auch haben wir es nicht an unserer Achtsamkeit gegen unsere Brittische Brüder ermangeln lassen: Wir haben ihnen von Zeit zu Zeit Warnungen ertheilt von den Versuchen ihrer Gesetzgebung eine unverantwortliche Gerichtsbarkeit über uns auszudehnen. Wir haben ihnen die Umstände unserer Auswanderung und unserer Niederlassung allhier zu Gemüthe geführt. Wir haben uns zu ihrer angebornen Gerechtigkeit und Großmuth gewandt, und sie bey den Banden unserer gemeinschaftlichen Verwandtschaft beschworen, diese gewaltsamen Eingriffe zu mißbilligen, welche unsere Verknüpfung und unsern Verkehr mit einander unvermeidlich unterbrechen würden. Auch sie sind gegen die Stimme der Gerechtigkeit und Blutsfreundschaft taub gewesen. Wir müssen uns derohalben die Nothwendigkeit gefallen lassen, welche unsere Trennung ankündigt, und sie, wie der Rest des menschlichen Geschlechts, im Krieg für Feinde, im Frieden für Freunde, halten.

Indem wir, derohalben, die Repräsentanten der Vereinigten Staaten von America, im General-Congreß versammelt, uns wegen der Redlichkeit unserer Gesinnungen auf den allerhöchsten Richter der Welt berufen, so Verkündigen wir hiemit feyerlich, und Erklären, im Namen und aus Macht der guten Leute dieser Colonien, Daß diese Vereinigten Colonien Freye und Unabhängige Staaten sind, und von Rechtswegen seyn sollen; daß sie von aller Pflicht und Teuergebenheit gegen die Brittische Krone frey- und losgesprochen sind, und daß alle Politische Verbindung zwischen ihnen und dem Staat von Großbrittannien hiemit gänzlich aufgehoben ist, und aufgehoben seyn soll; und daß als Freye und Unabhängige Staaten sie wolle Macht und Gewalt haben, Krieg zu führen, Frieden zu machen, Allianzen zu schliessen, Handlung zu errichten, und alles und jedes andere zu thun, was Unabhängigen Staaten von Rechtswegen zukömmt. Und zur Behauptung und Unterstützung dieser Erklärung verpfänden wir, mit vestem Vertrauen auf den Schutz der Göttlichen Vorsehung, uns unter einander unser Leben, unser Vermögen und unser geheiligtes Ehrenwort.

Unterzeichnet auf Befehl und im Namen der Congresses,

John Hanco*ck, Präsident.

Bescheiniget,
Carl Thomson, Secretär.

Philadelphia: Gedruckt den Steiner und Gist, in der Zwenten-Strasse.

Source

The HTML is from The Avalon Law Project at the Yale Law School, Lillian Goldman Law Library. [Online elsewhere] https://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/virginia.asp.

Text

I That all men are by nature equally free and independent, and have certain inherent rights, of which, when they enter into a state of society, they cannot, by any compact, deprive or divest their posterity; namely, the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the means of acquiring and possessing property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety.

II That all power is vested in, and consequently derived from, the people; that magistrates are their trustees and servants, and at all times amenable to them.

III That government is, or ought to be, instituted for the common benefit, protection, and security of the people, nation or community; of all the various modes and forms of government that is best, which is capable of producing the greatest degree of happiness and safety and is most effectually secured against the danger of maladministration; and that, whenever any government shall be found inadequate or contrary to these purposes, a majority of the community hath an indubitable, unalienable, and indefeasible right to reform, alter or abolish it, in such manner as shall be judged most conducive to the public weal.

IV That no man, or set of men, are entitled to exclusive or separate emoluments or privileges from the community, but in consideration of public services; which, not being descendible, neither ought the offices of magistrate, legislator, or judge be hereditary.

V That the legislative and executive powers of the state should be separate and distinct from the judicative; and, that the members of the two first may be restrained from oppression by feeling and participating the burthens of the people, they should, at fixed periods, be reduced to a private station, return into that body from which they were originally taken, and the vacancies be supplied by frequent, certain, and regular elections in which all, or any part of the former members, to be again eligible, or ineligible, as the laws shall direct.

VI That elections of members to serve as representatives of the people in assembly ought to be free; and that all men, having sufficient evidence of permanent common interest with, and attachment to, the community have the right of suffrage and cannot be taxed or deprived of their property for public uses without their own consent or that of their representatives so elected, nor bound by any law to which they have not, in like manner, assented, for the public good.

VII That all power of suspending laws, or the execution of laws, by any authority without consent of the representatives of the people is injurious to their rights and ought not to be exercised.

VIII That in all capital or criminal prosecutions a man hath a right to demand the cause and nature of his accusation to be confronted with the accusers and witnesses, to call for evidence in his favor, and to a speedy trial by an impartial jury of his vicinage, without whose unanimous consent he cannot be found guilty, nor can he be compelled to give evidence against himself; that no man be deprived of his liberty except by the law of the land or the judgement of his peers.

IX That excessive bail ought not to be required, nor excessive fines imposed; nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.

X That general warrants, whereby any officer or messenger may be commanded to search suspected places without evidence of a fact committed, or to seize any person or persons not named, or whose offense is not particularly described and supported by evidence, are grievous and oppressive and ought not to be granted.

XI That in controversies respecting property and in suits between man and man, the ancient trial by jury is preferable to any other and ought to be held sacred.

XII That the freedom of the press is one of the greatest bulwarks of liberty and can never be restrained but by despotic governments.

XIII That a well regulated militia, composed of the body of the people, trained to arms, is the proper, natural, and safe defense of a free state; that standing armies, in time of peace, should be avoided as dangerous to liberty; and that, in all cases, the military should be under strict subordination to, and be governed by, the civil power.

XIV That the people have a right to uniform government; and therefore, that no government separate from, or independent of, the government of Virginia, ought to be erected or established within the limits thereof.

XV That no free government, or the blessings of liberty, can be preserved to any people but by a firm adherence to justice, moderation, temperance, frugality, and virtue and by frequent recurrence to fundamental principles.

XVI That religion, or the duty which we owe to our Creator and the manner of discharging it, can be directed by reason and conviction, not by force or violence; and therefore, all men are equally entitled to the free exercise of religion, according to the dictates of conscience; and that it is the mutual duty of all to practice Christian forbearance, love, and charity towards each other.

Adopted unanimously June 12, 1776 Virginia Convention of Delegates drafted by Mr. George Mason.

Source

"Part the First. A Declaration of the Rights of the Inhabitants of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts" in The Founders' Constitution. Edited by Philip B. Kurland and Ralph Lerner (The University of Chicago Press, 1986). Volume 1, Chapter 1, Document 6. [Online elsewhere].

Text

A CONSTITUTION OR FRAME OF GOVERNMENT, Agreed upon by the Delegates of the People of the STATE OF MASSACHUSETTS-BAY,--In Convention,--Begun and held at Cambridge, on the First of September, 1779, and continued by Adjournments to the Second of March, 1780.

Preamble.

The end of the institution, maintenance and administration of government, is to secure the existence of the body-politic; to protect it; and to furnish the individuals who compose it, with the power of enjoying, in safety and tranquillity, their natural rights, and the blessings of life: And whenever these great objects are not obtained, the people have a right to alter the government, and to take measures necessary for their safety, prosperity and happiness.

The body-politic is formed by a voluntary association of individuals: It is a social compact, by which the whole people covenants with each citizen, and each citizen with the whole people, that all shall be governed by certain laws for the common good. It is the duty of the people, therefore, in framing a Constitution of Government, to provide for an equitable mode of making laws, as well as for an impartial interpretation, and a faithful execution of them; that every man may, at all times, find his security in them.

We, therefore, the people of Massachusetts, acknowledging, with grateful hearts, the goodness of the Great Legislator of the Universe, in affording us, in the course of His providence, an opportunity, deliberately and peaceably, without fraud, violence or surprise, of entering into an original, explicit, and solemn compact with each other; and of forming a new Constitution of Civil Government, for ourselves and posterity; and devoutly imploring His direction in so interesting a design, DO agree upon, ordain and establish, the following Declaration of Rights, and Frame of Government, as the CONSTITUTION of the COMMONWEALTH of MASSACHUSETTS.

Part the First. A Declaration of the Rights of the Inhabitants of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Art. I.--All men are born free and equal, and have certain natural, essential, and unalienable rights; among which may be reckoned the right of enjoying and defending their lives and liberties; that of acquiring, possessing, and protecting property; in fine, that of seeking and obtaining their safety and happiness.

II.--It is the right as well as the duty of all men in society, publicly, and at stated seasons, to worship the SUPREME BEING, the great creator and preserver of the universe. And no subject shall be hurt, molested, or restrained, in his person, liberty, or estate, for worshipping GOD in the manner and season most agreeable to the dictates of his own conscience; or for his religious profession or sentiments; provided he doth not disturb the public peace, or obstruct others in their religious worship.

III.--As the happiness of a people, and the good order and preservation of civil government, essentially depend upon piety, religion and morality; and as these cannot be generally diffused through a community, but by the institution of the public worship of GOD, and of public instructions in piety, religion and morality: Therefore, to promote their happiness and to secure the good order and preservation of their government, the people of this Commonwealth have a right to invest their legislature with power to authorize and require, and the legislature shall, from time to time, authorize and require, the several towns, parishes, precincts, and other bodies-politic, or religious societies, to make suitable provision, at their own expense, for the institution of the public worship of GOD, and for the support and maintenance of public protestant teachers of piety, religion and morality, in all cases where such provision shall not be made voluntarily.

And the people of this Commonwealth have also a right to, and do, invest their legislature with authority to enjoin upon all the subjects an attendance upon the instructions of the public teachers aforesaid, at stated times and seasons, if there be any on whose instructions they can conscientiously and conveniently attend.

Provided notwithstanding, that the several towns, parishes, precincts, and other bodies-politic, or religious societies, shall, at all times, have the exclusive right of electing their public teachers, and of contracting with them for their support and maintenance.

And all monies paid by the subject to the support of public worship, and of the public teachers aforesaid, shall, if he require it, be uniformly applied to the support of the public teacher or teachers of his own religious sect or denomination, provided there be any on whose instructions he attends: otherwise it may be paid towards the support of the teacher or teachers of the parish or precinct in which the said monies are raised.

And every denomination of christians, demeaning themselves peaceably, and as good subjects of the Commonwealth, shall be equally under the protection of the law: And no subordination of any one sect or denomination to another shall ever be established by law.

IV.--The people of this Commonwealth have the sole and exclusive right of governing themselves as a free, sovereign, and independent state; and do, and forever hereafter shall, exercise and enjoy every power, jurisdiction, and right, which is not, or may not hereafter, be by them expressly delegated to the United States of America, in Congress assembled.

V.--All power residing originally in the people, and being derived from them, the several magistrates and officers of government, vested with authority, whether legislative, executive, or judicial, are their substitutes and agents, and are at all times accountable to them.

VI.--No man, nor corporation, or association of men, have any other title to obtain advantages, or particular and exclusive privileges, distinct from those of the community, than what arises from the consideration of services rendered to the public; and this title being in nature neither hereditary, nor transmissible to children, or descendants, or relations by blood, the idea of a man born a magistrate, lawgiver, or judge, is absurd and unnatural.

VII.--Government is instituted for the common good; for the protection, safety, prosperity and happiness of the people; and not for the profit, honor, or private interest of any one man, family, or class of men; Therefore the people alone have an incontestible, unalienable, and indefeasible right to institute government; and to reform, alter, or totally change the same, when their protection, safety, prosperity and happiness require it.

VIII.--In order to prevent those, who are vested with authority, from becoming oppressors, the people have a right, at such periods and in such manner as they shall establish by their frame of government, to cause their public officers to return to private life; and to fill up vacant places by certain and regular elections and appointments.

IX.--All elections ought to be free; and all the inhabitants of this Commonwealth, having such qualifications as they shall establish by their frame of government, have an equal right to elect officers, and to be elected, for public employments.

X.--Each individual of the society has a right to be protected by it in the enjoyment of his life, liberty and property, according to standing laws. He is obliged, consequently, to contribute his share to the expense of this protection; to give his personal service, or an equivalent, when necessary: But no part of the property of any individual, can, with justice, be taken from him, or applied to public uses without his own consent, or that of the representative body of the people: In fine, the people of this Commonwealth are not controlable by any other laws, than those to which their constitutional representative body have given their consent. And whenever the public exigencies require, that the property of any individual should be appropriated to public uses, he shall receive a reasonable compensation therefor.

XI.--Every subject of the Commonwealth ought to find a certain remedy, by having recourse to the laws, for all injuries or wrongs which he may receive in his person, property, or character. He ought to obtain right and justice freely, and without being obliged to purchase it; completely, and without any denial; promptly, and without delay; conformably to the laws.

XII.--No subject shall be held to answer for any crime or offence, until the same is fully and plainly, substantially and formally, described to him; or be compelled to accuse, or furnish evidence against himself. And every subject shall have a right to produce all proofs, that may be favorable to him; to meet the witnesses against him face to face, and to be fully heard in his defence by himself, or his council, at his election. And no subject shall be arrested, imprisoned, despoiled, or deprived of his property, immunities, or privileges, put out of the protection of the law, exiled, or deprived of his life, liberty, or estate; but by the judgment of his peers, or the law of the land.

And the legislature shall not make any law, that shall subject any person to a capital or infamous punishment, excepting for the government of the army and navy, without trial by jury.

XIII.--In criminal prosecutions, the verification of facts in the vicinity where they happen, is one of the greatest securities of the life, liberty, and property of the citizen.

XIV.--Every subject has a right to be secure from all unreasonable searches, and seizures of his person, his houses, his papers, and all his possessions. All warrants, therefore, are contrary to this right, if the cause or foundation of them be not previously supported by oath or affirmation; and if the order in the warrant to a civil officer, to make search in suspected places, or to arrest one or more suspected persons, or to seize their property, be not accompanied with a special designation of the persons or objects of search, arrest, or seizure: and no warrant ought to be issued but in cases, and with the formalities, prescribed by the laws.

XV.--In all controversies concerning property, and in all suits between two or more persons, except in cases in which it has heretofore been otherways used and practised, the parties have a right to a trial by jury; and this method of procedure shall be held sacred, unless, in causes arising on the high-seas, and such as relate to mariners wages, the legislature shall hereafter find it necessary to alter it.

XVI.--The liberty of the press is essential to the security of freedom in a state: it ought not, therefore, to be restrained in this Commonwealth.

XVII.--The people have a right to keep and to bear arms for the common defence. And as in time of peace armies are dangerous to liberty, they ought not to be maintained without the consent of the legislature; and the military power shall always be held in an exact subordination to the civil authority, and be governed by it.

XVIII.--A frequent recurrence to the fundamental principles of the constitution, and a constant adherence to those of piety, justice, moderation, temperance, industry, and frugality, are absolutely necessary to preserve the advantages of liberty, and to maintain a free government: The people ought, consequently, to have a particular attention to all those principles, in the choice of their officers and representatives: And they have a right to require of their law-givers and magistrates, an exact and constant observance of them, in the formation and execution of the laws necessary for the good administration of the Commonwealth.

XIX.--The people have a right, in an orderly and peaceable manner, to assemble to consult upon the common good; give instructions to their representatives; and to request of the legislative body, by the way of addresses, petitions, or remonstrances, redress of the wrongs done them, and of the grievances they suffer.

XX.--The power of suspending the laws, or the execution of the laws, ought never to be exercised but by the legislature, or by authority derived from it, to be exercised in such particular cases only as the legislature shall expressly provide for.

XXI.--The freedom of deliberation, speech and debate, in either house of the legislature, is so essential to the rights of the people, that it cannot be the foundation of any accusation or prosecution, action or complaint, in any other court or place whatsoever.

XXII.--The legislature ought frequently to assemble for the redress of grievances, for correcting, strengthening, and confirming the laws, and for making new laws, as the common good may require.

XXIII.--No subsidy, charge, tax, impost, or duties, ought to be established, fixed, laid, or levied, under any pretext whatsoever, without the consent of the people, or their representatives in the legislature.

XXIV.--Laws made to punish for actions done before the existence of such laws, and which have not been declared crimes by preceding laws, are unjust, oppressive, and inconsistent with the fundamental principles of a free government.

XXV.--No subject ought, in any case, or in any time, to be declared guilty of treason or felony by the legislature.

XXVI.--No magistrate or court of law shall demand excessive bail or sureties, impose excessive fines, or inflict cruel or unusual punishments.

XXVII.--In time of peace no soldier ought to be quartered in any house without the consent of the owner; and in time of war such quarters ought not to be made but by the civil magistrate, in a manner ordained by the legislature.

XXVIII.--No person can in any case be subjected to law-martial, or to any penalties or pains, by virtue of that law, except those employed in the army or navy, and except the militia in actual service, but by authority of the legislature.

XXIX.--It is essential to the preservation of the rights of every individual, his life, liberty, property and character, that there be an impartial interpretation of the laws, and administration of justice. It is the right of every citizen to be tried by judges as free, impartial and independent as the lot of humanity will admit. It is therefore not only the best policy, but for the security of the rights of the people, and of every citizen, that the judges of the supreme judicial court should hold their offices as long as they behave themselves well; and that they should have honorable salaries ascertained and established by standing laws.

XXX.--In the government of this Commonwealth, the legislative department shall never exercise the executive and judicial powers, or either of them: The executive shall never exercise the legislative and judicial powers, or either of them: The judicial shall never exercise the legislative and executive powers, or either of them: to the end it may be a government of laws and not of men.

Source

HTML from The President's House in Philadelphia. [Online elsewhere].

Text

An Act for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery. (1780)

SECTION 1. WHEN we contemplate our abhorrence of that condition to which the arms and tyranny of Great Britain were exerted to reduce us; when we look back on the variety of dangers to which we have been exposed, and how miraculously our wants in many instances have been supplied, and our deliverances wrought, when even hope and human fortitude have become unequal to the conflict; we are unavoidably led to a serious and grateful sense of the manifold blessings which we have undeservedly received from the hand of that Being from whom every good and perfect gift cometh. Impressed with these ideas, we conceive that it is our duty, and we rejoice that it is in our power to extend a portion of that freedom to others, which hath been extended to us; and a release from that state of thraldom to which we ourselves were tyrannically doomed, and from which we have now every prospect of being delivered. It is not for us to enquire why, in the creation of mankind, the inhabitants of the several parts of the earth were distinguished by a difference in feature or complexion. It is sufficient to know that all are the work of an Almighty Hand. We find in the distribution of the human species, that the most fertile as well as the most barren parts of the earth are inhabited by men of complexions different from ours, and from each other; from whence we may reasonably, as well as religiously, infer, that He who placed them in their various situations, hath extended equally his care and protection to all, and that it becometh not us to counteract his mercies. We esteem it a peculiar blessing granted to us, that we are enabled this day to add one more step to universal civilization, by removing as much as possible the sorrows of those w ho have lived in undeserved bondage, and from which, by the assumed authority of the kings of Great Britain, no effectual, legal relief could be obtained. Weaned by a long course of experience from those narrower prejudices and partialities we had imbibed, we find our hearts enlarged with kindness and benevolence towards men of all conditions and nations; and we conceive ourselves at this particular period extraordinarily called upon, by the blessings which we have received, to manifest the sincerity of our profession, and to give a Substantial proof of our gratitude.

SECT. 2. And whereas the condition of those persons who have heretofore been denominated Negro and Mulatto slaves, has been attended with circ*mstances which not only deprived them of the common blessings that they were by nature entitled to, but has cast them into the deepest afflictions, by an unnatural separation and sale of husband and wife from each other and from their children; an injury, the greatness of which can only be conceived by supposing that we were in the same unhappy case. In justice therefore to persons So unhappily circ*mstanced, and who, having no prospect before them whereon they may rest their sorrows and their hopes, have no reasonable inducement to render their service to society, which they otherwise might; and also in grateful commemoration of our own happy deliverance from that state of unconditional submission to which we were doomed by the tyranny of Britain.

SECT. 3. Be it enacted, and it is hereby enacted, by the representatives of the freeman of the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, in general assembly met, and by the authority of the same, That all persons, as well Negroes and Mulattoes as others, who shall be born within this state from and after the passing of this act, shall not be deemed and considered as servants for life, or slaves; and that all servitude for life, or slavery of children, in consequence of the slavery of their mothers, in the case of all children born within this state, from and after the passing of this act as aforesaid, shall be, and hereby is utterly taken away, extinguished and for ever abolished.

SECT. 4. Provided always, and be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That every Negro and Mulatto child born within this state after the passing of this act as aforesaid (who would, in case this act had not been made, have been born a servant for years, or life, or a slave) shall be deemed to be and shall be by virtue of this act the servant of such person or his or her assigns, who would in such case have been entitled to the service of such child, until such child shall attain unto the age of twenty eight years, in the manner and on the conditions whereon servants bound by indenture for four years are or may be retained and holder; and shall be liable to like correction and punishment, and entitled to like relief in case he or she be evilly treated by his or her master or mistress, and to like freedom dues and other privileges as servants bound by indenture for four years are or may be entitled, unless the person to whom the service of any such child shall belong shall abandon his or her claim to the same; in which case the overseers of the poor of the city, township or district respectively, where such child shall be So abandoned, shall by indenture bind out every child so abandoned, as an apprentice for a time not exceeding the age herein before limited for the service of such children.

SECT. 5. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That every person, who is or shall be the owner of any Negro or Mulatto slave or servant for life or till the age of thirty one years, now within this state, or his lawful attorney, shall on or before the said first day of November next deliver or calm to be delivered in writing to the clerk of the peace of the county, or to the clerk of the court of record of the city of Philadelphia, in which he or she shall respectively inhabit, the name and surname and occupation or profession of such owner, and the name of the county and township, district or ward wherein he or she resideth; and also the name and names of any such slave and slaves, and servant and servants for life or till the age of thirty one years, together with their ages and sexes severally and respectively set forth and annexed, by such person owned or statedly employed and then being within this state, in order to ascertain and distinguish the slaves and servants for life, and till the age of thirty one years, within this state, who shall be such on the said first day of November next, from all other persons; which particulars shall by said clerk of the sessions asked clerk of the said city court be entered in books to be provided for that purpose by the said clerks; and that no Negro or Mulatto, now within this state, shall from and after the said first day of November, be deemed a slave or servant for life, or till the age of thirty one years, unless his or her name shall be entered as aforesaid on such record, except such Negro and Mulatto slaves and servants as are herein after excepted; the said clerk to be entitled to a fee of two dollars for each slave or servant so entered as aforesaid from the treasurer of the county, to be allowed to him in his accounts.

SECT. 6. Provided always, That any person, in whom the ownership or right to the service of any Negro or Mulatto shall be vested at the passing of this act, other than such as are herein before excepted, his or her heirs, executors, administrators and assigns, and all and every of them severally shall be liable to the overseers of the poor of the city, township or district to which any such Negro or Mulatto shall become chargeable, for such necessary expence, with costs of suit thereon, as such overseers may be put to, through the neglect of the owner, master or mistress of such Negro or Mulatto; notwithstanding the name and other descriptions of such Negro or Mulatto shall not be entered and recorded as aforesaid; unless his or her master or owner shall before such slave or servant attain his or her twenty eighth year execute and record in the proper county a deed or instrument, securing to such slave or servant his or her freedom.

SECT. 7. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the offences and crimes of Negroes and Mulattoes, as well slaves and servants as freemen, shall be enquired of, adjudged, corrected and punished in like manner as the offences and crimes of the other inhabitants of this state are and shall be enquired of, adjudged, corrected and punished, and not otherwise; except that a slave shall not be admitted to bear witness against a freeman.

SECT. 8. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That in all cases wherein sentence of death shall be pronounced against a slave, the jury before whom he or she shall be tried, shall appraise and declare the value of such slave; and in case such sentence be executed, the court shall make an order on the state treasurer, payable to the owner for the same and for the costs of prosecution; but case of remission or mitigation, for the costs only.

SECT. 9. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the reward for taking up runaway and absconding Negro and Mulatto slaves and servants, and the penalties for enticing away, dealing with, or harbouring, concealing or employing Negro and Mulatto slaves and servants, shall be the same, and shall be recovered in like manner as in case of servants bound for four years.

SECT. 10. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That no man or woman of any nation or colour, except the Negroes or Mulattoes who shall be registered as aforesaid, shall at any time hereafter be deemed, adjudged, or holden within the territories of this commonwealth as slaves or servants for life, but as free men and free women; except the domestic slaves attending upon delegates in congress from the other American states, foreign ministers and consuls, and persons passing through or sojourning in this state, and not becoming resident therein; and seamen employed in ships not belonging to any inhabitant of this state, nor employed in any ship owned by any such inhabitant. Provided such domestic slaves be not aliened or sold to any inhabitants nor (except in the case of members of congress, foreign ministers and consuls) retained in this state longer than six months.

SECT. 11. Provided always; And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That this act or any thing in it contained shall not give any relief or shelter to any absconding or runaway Negro or Mulatto slave or servant, who has absented himself or shall absent himself from his or her owner, master or mistress residing in any other state or country, but such owner, master or mistress shall have like right and aid to demand, claim and take away his slave or servant, as he might have had in case this act had not been made: And that all Negro and Mulatto slaves now owned and heretofore resident in this state, who have absented themselves, or been clandestinely carried away, or who may be employed abroad as seamen and have not returned or been brought back to their owners, masters or mistresses, before the passing of this act, may within five years be registered as effectually as is ordered by this act concerning those who are now within the state, on producing such slave before any two justices of the peace, and satisfying the said justices by due proof of the former residence, absconding, taking away, or absence of such slaves as aforesaid; who thereupon shall direct and order the said slave to be entered on the record as aforesaid.

SECT. 12. And whereas attempts maybe made to evade this act, by introducing into this state Negroes and Mulattoes bound by covenant to serve for long and unreasonable terms of years, if the same be not prevented:

SECT. 13. Be it therefore enacted by the authority aforesaid, That no covenant of personal servitude or apprenticeship whatsoever shall be valid or binding on a Negro or Mulatto for a longer time than seven years, unless such servant or apprentice were at the commencement of such servitude or apprenticeship under the age of twenty one years; in which case such Negro or Mulatto may be holden as a servant or apprentice respectively, according to the covenant, as the case shall be, until he or she shall attain the age of twenty eight years, but no longer.

SECT. 14. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That an act of assembly of die province of Pennsylvania, passed in the year one thousand Seven hundred and five, intitled, "an Act for the trial of Negroes;" and another act of assembly of the said province, passed in the year one thousand seven hundred and twenty five, intitled, "An Act for the better regulating of Negroes in this province; " and another act of assembly of the said province, passed in the year one thousand seven hundred and sixty one, intitled, .. An Act for laying a duty on Negro and Mulatto slaves imported into this province; " and also another act of assembly of the said province, passed in the year one thousand seven hundred and seventy three, intitled, "An Act making perpetual an Act laying a duty on Negro and Mulatto slaves imported into this province, and for laying an additional duty said slaves," shall be and are hereby repealed, annulled and made void.

JOHN BAYARD, SPEAKER

Enabled into a law at Philadelphia,
on Wednesday, the first day of March, A.D. 1780

Thomas Paine, clerk of the general assembly.

Source

"Digithèque de matériaux juridiques et politiques" at the Université de Perpignan Via Domitia [Online elsewhere].

Text

Les représentants du Peuple français, constitués en Assemblée nationale, considérant que l'ignorance, l'oubli ou le mépris des droits de l'homme sont les seules causes des malheurs publics et de la corruption des gouvernements, ont résolu d'exposer, dans une déclaration solennelle, les droits naturels, inaliénables et sacrés de l'homme, afin que cette déclaration, constamment présente à tous les membres du corps social, leur rappelle sans cesse leurs droits et leurs devoirs ; afin que les actes du pouvoir législatif et ceux du pouvoir exécutif, pouvant être à chaque instant comparés avec le but de toute institution politique, en soient plus respectés ; afin que les réclamations des citoyens, fondées désormais sur des principes simples et incontestables, tournent toujours au maintien de la constitution et au bonheur de tous.

En conséquence, l'Assemblée nationale reconnaît et déclare, en présence et sous les auspices de l'Être suprême, les droits suivants de l'homme et du citoyen.

Article premier.

Les hommes naissent et demeurent libres et égaux en droits. Les distinctions sociales ne peuvent être fondées que sur l'utilité commune.

Article II.

Le but de toute association politique est la conservation des droits naturels et imprescriptibles de l'homme. Ces droits sont la liberté, la propriété, la sûreté et la résistance à l'oppression.

Article III.

Le principe de toute souveraineté réside essentiellement dans la nation ; nul corps, nul individu ne peut exercer d'autorité qui n'en émane expressément.

Article IV.

La liberté consiste à pouvoir faire tout ce qui ne nuit pas à autrui : ainsi, l'exercice des droits naturels de chaque homme n'a de bornes que celles qui assurent aux autres membres de la société, la jouissance de ces mêmes droits. Ces bornes ne peuvent être déterminées que par la loi.

Article V.

La loi n'a le droit de défendre que les actions nuisibles à la société. Tout ce qui n'est pas défendu par la loi ne peut être empêché, et nul ne peut être contraint à faire ce qu'elle n'ordonne pas.

Article VI.

La loi est l'expression de la volonté générale. Tous les citoyens ont droit de concourir personnellement, ou par leurs représentants, à sa formation. Elle doit être la même pour tous, soit qu'elle protège, soit qu'elle punisse. Tous les citoyens étant égaux à ses yeux, sont également admissibles à toutes dignités, places et emplois publics, selon leur capacité, et sans autre distinction que celle de leurs vertus et de leurs talents.

Article VII.

Nul homme ne peut être accusé, arrêté, ni détenu que dans les cas déterminés par la loi, et selon les formes qu'elle a prescrites. Ceux qui sollicitent, expédient, exécutent ou font exécuter des ordres arbitraires, doivent être punis ; mais tout citoyen appelé ou saisi en vertu de la loi, doit obéir à l'instant : il se rend coupable par la résistance.

Article VIII.

La loi ne doit établir que des peines strictement et évidemment nécessaires, et nul ne peut être puni qu'en vertu d'une loi établie et promulguée antérieurement au délit, et légalement appliquée.

Article IX.

Tout homme étant présumé innocent jusqu'à ce qu'il ait été déclaré coupable, s'il est jugé indispensable de l'arrêter, toute rigueur qui ne serait pas nécessaire pour s'assurer de sa personne, doit être sévèrement réprimée par la loi.

Article X.

Nul ne doit être inquiété pour ses opinions, même religieuses, pourvu que leur manifestation ne trouble pas l'ordre public établi par la loi.

Article XI.

La libre communication des pensées et des opinions est un des droits les plus précieux de l'homme ; tout citoyen peut donc parler, écrire, imprimer librement, sauf à répondre de l'abus de cette liberté dans les cas déterminés par la loi.

Article XII.

La garantie des droits de l'homme et du citoyen nécessite une force publique ; cette force est donc instituée pour l'avantage de tous, et non pour l'utilité particulière de ceux auxquels elle est confiée.

Article XIII.

Pour l'entretien de la force publique, et pour les dépenses d'administration, une contribution commune est indispensable ; elle doit être également répartie entre tous les citoyens, en raison de leurs facultés.

Article XIV.

Tous les citoyens ont le droit de constater par eux-mêmes, ou par leurs représentants, la nécessité de la contribution publique, de la consentir librement, d'en suivre l'emploi, et d'en déterminer la quotité, l'assiette, le recouvrement et la durée.

Article XV.

La société a le droit de demander compte à tout agent public de son administration.

Article XVI.

Toute société dans laquelle la garantie des droits n'est pas assurée, ni la séparation des pouvoirs déterminée, n'a point de constitution.

Article XVII.

La propriété étant un droit inviolable et sacré, nul ne peut en être privé, si ce n'est lorsque la nécessité publique, légalement constatée, l'exige évidemment, et sous la condition d'une juste et préalable indemnité.

Source

HTML from "The Avalon Law Project" at the Yale Law School, Lillian Goldman Law Library [Online elsewhere].

Text

Approved by the National Assembly of France, August 26, 1789.

The representatives of the French people, organized as a National Assembly, believing that the ignorance, neglect, or contempt of the rights of man are the sole cause of public calamities and of the corruption of governments, have determined to set forth in a solemn declaration the natural, unalienable, and sacred rights of man, in order that this declaration, being constantly before all the members of the Social body, shall remind them continually of their rights and duties; in order that the acts of the legislative power, as well as those of the executive power, may be compared at any moment with the objects and purposes of all political institutions and may thus be more respected, and, lastly, in order that the grievances of the citizens, based hereafter upon simple and incontestable principles, shall tend to the maintenance of the constitution and redound to the happiness of all. Therefore the National Assembly recognizes and proclaims, in the presence and under the auspices of the Supreme Being, the following rights of man and of the citizen:

Articles:

1. Men are born and remain free and equal in rights. Social distinctions may be founded only upon the general good.

2. The aim of all political association is the preservation of the natural and imprescriptible rights of man. These rights are liberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression.

3. The principle of all sovereignty resides essentially in the nation. No body nor individual may exercise any authority which does not proceed directly from the nation.

4. Liberty consists in the freedom to do everything which injures no one else; hence the exercise of the natural rights of each man has no limits except those which assure to the other members of the society the enjoyment of the same rights. These limits can only be determined by law.

5. Law can only prohibit such actions as are hurtful to society. Nothing may be prevented which is not forbidden by law, and no one may be forced to do anything not provided for by law.

6. Law is the expression of the general will. Every citizen has a right to participate personally, or through his representative, in its foundation. It must be the same for all, whether it protects or punishes. All citizens, being equal in the eyes of the law, are equally eligible to all dignities and to all public positions and occupations, according to their abilities, and without distinction except that of their virtues and talents.

7. No person shall be accused, arrested, or imprisoned except in the cases and according to the forms prescribed by law. Any one soliciting, transmitting, executing, or causing to be executed, any arbitrary order, shall be punished. But any citizen summoned or arrested in virtue of the law shall submit without delay, as resistance constitutes an offense.

8. The law shall provide for such punishments only as are strictly and obviously necessary, and no one shall suffer punishment except it be legally inflicted in virtue of a law passed and promulgated before the commission of the offense.

9. As all persons are held innocent until they shall have been declared guilty, if arrest shall be deemed indispensable, all harshness not essential to the securing of the prisoner's person shall be severely repressed by law.

10. No one shall be disquieted on account of his opinions, including his religious views, provided their manifestation does not disturb the public order established by law.

11. The free communication of ideas and opinions is one of the most precious of the rights of man. Every citizen may, accordingly, speak, write, and print with freedom, but shall be responsible for such abuses of this freedom as shall be defined by law.

12. The security of the rights of man and of the citizen requires public military forces. These forces are, therefore, established for the good of all and not for the personal advantage of those to whom they shall be intrusted.

13. A common contribution is essential for the maintenance of the public forces and for the cost of administration. This should be equitably distributed among all the citizens in proportion to their means.

14. All the citizens have a right to decide, either personally or by their representatives, as to the necessity of the public contribution; to grant this freely; to know to what uses it is put; and to fix the proportion, the mode of assessment and of collection and the duration of the taxes.

15. Society has the right to require of every public agent an account of his administration.

16. A society in which the observance of the law is not assured, nor the separation of powers defined, has no constitution at all.

17. Since property is an inviolable and sacred right, no one shall be deprived thereof except where public necessity, legally determined, shall clearly demand it, and then only on condition that the owner shall have been previously and equitably indemnified.

Source

HTML from the "Digithèque de matériaux juridiques et politiques" at the Université de Perpignan Via Domitia [Online elsewhere].

Text

Décret portant abolition du régime féodal, des justices seigneuriales, des dîmes, de la vénalité des offices, des privilèges, des annates, de la pluralité des bénéfices, etc.

Article 1.

L'Assemblée nationale détruit entièrement le régime féodal. Elle décrète que, dans les droits et devoirs, tant féodaux que censuels, ceux qui tiennent à la mainmorte réelle ou personnelle, et à la servitude personnelle, et ceux qui les représentent, sont abolis sans indemnité, et tous les autres sont déclarés rachetables, et que le prix et le mode du rachat seront fixés par l'Assemblée nationale. Ceux desdits droits qui ne sont point supprimés par ce décret, continueront néanmoins à être perçus jusqu'au remboursem*nt.

Article 2.

Le droit exclusif des fuies et colombiers est aboli. Les pigeons seront enfermés aux époques fixées par les communautés ; et durant ce temps, ils seront regardés comme gibiers, et chacun aura le droit de les tuer sur son terrain.

Article 3.

Le droit exclusif de la chasse et des garennes ouvertes est pareillement aboli, et tout propriétaire a le droit de détruire et faire détruire, seulement sur ses possessions, toute espèce de gibier, sauf à se conformer aux lois de police qui pourront être faites relativement à la sûreté publique.

Toutes capitaineries, même royales, et toutes réserves de chasse, sous quelque dénomination que ce soit, sont pareillement abolies ; et il sera pourvu, par des moyens compatibles avec le respect dû aux propriétés et à la liberté, à la conservation des plaisirs personnels du roi.

M. le Président sera chargé de demander au Roi le rappel des galériens et des bannis pour simple fait de chasse, l'élargissem*nt des prisonniers actuellement détenus, et l'abolition des procédures existant à cet égard.

Article 4.

Toutes les justices seigneuriales sont supprimées sans aucune indemnité ; et néanmoins, les officiers de ces justices continueront leurs fonctions jusqu'à ce qu'il ait été pourvu par l'assemblée nationale à l'établissem*nt d'un nouvel ordre judiciaire.

Article 5.

Les dîmes de toute nature, et les redevances qui en tiennent lieu, sous quelque dénomination qu'elles soient connues et perçues, même par abonnement, possédées par les corps séculiers et réguliers, par les bénéficiers, les fabriques, et tous gens de mainmorte, même par l'ordre de Malte, et autres ordres religieux et militaires, même celles qui auraient été abandonnées à des laïcs, en remplacement et pour option de portion congrue, sont abolies, sauf à aviser aux moyens de subvenir d'une autre manière à la dépense du culte divin, à l'entretien des ministères des autels, au soulagement des pauvres, aux réparations et reconstructions des églises et presbytères, et à tous les établissem*nts, séminaires, écoles, collèges, hôpitaux, communautés et autres, à l'entretien desquels elles sont actuellement affectées. Et cependant jusqu'à ce qu'il y ait été pourvu, et que les anciens possesseurs soient entrés en jouissance de leur remplacement, l'Assemblée nationale ordonne que lesdites dîmes continueront d'être perçues suivant les lois et en la manière accoutumée. Quant aux autres dîmes, de quelque nature qu'elles soient, elles seront rachetables de la manière qui sera réglée par l'Assemblée ; et jusqu'au règlement à faire à ce sujet, l'Assemblée nationale ordonne que la perception en sera aussi continuée.

Article 6.

Toutes les rentes foncières perpétuelles, soit en nature, soit en argent, de quelque espèce qu'elles soient, quelle que soit leur origine, à quelques personnes qu'elles soient dues, gens de mainmorte, domaines apanagistes, ordre de Malte, seront rachetables ; les champarts de toute espèce, et sous toutes dénominations, le seront pareillement, au taux qui sera fixé par l'Assemblée. Défenses sont faites de plus à l'avenir créer aucune redevance non remboursable.

Article 7.

La vénalité des offices de judicature et de municipalité est supprimée dès cet instant. La justice sera rendue gratuitement. Et néanmoins, les officiers pourvus de ces offices, continueront d'exercer leurs fonctions, et d'en percevoir les émoluments, jusqu'à ce qu'il ait été pourvu par l'assemblée aux moyens de leur procurer leur remboursem*nt.

Article 8.

Les droits casuels des curés de campagne sont supprimés, et cesseront d'être payés aussitôt qu'il aura été pourvu à l'augmentation des portions congrues et à la pension des vicaires ; et il sera fait un règlement pour fixer le sort des curés des villes.

Article 9.

Les privilèges pécuniaires personnels ou réels, en matière de subsides, sont abolis à jamais. La perception se fera sur tous les citoyens et sur tous les biens, de la même manière et dans la même forme ; et il va être avisé aux moyens d'effectuer le paiement proportionnel de toutes les contributions, même pour les six derniers mois de l'année d'impositions courantes.

Article 10.

Une constitution nationale et la liberté publique étant plus avantageuse aux provinces que les privilèges dont quelques-unes jouissaient, et dont le sacrifice est nécessaire à l'union intime de toutes les parties de l'empire, il est déclaré que tous les privilèges particuliers des provinces, principautés, pays, cantons, villes et communautés d'habitants, soit pécuniaires, soit de tout autre nature, sont abolis sans retour, et demeureront confondus dans le droit commun de tous les Français.

Article 11.

Tous les citoyens, sans distinction de naissance, pourront être admis à tous les emplois et dignités ecclésiastiques, civils et militaires, et nulle profession utile n'emportera dérogeance.

Article 12.

A l'avenir il ne sera envoyé en cour de Rome, en la vice-légation d'Avignon, en la nonciature de Lucerne, aucuns deniers pour annates ou pour quelque autre cause que ce soit ; mais les diocésains s'adresseront à leurs évêques pour toutes les provisions de bénéfices et dispenses, lesquelles seront accordées gratuitement, nonobstant toutes réserves, expectatives et partages de mois ; toutes les églises de France devant jouir de la même liberté.

Article 13.

Les déports, droits de côte-morte, dépouilles, vacat, droits censaux, deniers de Saint-Pierre, et autres du même genre établis en faveur des évêques, archidiacres, archiprêtres, chapitres, curés primitifs, et tous autres, sous quelque nom que ce soit, sont abolis, sauf à pourvoir, ainsi qu'il appartiendra, à la dotation des archidiaconés et des archiprêtres qui ne seraient pas suffisamment dotés.

Article 14.

La pluralité des bénéfices n'aura plus lieu à l'avenir, lorsque les revenus du bénéfice ou des bénéfices dont on sera titulaire excéderont la somme de trois mille livres. Il ne sera pas permis non plus de posséder plusieurs pensions sur bénéfices, ou une pension et un bénéfice, si le produit des objets de ce genre que l'on possède déjà, excède la même somme de trois mille livres.

Article 15.

Sur le compte qui sera rendu à l'assemblée nationale de l'état des pensions, grâces et traitements, elle s'occupera, de concert avec le roi, de la suppression de ceux qui n'auraient pas été mérités, et de la réduction de ceux qui seraient excessifs, sauf à déterminer pour l'avenir une somme dont le roi pourra disposer pour cet objet.

Article 16.

L'assemblée nationale décrète qu'en mémoire des grandes et importantes délibérations qui viennent d'être prises pour le bonheur de la France, une médaille sera frappée, et qu'il sera chanté, en action de grâces, un Te Deum dans toutes les paroisses et églises du royaume.

Article 17.

L'assemblée nationale proclame solennellement le roi Louis XVI Restaurateur de la liberté française.

Article 18.

L'assemblée nationale se rendra en corps auprès du roi, pour présenter à Sa Majesté l'arrêté qu'elle vient de prendre, lui porter l'hommage de sa plus respectueuse reconnaissance, et la supplier de permettre que le Te Deum soit chanté dans sa chapelle, et d'y assister elle-même.

Article 19.

L'assemblée nationale s'occupera, immédiatement après la constitution, de la rédaction des lois nécessaires pour le développement des principes qu'elle a fixé par le présent arrêté, qui sera incessamment envoyé par MM. les députés dans toutes les provinces, avec le décret du 10 de ce mois, pour l'un et l'autre y être imprimés, publiés même au prône des paroisses, et affichés partout où besoin sera.

4, 6, 7, 8 et 11 août-3 novembre 1789.

Source

HTML from the "Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media" at George Mason University. [Online elsewhere].

Anonymous, Translations and Reprints from the Original Sources of European History, vol. 1, French Philosophers of the Eighteenth Century (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania History Department, 1899), 2–5.

Text

ARTICLE I. The National Assembly hereby completely abolishes the feudal system. It decrees that, among the existing rights and dues, both feudal and censuel, all those originating in or representing real or personal serfdom (mainwork) or personal servitude, shall be abolished without indemnification. All other dues are declared redeemable, the terms and mode of redemption to be fixed by the National Assembly. Those of the said dues which are not extinguished by this decree shall continue to be collected until indemnification shall take place.

II. The exclusive right to maintain pigeon-houses and dove-cotes is abolished. The pigeons shall be confined during the seasons fixed by the community. During such periods they shall be looked upon as game, and everyone shall have the right to kill them upon his own land.

III. The exclusive right to hunt and to maintain unenclosed warrens is likewise abolished, and every land owner shall have the right to kill or to have destroyed on his own land all kinds of game, observing, however, such police regulations as may be established with a view to the safety of the public.

All hunting captainries, including the royal forests, and all hunting rights under whatever denomination, are likewise abolished. Provision shall be made, however, in a manner compatible with the regard due to property and liberty, for maintaining the personal pleasures of the king.

The president of the assembly shall be commissioned to ask of the King the recall of those sent to the galleys or exiled, simply for violations of the hunting regulations, as well as for the release of those at present imprisoned for offenses of this kind, and the dismissal of such cases as are now pending.

IV. All manorial courts are hereby suppressed without indemnification. But the magistrates of these courts shall continue to perform their functions until such time as the National Assembly shall provide for the establishment of a new judicial system.

V. Tithes of every description, as well as the dues which have been substituted for them, under whatever denomination they are known or collected (even when compounded for), possessed by secular or regular congregations, by holders of benefices, members of corporations (including the Order of Malta and other religious and military orders,) as well as those devoted to the maintenance of churches, those impropriated to lay persons and those substituted for the portion congrue, are abolished, on condition, however, that some other method be devised to provide for the expenses of divine worship, the support of the officiating clergy, for the assistance of the poor, for repairs and rebuilding of churches and parsonages, and for the maintenance of all institutions, seminaries, schools, academies, asylums, and organizations to which the present funds are devoted. Until such provision shall be made and the former possessors shall enter upon the enjoyment of an income on the new system, the National Assembly decrees that the said tithes shall continue to be collected according to law and in the customary manner.

Other tithes, of whatever nature they may be, shall be redeemable in such manner as the Assembly shall determine. Until such regulation shall be issued, the National Assembly decrees that these, too, shall continue to be collected.

VI. All perpetual ground rents, payable either in money or in kind, of whatever nature they may be, whatever their origin and to whomsoever they may be due, as to members of corporations, holders of the domain or appanages or to the Order of Malta, shall be redeemable. Champarts, of every kind and under all denominations, shall likewise be redeemable at a rate fixed by the Assembly. No due shall in the future be created which is not redeemable.

VII. The sale of judicial and municipal offices shall be suppressed forthwith. Justice shall be dispensed gratis. Nevertheless, the magistrates at present holding such offices shall continue to exercise their functions and to receive their emoluments until the Assembly shall have made provision for indemnifying them.

VIII. The fees of the country priests are abolished, and shall be discontinued so soon as provision shall be made for increasing the minimum salary [portion congrue] of the parish priests and the payment to the curates. A regulation shall be drawn up to determine the status of the priests in the towns.

IX. Pecuniary privileges, personal or real, in the payment of taxes are abolished forever. Taxes shall be collected from all the citizens, and from all property, in the same manner and in the same form. Plans shall be considered by which the taxes shall be paid proportionally by all, even for the last six months of the current year.

X. Inasmuch as a national constitution and public liberty are of more advantage to the provinces than the privileges which some of these enjoy, and inasmuch as the surrender of such privileges is essential to the intimate union of all parts of the realm [empire], it is decreed that all the peculiar privileges, pecuniary or otherwise, of the provinces, principalities, districts [pays], cantons, cities and communes, are once for all abolished and are absorbed into the law common to all Frenchmen.

XI. All citizens, without distinction of birth, are eligible to any office or dignity, whether ecclesiastical, civil or military; and no profession shall imply any derogation.

XII. Hereafter no remittances shall be made for annates or for any other purpose to the court of Rome, the vice-legation at Avignon, or to the nunciature at Lucerne. The clergy of the diocese shall apply to their bishops in regard to the filling of benefices and dispensations the which shall be granted gratis without regard to reservations, expectancies and papal months, all the churches of France enjoying the same freedom.

XIII. The rights of dèport, of cotte-morte, dèpouilles, vacat, droits, censaux, Peters pence, and other dues of the same kind, under whatever denomination, established in favor of bishops, archdeacons, archpresbyters, chapters, and regular congregations which formerly exercised priestly functions [curés primitifs], are abolished, but appropriate provision shall be made for those benefices of archdeacons and archpresbyters which are not sufficiently endowed.

XIV. Pluralities shall not be permitted hereafter in cases where the revenue from the benefice or benefices held shall exceed the sum of three thousand livres. Nor shall any individual be allowed to enjoy several pensions from benefices, or a pension and a benefice, if the revenue which he already enjoys from such sources exceeds the same sum of three thousand livres.

XV. The National Assembly shall consider, in conjunction with the King, the report which is to be submitted to it relating to pensions, favors and salaries, with a view to suppressing all such as are not deserved and reducing those which shall prove excessive; and the amount shall be fixed which the King may in future disburse for this purpose.

XVI. The National Assembly decrees that a medal shall be struck in memory of the recent grave and important deliberations for the welfare of France, and that a Te Deum shall be chanted in gratitude in all the parishes and the churches of France.

XVII. The National Assembly solemnly proclaims the King, Louis XVI., the Restorer of French Liberty.

XVIII. The National Assembly shall present itself in a body before the King, in order to submit to him the decrees which have just been passed, to tender to him the tokens of its most respectful gratitude and to pray him to permit the Te Deum to be chanted in his chapel, and to be present himself at this service.

XIX. The National Assembly shall consider, immediately after the constitution, the drawing up of the laws necessary for the development of the principles which it has laid down in the present decree. The latter shall be transmitted without delay by the deputies to all the provinces, together with the decree of the tenth of this month, in order that it may be printed, published, announced from the parish pulpits, and posted up wherever it shall be deemed necessary.

Source

National Archives America's Founding Documents [Online elsewhere].

Note: The following text is a transcription of the first ten amendments to the Constitution in their original form. These amendments were ratified December 15, 1791, and form what is known as the "Bill of Rights."

Text

Amendment I

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Amendment II

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

Amendment III

No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.

Amendment IV

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Amendment V

No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

Amendment VI

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence.

Amendment VII

In Suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise re-examined in any Court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.

Amendment VIII

Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.

Amendment IX

The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

Amendment X

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

Source

HTML from the "Digithèque de matériaux juridiques et politiques" at the Université de Perpignan Via Domitia [Online elsewhere].

A draft of this proposal was presented to the French National Convention on 15 and 16 February 1793 by Nicolas de Caritat, Marquis de Condorcet. It consisted of a "Declaration of the Natural, Civil, and Political Rights of Men" and a proposed Constitution known as the "Girondin Constitution"). We reproduce below only the first part. This liberal constituion was not accepted by the Convention which voted in favour of the socialist "Montagnard Constitution".

Text

Plan de Constitution présenté à la Convention nationale les 15 et 16 février 1793, l'an II de la République (Constitution girondine)

Déclaration des droits naturels, civils et politiques des hommes

Le but de toute réunion d'hommes en société étant le maintien de leurs droits naturels, civils et politiques, ces droits sont la base du Pacte social : leur reconnaissance et leur déclaration doivent précéder la Constitution qui en assure la garantie.

Article premier.

Les droits naturels, civils et politiques des Hommes, sont la Liberté, l'Égalité, la Sûreté, la Propriété, la Garantie sociale, et la Résistance à l'oppression.

Article 2.

La Liberté consiste à pouvoir faire tout ce qui n'est pas contraire aux droits d'autrui : ainsi, l'exercice des droits naturels de chaque homme n'a de bornes que celles qui assurent aux autres membres de la société la jouissance de ces mêmes droits.

Article 3.

La conservation de la Liberté dépend de la soumission à la Loi, qui est l'expression de la volonté générale. Tout ce qui n'est pas défendu par la Loi ne peut être empêché, et nul ne peut être contraint à faire ce qu'elle n'ordonne pas.

Article 4.

Tout homme est libre de manifester sa pensée et ses opinions.

Article 5.

La liberté de la Presse et tout autre moyen de publier ses pensées, ne peut être interdite, suspendue ni limitée.

Article 6.

Tout Citoyen est libre dans l'exercice de son Culte.

Article 7.

L'Égalité consiste en ce que chacun puisse jouir des mêmes droits.

Article 8.

La Loi doit être égale pour tous, soit qu'elle récompense ou qu'elle punisse, soit qu'elle protège ou qu'elle réprime.

Article 9.

Tous les Citoyens sont admissibles à toutes les places, emplois et fonctions publiques. Les Peuples libres ne connaissent d'autres motifs de préférence dans leurs choix que les talents et les vertus.

Article 10.

La sûreté consiste dans la protection accordée par la société à chaque Citoyen, pour la conservation de sa personne, de ses biens et de ses droits.

Article 11.

Nul ne doit être appelé en justice, accusé, arrêté ni détenu que dans les cas déterminés par la Loi, et selon les formes qu'elle a prescrites. Tout autre acte exercé contre un Citoyen, est arbitraire et nul.

Article 12.

Ceux qui solliciteraient, expédieraient, signeraient, exécuteraient ou feraient exécuter ces actes arbitraires, sont coupables et doivent être punis.

Article 13.

Les Citoyens contre qui l'on tenterait d'exécuter de pareils actes, on le droit de repousser la force par la force ; mais tout Citoyen appelé ou saisi par l'autorité de la Loi, et dans les formes prescrite par elle, doit obéir à l'instant : il se rend coupable par la résistance.

Article 14.

Tout Homme étant présumé innocent jusqu'à ce qu'il ait été déclaré coupable ; s'il est jugé indispensable de l'arrêter, toute rigueur qui ne serait pas nécessaire pour s'assurer de sa personne, doit être sévèrement réprimée par la Loi.

Article 15.

Nul ne doit être puni qu'en vertu d'une loi établie, promulguée antérieurement au délit, et légalement appliquée.

Article 16.

La loi qui punirait des délits commis avant qu'elle existât, serait un acte arbitraire : l'effet rétroactif donné à la Loi, est un crime.

Article 17.

La loi ne doit décerner que des peines strictement et évidemment nécessaires à la sûreté générale. Les peines doivent être proportionnées aux délits, et utiles à la société.

Article 18.

Le droit de propriété consiste en ce que tout homme est le maître de disposer à son gré de ses biens, de ses capitaux, de ses revenus et de son industrie.

Article 19.

Nul genre de travail, de commerce, de culture, ne peut lui être interdit ; il peut fabriquer, vendre et transporter toute espèce de production.

Article 20.

Tout homme peut engager ses services, son temps ; mais il ne peut se vendre lui même : sa personne n'est pas une propriété aliénable.

Article 21.

Nul ne peut être privé de la moindre portion de sa propriété sans son consentement, si ce n'est lorsque la nécessité publique, légalement constatée, l'exige évidemment, et sous la condition d'une juste et préalable indemnité.

Article 22.

Nulle contribution ne peut être établie si ce n'est pour l'utilité générale, et pour subvenir aux besoins publics. Tous les Citoyens ont le droit de concourir personnellement, ou par leurs Représentants, à l'établissem*nt des contributions.

Article 23.

L'instruction élémentaire est le besoin de tous, et la société la doit également à tous ses membres.

Article 24.

Les secours publics sont une dette sacrée de la société ; et c'est à la Loi à en déterminer l'étendue et l'application.

Article 25.

La garantie sociale des droits repose sur la souveraineté nationale.

Article 26.

La Souveraineté est une, indivisible, imprescriptible et inaliénable.

Article 27.

Elle réside essentiellement dans le Peuple entier, et chaque Citoyen a un droit égal à concourir à son exercice.

Article 28.

Nulle réunion partielle de Citoyens, et nul individu ne peuvent s'attribuer la Souveraineté, exercer aucune autorité, et remplir aucune fonction sans une délégation formelle de la Loi.

Article 29.

La garantie sociale ne peut pas exister là ou les limites des fonctions publiques ne sont pas clairement déterminées par la Loi, et ou la responsabilité de tous les Fonctionnaires publics n'est pas assurée.

Article 30.

Tous les Citoyens sont tenus de concourir à cette garantie, et de donner force à la Loi lorsqu'ils sont appelés en son nom.

Article 31.

Les hommes réunis en société doivent avoir un moyen légal de résister à l'oppression.

Article 32.

Il y a oppression lorsqu'une Loi viole les droits naturels, civils et politiques qu'elle doit garantir.

Il y a oppression lorsque la Loi est violée par les Fonctionnaires publics, dans son application à des faits individuels.

Il y a oppression lorsque des actes arbitraires violent les droits des citoyens contre l'expression de la Loi.

Dans tout gouvernement libre, le mode de résistance à ces différents actes d'oppression doit être réglé par la Constitution.

Article 33.

Un Peuple a toujours le droit de revoir, de réformer et de changer sa Constitution. Un génération n'a pas le droit d'assujettir à ses Lois les générations futures ; et toute hérédité dans les fonctions est absurde et tyrannique.

Source

HTML from Wikisource Netherlands [Online elsewhere].

Text

Vrijheid, Gelijkheid, Broederschap.

Publicatie, behelzende de erkentenis en verklaring der Rechten van den Mensch en van den Burger. Gearresteerd den 31. Januari 1795. Het eerste Jaar der Bataafse Vrijheid.

De Provisionele Repræsentanten van het Volk van Holland, aan hunne Medeburgers menende verschuldigd te zijn een plechtige Verklaring van de gronden, op welke hunne daden en handelingen berusten, allen den genen, die deze zullen zien of horen lezen, salut, doen te weten:

Dat wij volkomen overtuigd zijn, dat de magt, welke ons toevertrouwd is, alleenlijk berust, en dat wij die ook alleen hebben ontvangen, van de vrije keuze onzer Medeburgers: dat geen Oppergezag bij ons, maar dat de eigenlijke Soevereiniteit bij het Volk is berustende, en wel zodanig, dat het Volk de uitoefening van hetzelve aan zijne Vertegenwoordigers kan toevertrouwen, doch zonder hetzelve ooit te kunnen vervreemden.

Dat wij ons verzekerd houden, dat de rampen, welke die Land en de overige Gewesten thans' zoo zwaar drukken, voornamelijk hunne oorsprong verschuldigd zijn aan de verkeerde denkbeelden, welke men door list en geweld den Volke heeft voorgehouden, en dat het dus een vereiste is van Volksvertegenwoordigers, die hunne plicht getrouw willen zijn, zekere en duidelijke grondbeginselen, tot regelen van hun gedrag te beramen en vast te stellen.

Dat hoe zeer wij menen, dat de nadere bepaling van die rechten het eerste werk zal moeten zijn van een Nationale bijeenroeping van Repræsentanten van het gehele Volk, benoemd tot het vaststellen van een Regeringsvorm, wij nochtans aan het vertrouwen, door onze Medeburgers in ons gesteld, verschuldigd zijn, om openlijk een plechtige erkentenis van de Rechten van den Mensch en van den Burger te doen, door te verklaren, gelijk wij erkennen en verklaren bij dezen:

1. Dat alle Mensen met gelijke Rechten geboren worden, en dat deze natuurlijke rechten hun niet kunnen ontnomen worden.
2. Dat deze rechten bestaan in Gelijkheid, Vrijheid, Veiligheid, Eigendom en Tegenstand aan Onderdrukking.
3. Dat de Vrijheid de magt is, welke ieder Mensch toekomt om te mogen, doen al het geen anderen in hunne rechten niet stoort: en dat dus hare natuurlijke bepaling bestaat in deze stelling: Doe niet aan een andere, hetgeen gij niet wilt dat u geschiede.
4. Dat het ieder dus geoorloofd is zijne gedachten, en gevoelens aan anderen te openbaren, het zij door de Drukpers of op enige andere wijze.
5. Dat ieder Mens het recht heeft, om God zodanig te dienen, als hij wil of niet wil, zonder daarin op enigerlei wijze gedwongen te kunnen worden.
6. Dat de Veiligheid bestaat in zekerheid van door anderen niet gestoord te zullen worden in het uitoefenen van zijne rechten, noch in het vreedzaam bezit van wettig verkregen eigendommen.
7. Dat ieder stem hebben moet in de Wetgevende Vergadering der gehele Maatschappij, het zij persoonlijk, het zij door een bij hem mede gekozen vertegenwoordiging.
8. Dat het oogmerk van alle Burgerlijke Maatschappijen zijn moet, om de Mensen te verzekeren het vreedzaam genot van hun natuurlijke rechten.
9. Dat dus de natuurlijke vrijheid, van alles te mogen doen, wat anderen in hunne rechten niet stoort, nimmer verhinderd kan worden, dan wanneer het oogmerk der Burgerlijke Maatschappij zulks volstrekt vordert.
10. Dat derhalve niemand kan verplicht worden, iets van zijne bijzondere eigendommen aan het algemeen te moeten afstaan, of opofferen, zonder dat zulks door den wil des Volks, of van zijne Repræsentanten, uitdrukkelijk bepaald zij, en na een voorafgegane schadevergoeding.
11. Dat de wet de vrije en plechtige uitdrukking is van den algemene wil, dat zij voor allen gelijk is, het zij om te straffen, het zij om te belonen.
12. Dat niemand gerechtelijk beschuldigd, gearresteerd en gevangen gezet mag worden, dan in zodanige gevallen en volgens zodanige formaliteiten als welke door de wet zelve te voren bepaald zijn.
13. Dat in geval het noodzakelijk geoordeeld wordt, iemand gevangen te nemen, een ieder niet strenger mag behandeld worden, dan voltrekt nodig is, om zich van zijn persoon te verzekeren.
14. Dat, daar alle Mensen gelijk zijn, allen verkiesbaar zijn tot alle Ambten en Bedieningen, zonder enige andere redenen van voorkeur, dan die van deugden en bekwaamheden.
15. Dat een ieder gelijk het recht heeft, om van ieder Ambtenaar van het publiek bestuur rekening en verantwoording van zijn bewind te helpen afvorderen.
16. Dat nooit de geringste bepaling kan gemaakt worden aan het recht van ieder Burger, om zijne belangen in te brengen bij hun, welken de publieke magt toevertrouwd is.
17. Dat de Soevereiniteit bij het gehele Volk berust, en dus geen gedeelte van het Volk zich dezelve kan aanmatigen.
18. Dat het Volk ten allen tijde het recht heeft, zijn Regeringsvorm te veranderen, te verbeteren of een geheel andere te verkiezen.

Dat dit de gronden zijn, op welken wij gemeend hebben onze daden en handelingen te moeten grondvesten, en dat wij dezelve hebbende willen toepassen op de voorheen plaats gehad hebbende orde van zaken, wel dra hebben bevonden, dat de Regeringsvorm welke door de inrukking van de Pruisische Armee, en derhalve door louter geweld in den jaar 1787 is bevestigd, in alle opzichten met dezelve strijdig was.

Dat de Personen, welke te voren de Vergadering van de zogenaamde Staten van Holland en West-Friesland, hebben uitgemaakt, nooit door hunne Medeburgers tot derzelver Vertegenwoordigers waren verkoren, en dat dus dat Staatsbestuur als geheel strijdende met de Rechten van den Mensch en van den Burger niet kon bestaan.

Dat wij ook terstond ontwaar geworden zijn, dat alle erfelijke waardigheden als van Erfstadhouder, Kapitein Generaal en Admiraal van deze Provincie, en van Ridderschap, mitsgaders alle erfelijke Adeldom, met de Rechten van de Mens waren strijdende, en dat dus alle dezelve voor vervallen moesten gehouden worden, en verklaard, zo als dezelve vervallen verklaard worden bij dezen.

Dat wij ons verzekerd houden, dat door deze verklaring alle de afgeperste en onwettige Eden op de zogenaamde Oude Constitutie, in 1787 en 1788. bepaald, dadelijk krachteloos worden, voor zoo verre dusdanig een Eed van enige kracht mocht zijn geweest; dan dat wij ten overvloede en tot geruststelling van alle en een iegelijk daar en boven verklaren uit naam van het Volk van Holland, gelijk wel expresselijk verklaard wordt mits dezen; dat alle Ingezetenen, welken den voorgeschreven Eed mochten hebben gedaan, bij dezen van dezelfden geheel worden ontslagen.

Dat met deze gronden ook ten enenmale onbestaanbaar was het te voren zogenaamd College van Gecommitteerde Raden, zoo van het Zuider- als Noorderkwartier, zoo wel als de splitsing van de Provinciale Huishouding, zoo in Financiën, als anderszins; gelijk ook de toenmalige existentie van de zogezegde Rekenkamer van Holland en West-Friesland, als allen geproflnëerd zijnde uit den vorigen gebrekkige Regeringsvorm, als waarin generlei wezenlijke representatie geobserveerd werd, en dat wij derhalve gemeend hebben, alle de voorsz. Colleges van Gecommitteerde Raden, zoo in het Zuider- als Noorderkwartier, mitsgaders van de Rekenkamer van Holland en West-Friesland te moeten vernietigen en af te schaffen, gelijk dezelve vernietigd en afgeschaft worden bij dezen, en dat wij, om het werk van dezelve Colleg al aanftonds behoorlijk te doen vervangen, hebben gemeend te moeten aanflellen en committeeren, gelijk wij aantellen en committeeren bij deezen, een Committé van Algemeen Welzijn, welks werkzaamheid die van de voorsz. voormaalige Gecommitteerde Raaden geheel en al zal vervangen, voor zoo veel de bijzondere huishoudelijke belangen deezer geheele Provintie aangaat, welke te vooren aan de voorfz. beide Collegien gedemandeerd geweest waren; voorts een Committé Militair, voor zoo veel den Militairen ftaat en alle bijzondere Militaire zaaken deezer geheele Provintie betreft; — een Committé van Finantien, om waar te neemen alle zaaken over deeze geheele Provintie; en eindelijk een Committé van Reekeninge, om alle de werkzaamheden van die van de Hollandsche Reekenkamer over te neemen en te vervangen, alles proviiioneel en tot zoo lang als daaromtrend door eene daar toe zoo dra mogelijk te beroepen Vergadering van Repræsentanten uit het geheele Volk verkozen, nadere fchikkingen zullen wezen gemaakt: dat wij voords gemeend hebben geen anderen Titel, aan deeze onze Vergadering te moeten hechten, dan die van provisioneele Repræsentanten van het Volk van Holland, zonder het woord van Westvriesland daar bij te voegen, als hebbende wij best geoordeeld de geheele Provintie van Holland daar onder te moeten begrijpen.

Willende en beveelende wij wel uitdrukkelijk aan de Hoven van Justitie binnen deeze Provintie resideerende, mitsgaders aan alle Regeeringen van Steden en Plaatsen binnen dezelve, dat deeze onze Publicatie met alle mogelijke plechtigheid, het zij door het geschal van Trompetten, door het luiden en speelen der Klokken, of op zoodanige andere plechtige wijze, als in iedere Stad of Plaats best geoordeeld zal worden, aan alle Ingezetenen deezer Provintie bekend zal zal worden gemaakt; gelijk dezelve voords alomme zal worden geaffigeerd daar zulks te doen gebruikelijk is; en dat een iegelijk zich daar naar stiptelijk zal heb ben te reguleeren.

Gedaan in den Haage, onder het klein Zegel van den Lande, den 31. Januarij 1795. Het eerste Jaar der Bataafsche Vrijheid.

P. PAULUS. vt.

Ter ordonnantie van de Provisioneele Repræsentanten van het Volk van Holland.

C.J. DE LANGE VAN WYNGAERDE.

Source

HTML from the "Digithèque de matériaux juridiques et politiques" at the Université de Perpignan Via Domitia [Online elsewhere].

M. Dufau, J. B. Duverger, J. Guadet, Collection des Constitutions, chartes et lois fondamentales, tome 3, 1823.

Text

Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité.

Les représentans provisoires du peuple de Hollande, croyant devoir à leurs concitoyens une déclaration solennelle des principes sur lesquels reposent leurs procédés et actions, à tous ceux qui ces présentes verront ou entendront lire, salut, savoir faisons:

Que nous sommes parfaitement convaincus que le pouvoir qui nous a été confié repose uniquement dans le libre choix de nos concitoyens, et que c'est de ce choix seul que nous l'avons reçu ; qu'aucun pouvoir suprême ne repose en nous, mais que la souveraineté propre repose dans le peuple, et ce, de manière que le peuple en peut confier l'exercice à ses représentans, mais sans pouvoir l'aliéner jamais ; que nous nous assurons que les maux qui pèsent aujourd'hui si fortement sur ce pays et sur les autres provinces, doivent principalement leur origine aux idées perverses qu'on a présentées au peuple par artifice et par violence, et qu'ainsi il est requis de la part des représentans du peuple, qui veulent être fidèles à leur devoir, de poser des principes certains et évidens, et de les fixer pour règle de leur conduite ; que, quoique nous pensions que la fixation ultérieure de ces droits devra être le premier ouvrage d'une convocation nationale des représentans de tout le peuple, nommés pour arrêter et fixer une forme de gouvernement, nous devons néanmoins, à la confiance que nos concitoyens ont placée en nous, de faire publiquement une reconnaissance solennelle des droits de l'homme et du citoyen, en déclarant comme nous reconnaissons et déclarons par le présent:

Que tous les hommes sont nés avec des droits égaux, et que ces droits naturels ne sauraient leur être ôtés ;

Que ces droits consistent en égalité, liberté, sûreté, propriété, et résistance à l'oppression ;

Que la liberté est la faculté qui appartient à tout homme de pouvoir faire ce qui ne trouble pas les autres dans leurs doits ; qu'ainsi sa limitation naturelle se trouve dans ce principe : Ne fais point à autrui ce que tu ne veux point qu'on fasse à toi-même;

Qu'il est donc permis à tous et à chacun de manifester à d'autres ses pensées et ses sentimens, soit par la voie de la presse ou de tout autre manière ;

Que tout homme a le droit de servir Dieu de telle manière qu'il lui plaît, sans pouvoir être forcé en aucune façon à cet égard ;

Que la sûreté consiste dans la certitude qu'on a de ne point être troublé par autrui dans l'exercice de ses droits, ni dans la paisible possession des propriétés légalement acquises ;

Que chacun a droit de suffrage dans l'assemblée législative de la société entière, soit personnellement, soit par une représentation au choix de laquelle il ait concouru ;

Que le but de toutes les sociétés civiles doit être d'assurer aux hommes la paisible jouissance de leurs droits naturels ;

Qu'ainsi la liberté naturelle de pouvoir faire tout ce qui ne trouble pas les autres dans leurs droits ne saurait jamais souffrir d'obstacle, que lorsque le but de la société civile l'exige absolument ;

Que de pareilles bornes à la liberté naturelle ne sauraient être posées que par le peuple ou par ses représentans ;

Que, par conséquent, personne ne saurait être obligé le céder ni sacrifier rien de ses propriétés particulières à la communauté générale, à moins que cela ne soit expressément réglé par la volonté du peuple ou de ses représentans, et après une indemnité préalable ;

Que la loi est l'expression libre et solennelle de la volonté générale ; qu'elle est égale pour tous, soit qu'elle punisse, soit qu'elle récompense ;

Que personne ne peut être accusé en justice, arrêté, ni mis en prison, sinon dans tels cas, et suivant telles formalités qui sont préalablement fixées par la loi même ;

Qu'au cas qu'il soit jugé nécessaire de tenir quelqu'un prisonnier, personne ne doit être traité plus rigoureusem*nt s'il n'est absolument nécessaire pour s'assurer de sa personne ;

Que tous les hommes étant égaux, tous sont éligibles à tous postes et emplois, sans aucun autre motif de préférence que ceux des vertus et de la capacité ;

Que chacun a le droit de concourir à exiger de chaque fonctionnaire de l'administration publique compte et justification de sa gestion ;

Que jamais l'on ne saurait apporter la moindre restriction au droit de tout citoyen, de représenter ce qui est de son intérêt à ceux à qui l'autorité publique est confiée ;

Que la souveraineté repose dans le peuple entier, et qu'ainsi aucune portion du peuple ne saurait se l'arroger ;

Que tels sont les principes sur lesquels nous avons cru devoir fonder nos actions et nos procédés ; et qu'ayant voulu les appliquer à l'ordre de choses qui a eu ci-devant lieu, nous avons bientôt trouvé que la forme de gouvernement qui a été confirmée en 1787, au moyen de l'invasion de l'armée prussienne, et par conséquent uniquement par force, y était contraire à tous égards ;

Que les personnes qui ont composé ci-devant l'assemblée des soi-disant états de Hollande et de West-Frise, n'avaient jamais été choisis par leurs concitoyens pour être leurs représentans ; et qu'ainsi ce gouvernement ne pouvait subsister, comme étant absolument contraire aux droits de l'homme et du citoyen; que nous nous sommes aussi aperçus d'abord que toutes dignités héréditaires, telles que celles de statouder-héréditaire, capitaine général et amiral de cette province, et d'ordre équestre, ainsi que toute noblesse héréditaire répugnent aux droits de l'homme; qu'ainsi toutes devaient être tenues et déclarées anéanties comme elles sont déclarées anéanties par la présente ;

Que nous nous assurons que par cette déclaration, tous les sermens extorqués et illégitimes sur la soi-disant ancienne constitution, prescrits en 1787 et 1788, deviennent par le fait de nulle valeur, pour autant qu'un pareil serment ait pu être précédemment de quelque valeur ; mais que par surabondance et pour tranquilliser tous et chacun, nous déclarons en outre au nom du peuple de Hollande, ainsi qu'il est bien expressément déclaré par la présente : Que tous citoyens qui auraient pu avoir prêté le susdit serment, en sont entièrement déchargés par la présente.

Qu'avec ces principes était aussi tout à fait incompatible le collège (ainsi qu'on le connaît ci - devant) des conseillers - députés du quartier, tant méridional que septentrional, non moins que la division de l'administration économique, tant à l'égard des finances qu'autrement, ainsi que l'existence de ce qu'on nommait alors la chambre des comptes de Hollande et de West-Frise, comme étant tous résultés de l'ancienne forme défectueuse de gouvernement, dans laquelle l'on n'observait aucune représentation réelle quelconque, et que par conséquent nous avons jugé devoir supprimer et anéantir tous les susdits collèges des conseillers-députés de la Hollande, tant méridionale que septentrionale, ainsi que nous les supprimons, et anéantissons par la présente ; et que, pour faire reprendre convenablement et sur-le-champ le travail desdits collèges, nous avons cru devoir établir et commettre, ainsi que nous établissons et commettons par la présente, un comité de salut public dont l'activité suppléera entièrement celle des ci-devant conseillers-députés, pour ce qui concerne les intérêts particuliers et économiques de la province entière, qui ont été précédemment attribués aux susdits deux collèges ; de plus un comité militaire pour ce qui regarde l'état militaire et toutes les affaires militaires de la province entière ; un comité des finances, pour gérer toutes les affaires de finances de la province entière, et enfin un comité des comptes, pour prendre et remplacer l'activité de la chambre des comptes de Hollande; le tout provisoirement et jusqu'à ce qu'il ait été fait des arrangemens ultérieurs à ce sujet, par une assemblée de représentants choisis d'entre tout le peuple, qui sera convoqué le plus promptement possible ; qu'au surplus nous avons cru ne point devoir attacher d'autre titre à notre assemblée que celui de représentans provisoires du peuple de Hollande, sans y ajouter le mot de West-Frise , ayant jugé qu'il valait mieux de comprendre la province entière de Hollande sous cette dénomination.

Voulons et ordonnons bien expressément aux cours de justice qui résident dans cette province, ainsi qu'à toutes les régences des villes et places y situées, que notre présente publication soit portée à la connaissance de tous les citoyens de cette province avec toute la solennité possible, soit au son des trompettes, soit en sonnant les cloches, au jeu du carillon, ou de telle autre manière solennelle qui sera jugée le plus convenable dans chaque ville on place, comme aussi elle sera affichée partout où ce faire est d'usage, et que chacun ait à s'y conformer exactement.

Fait à La Haye, le 31 janvier 1795, l'an 1^er de la liberté batave.

Source

HTML from "German History in Documents and Images" [Online elsewhere].

Source: Joseph Hansen, ed., Quellen zur Geschichte des Rheinlandes im Zeitalter der Französischen Revolution 1780-1801. Vol. 4. (Bonn: Hanstein, 1938), pp. 321–26; Reprinted in Walter Demel and Uwe Puschner, eds., Von der Französischen Revolution bis zum Wiener Kongreß 1789-1815. Deutsche Geschichte in Quellen und Darstellung, ed. Rainer A. Müller, Volume 6. (Stuttgart: P. Reclam, 1995), pp. 255–64.

Text

Straining under the yokes of our tyrants, oppressed by the despotism of the monarchy, we kissed the hand that struck us, and we did not even dare to think of a revolution [Umwälzung] that could end all of that evil. Our oppressors saw that their crimes went unpunished; blinded by this, they pondered the means of spreading their limitless despotism further, and they allied themselves with the conspirators whom a reborn France had disgorged from its crotch [Schoße]. Then, at once, the French people shook the kings on their wobbling thrones, the people were witnesses to the victories of the great nations who proclaimed the inalienable rights of humankind [unveräußerlichen Rechte des Menschen]. Restored to our natural state, we say: the tyrants are only great because the people kneel before them. Stand up, people! And the tyrants will lay at your feet. We are thoroughly convinced that no public good [Gemeinwohl] is conceivable without the exercise of democratic principles. We have been taught by experience that the people who deviate from such principles can never accomplish the goals that they have articulated in forming an association [bei der Bildung in Gesellschaften]. Thus, we have decided to break the chains of slavery which have hitherto shackled us.

For these reasons […]

The patriots, who represent the people between the Meuse, Rhine, and Mosel [Rivers] by way of the reconquest of inalienable natural rights, in consideration of all this, proclaim before the Supreme Being the sovereignty of the people, and declare as follows:

1) The former princes or so-called sovereigns of these territories are enemies of the nation and banished from this region forever;

2) The inhabitants of the aforementioned territories are free and independent;

3) The people accept as a guarantee of their freedom the French constition, which is founded on the rights of man and equality;

4) The people between the Meuse, Rhine, and Mosel are united, in order to secure their political independence, with the French people, and they incorporate their territory into that of the [French] republic, which, after it has subdued the kings, will make known its decisions [auch ihren Beschlüssen bei denselben Achtung zu verschaffen weiß];

5) The union with the German Reich is abolished forever.

6) The people of these territories will never deny their most sincere brotherly love for the German people, regardless of how much they separate themselves from them, and will seek to carefully maintain the relations between Germany and the French Republic;

7) All military, administrative, and judicial authority stemming from the former princes or the old order, whatever name it may carry, is eliminated [vernichtet];

8) Noble titles, orders of [social] distinction, general and special privileges, exemptions, feudal rights, seigneurial dues, tithes of every kind, etc., as well as all institutions that bring about inequality among [people's social] ranks [Stände] are and remain abolished;

9) The former princely domains as well as property that supposedly belongs to the church have become property of the people;

10) Measures are to be taken to make payments on the state's debts;

11) Freedom of conscience and the performance of religious services are in the whole extent of the words acceptable, but the state will pay no servant for [performing] them.

Should the inhabitants of these territories slide back under the despotism of their oppressors, against all expectations of success in this bloody war […], then we swear in such case to disregard everything [hören auf nichts als] but the fury of desperation and to let ourselves be buried under the ruins of our fatherland rather than be witnesses to the triumph of despotism.

This declaration shall be published and made known in the entire territory between the Meuse, Rhine, and Mosel. It shall be sent to the National Legislature of the French people, to the Executive Directory, to the National Legislatures of the Batavian and Cisalpine Republics, to the Executive Directory of the same, to the Supreme Comander of the Army of Germany, to the President of the National Institute in Paris, to the President of the Intermediary Commission in Bonn, and to the Congress in Rastatt.

Issued in Bonn, on the 23rd day of Brumaire, Year 6 of the French Republic (November 13, 1797), in the name of the plenipotentiary General Committee of all Central Committees of the Federation of Patriots of the Left Bank of the Rhine.

Source

HTML from "Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité. Exploring the French Revolution" and the "Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media" at George Mason University. [Online elsewhere].

James H. Robinson, ed., Translations and Reprints from the Original Sources of European History, vol II, no. 2: The Napoleonic Period (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania, 1902), pp. 27-30.

Text

We, Frederick William, by the Grace of God King of Prussia, etc., etc., Hereby make known and give to understand: Since peace has been established we have been occupied before everything else with the care for the depressed condition of our faithful subjects and the speediest revival and greatest possible improvement in this respect. We have considered that in face of the prevailing want the means at our disposal would be insufficient to aid each individual, and even if they were we could not hope to accomplish our object, and that, moreover, in accordance with the imperative demands of justice and the principles of a judicious economic policy it behooves us to remove every obstacle which has hitherto prevented the individual from attaining such a state of prosperity as he was capable of reaching. We have farther considered that the existing restrictions both on the possession and enjoyment of landed property and on the personal condition of the agricultural laborer especially interfere with our benevolent purpose and disable a great force which might be applied to the restoration of cultivation, the former by their prejudicial influence upon the value of landed property and the credit of the proprietor, the latter by diminishing the value of labor. We desire therefore to reduce both kinds of restrictions so far as the common well-being demands and accordingly ordain the following:

1. Every inhabitant of our States is competent, without any limitation on the part of the State, to own or mortgage landed property of every kind. The noble may therefore own not only noble but also non-noble, citizen and peasant lands of every kind and the citizen and peasant may possess not only citizen, peasant and other non-noble, but also noble tracts of land, without in any case needing special permission for any acquisition whatever, although henceforth, as before, every change of ownership must be announced to the authorities. All privileges which are possessed by noble over citizen inheritances are entirely abolished, as well as the restrictions and suspension of certain property rights based upon the personal status of the holder.

Special laws shall still continue to regulate the right of those to acquire land who are by reason of their religious beliefs precluded from performing all the duties of citizenship.

2. Every noble is henceforth permitted, without any derogation from his station, to engage in citizen occupation and every citizen or peasant is allowed to pass from the peasant into the citizen class or from the citizen into the peasant class.

3. A legal right of pre-emption and of prior claim shall exist hereafter only in the case of superior proprietors, of the lessors of estates on perpetual leases or to copy holders, and of co-proprietary owners, and where a tract of land is sold which is confused with or surrounded by other holdings.

4. The possessors of alienable landed property of all kinds, whether in town or country, are allowed, after due notice given to the provincial authority, reserving the rights of those holding mortgages and those enjoying rights of pre-emption (3), to separate the principal estate from its appurtenances, and in general to alienate lands piecemeal. In the same way co-proprietors may divide among them property owned in common.

5. Every landowner, including those holding feudal or entailed estates, is, without any restrictions except the previous announcement to the provincial authorities, permitted to lease in perpetuity not only single peasant holdings, taverns, mills and other appurtenances but outlying land (Vorwerks-land) as well, either entire or in parts. Nor shall the superior proprietor, the successors to the feudal or entailed holding or the mortgage holder be entitled to prevent this upon any grounds if the preliminary payments be applied to the payment of the first mortgage, or, in the case of feudal and entailed estates where no mortgage exists, it be applied to the entail or fee, and provided, so far as the unsatisfied claims of the mortgage holders are concerned, it be attested by the Provincial Government Law office or by the Provincial authorities that the leasing of the land is not disadvantageous to these.

6. If a landed proprietor finds himself unable to restore and maintain the several peasant holdings existing upon an estate which are not held hereditarily either on a perpetual lease or of copyhold, he is required to inform the authorities of the province, with the sanction of which the consolidation of several holdings into a single peasant estate or with outlying land shall be permissible so soon as serfdom shall have ceased to exist on the estate. The provincial authorities will be provided with special instructions to meet these cases.

7. If, on the contrary, the peasants' holdings are hereditary whether in virtue of a perpetual lease or of copy hold, the consolidation or other change in the condition of the land in question is not admissible until the rights of the previous owner are extinguished, whether by the sale of the land to the lord or in some other legal way. In this case the provisions of (6) shall apply as well to this species of holdings.

8. Every possessor of feudal or entailed property is empowered to raise the sums required to replace the losses caused by the war by mortgaging the estates themselves and not simply the revenue from them, provided that the application of the funds is attested by the Landrath of the Circle or by the Direction of the District Department. From the close of the third year after the contracting of the debt the possessor and his successor are bound to pay off at least a fifteenth part of the capital annually.

9. Any feudal connection not subject to a chief proprietor, any family settlement or entail, may be altered at pleasure or entirely abolished by a resolution of the family, as has already been enacted in regard to the Fiefs of East Prussia (except those of Ermeland) in the East Prussian Provincial law, appendix 26.

10. From the date of this ordinance no new relation of serfdom whether by birth or marriage, or by assuming the position of a serf, or by contract can be created.

11. With the publication of the present ordinance the existing relations of serfdom of those serfs, with their wives and children, who possess their peasant holdings by inheritance, or in their own right, or by perpetual leases or of copy hold shall cease entirely together with all mutual rights and duties.

12. From Martinmas, one thousand eight hundred and ten (1810) all serfdom shall cease throughout our whole realm. From Martinmas 1810 there shall be only free persons, as is already the case upon the royal domains in all our provinces, free persons, however, still subject, as a matter of course, to all obligations which bind them as free persons by reason of the possession of an estate or by virtue of a special contract.

To this declaration of our supreme will everyone whom it may concern and in particular our provincial authorities and other officials are exactly and dutifully to conform and the present ordinance is to be universally made known.

Authentically under our own royal signature, given at Memel, 19 October 1807.

Frederich William,
Schrötter, Stein, Schrötter II.

Source

Digithèque de matériaux juridiques et politiques at the Université de Perpignan Via Domitia [Online elsewhere].

Text

Titre II
Des Belges et de leurs droits

Article 4

La qualité de Belge s'acquiert, se conserve et se perd d'après les règles déterminées par la loi civile.

La présente Constitution et les autres lois relatives aux droits politiques, déterminent quelles sont, outre cette qualité, les conditions nécessaires pour l'exercice de ces droits.

Article 5

La naturalisation est accordée par le pouvoir législatif.

La grande naturalisation seule assimile l'étranger au Belge pour l'exercice des droits politiques.

Article 6

Il n'y a dans l'État aucune distinction d'ordres.

Les Belges sont égaux devant la loi ; seuls ils sont admissibles aux emplois civils et militaires, sauf les exceptions qui peuvent être établies par une loi pour des cas particuliers.

Article 7

La liberté individuelle est garantie.

Nul ne peut être poursuivi que dans les cas prévus par la loi, et dans la forme qu'elle prescrit.

Hors le cas de flagrant délit, nul ne peut être arrêté qu'en vertu de l'ordonnance motivée du juge, qui doit être signifiée au moment de l'arrestation, ou au plus tard dans les vingt-quatre heures.

Article 8

Nul ne peut être distrait, contre son gré, du juge que la loi lui assigne.

Article 9

Nulle peine ne peut être établie ni appliquée qu'en vertu de la loi.

Article 10

Le domicile est inviolable ; aucune visite domiciliaire ne peut avoir lieu que dans les cas prévus par la loi et dans la forme qu'elle prescrit.

Article 11

Nul ne peut être privé de sa propriété que pour cause d'utilité publique, dans les cas et de la manière établis par la loi, et moyennant une juste et préalable indemnité.

Article 12

La peine de la confiscation des biens ne peut être établie.

Article 13

La mort civile est abolie ; elle ne peut être rétablie.

Article 14

La liberté des cultes, celle de leur exercice public, ainsi que la liberté de manifester ses opinions en toute matière, sont garanties, sauf la répression des délits commis à l'occasion de l'usage de ces libertés.

Article 15

Nul ne peut être contraint de concourir d'une manière quelconque aux actes et aux cérémonies d'un culte, ni d'en observer les jours de repos.

Article 16

L'État n'a le droit d'intervenir ni dans la nomination ni dans l'installation des ministres d'un culte quelconque, ni de défendre à ceux-ci de correspondre avec leurs supérieurs, et de publier leurs actes, sauf, en ce dernier cas, la responsabilité ordinaire en matière de presse et de publication.

Le mariage civil devra toujours précéder la bénédiction nuptiale, sauf les exceptions à établir par la loi, s'il y a lieu.

Article 17

L'enseignement est libre ; toute mesure préventive est interdite ; la répression des délits n'est réglée que par la loi.

L'instruction publique, donnée aux frais de l'État, est également réglée par la loi.

Article 18

La presse est libre ; la censure ne pourra jamais être établie ; il ne peut être exigé de cautionnement des écrivains, éditeurs ou imprimeurs.

Lorsque l'auteur est connu et domicilié en Belgique, l'éditeur, l'imprimeur ou le distributeur ne peut être poursuivi.

Article 19

Les Belges ont le droit de s'assembler paisiblement et sans armes, en se conformant aux lois qui peuvent régler l'exercice de ce droit, sans néanmoins le soumettre à une autorisation préalable.

Cette disposition ne s'applique point aux rassemblements en plein air, qui restent entièrement soumis aux lois de police.

Article 20

Les Belges ont le droit de s'associer ; ce droit ne peut être soumis à aucune mesure préventive.

Article 21

Chacun a le droit d'adresser aux autorités publiques des pétitions signées par une ou plusieurs personnes.

Les autorités constituées ont seules le droit d'adresser des pétitions en nom collectif.

Article 22

Le secret des lettres est inviolable.

La loi détermine quels sont les agents responsables de la violation du secret des lettres confiées à la poste.

Article 23

L'emploi des langues usitées en Belgique est facultatif ; il ne peut être réglé que par la loi, et seulement pour les actes de l'autorité publique et pour les affaires judiciaires.

Article 24

Nulle autorisation préalable n'est nécessaire pour exercer des poursuites contre les fonctionnaires publics, pour faits de leur administration, sauf ce qui est statué à l'égard des ministres.

Source

Constitutions of Nations, ed. Amos J. Peaslee. Volume I Afghanistan to Finland (Concord, N.H.: Rumford, 1950). The full constitution is pp. 123-43; Title II. Belgian Citizens and their Rights", pp. 127-129.

Text

[127]

TITLE II

BELGIAN CITIZENS AND THEIR RIGHTS

Art. 4. Belgian nationality is acquired, retained, and lost according to regulations established by the civil law.

The present Constitution and the other laws relating to political rights determine what other conditions are necessary for the exercise of these rights.

Art. 5. Naturalization is granted by the legislative power.

Full naturalization alone admits foreigners to equality with Belgians in the exercise of political rights.

Art. 6. There shall be no distinction of classes in the state.

All Belgians are equal before the law ; they alone are admissible to civil and military offices, with such exceptions as may be established by law for particular cases.

Art. 7. Individual liberty is guaranteed.

No one may be prosecuted except in cases provided for by law and in the form therein prescribed.

Except when one is taken in the commission of an offense, no one may be arrested without a warrant issued by a magistrate, notice of which [128] must be given at the time of arrest, or at the latest within twenty-four hours thereafter.

Art. 8. No person shall be removed against his will from the jurisdiction of the judge to whom the law assigns him.

Art. 9. No penalty shall be established or enforced except by virtue of a law.

Art. 10. The private domicile is inviolable; no search of premises shall take place except in the cases provided for by law and according to the form therein prescribed.

Art. 11. No one may be deprived of his property except for a public purpose and according to the forms established by law, and in consideration of a just compensation previously determined.

Art. 12. Punishment by confiscation of property shall not be established.

Art. 13. Total deprivation of civil rights (mort civile) is abolished and shall not be reestablished.

Art. 14. Religious liberty and the freedom of public worship, as well as free expression of opinion in all matters, are guaranteed with the reservation of power to suppress offenses committed in the use of these liberties.

Art. 15. No one shall be compelled to join in any manner whatever in the forms and ceremonies of any religious worship, nor to observe its days of rest.

Art. 16. The state shall not interfere either in the appointment or in the installation of the ministers of any religious denomination whatever, nor shall it forbid them to correspond with their superiors or to publish their proceedings, subject, in the latter case, to the ordinary responsibility of the press and of publication.

Civil marriage shall always precede the religious ceremony, except in cases to be established by law if found necessary.

Art. 17. Private instruction shall not be restricted; all measures interfering with it are forbidden; the repression of offenses shall be regulated by law.

Public instruction given at the expense of the state shall likewise be regulated by law.

Art. 18. The press is free; no censorship shall ever be established; no security shall be exacted of writers, publishers, or printers.

In case the writer is known and is a resident of Belgium, the publisher, printer, or distributor shall not be prosecuted.

Art. 19. Belgians have the right, without previous authorization, to assemble peaceably and without arms, conforming themselves to the laws which regulate the exercise of this right.

This provision does not apply to assemblies in the open air, which remain entirely under the police laws.

Art. 20. Belgians have the right of association; this right shall not be restricted by any preventive measure.

Art. 21. Anyone has the right to address petitions to the public authorities, signed by one or more persons.

Legally organized bodies alone have the right to petition under a collective name.

[129]

Art. 22. The privacy of correspondence is inviolable. The law shall determine who are the agents responsible for the violation of the secrecy of letters entrusted to the post.

Art. 23. The use of the languages spoken in Belgium is optional. This matter may be regulated only by law and only for acts of public authority and for judicial proceedings.

Art. 24. No previous authorization is necessary to bring action against public officials for the acts of their administration, except as provided for ministers.

Source

William Lloyd Garrison (1805–1879), Declaration of the anti-slavery convention.Assembled in Philadelphia, December 4, 1833 (Philadelphia: J. R. Sleeper, 1833).

Text and image from the Library of Congress [Online elsewhere].

Text

Source

Œuvres Complètes de Frédéric Bastiat. Mises en ordre, revues et annotées d’après les manuscrits de l’auteur Deuxième Édition. Tome Deuxième. Le Libre-Échange (Paris: Guillaumin et Cie, Libraires, 1862).

Déclaration de principes, pp. 1-4.

Text

[II-1]

10 mai 1846.

Au moment de s’unir pour la défense d’une grande cause, les soussignés sentent le besoin d’exposer leur croyance; de proclamer le but, la limite, les moyens et l’esprit de leur association.

L’échange est un droit naturel comme la propriété. Tout citoyen, qui a créé ou acquis un produit, doit avoir l’option ou de l’appliquer immédiatement à son usage, ou de le céder à quiconque, sur la surface du globe, consent à lui donner en échange l’objet de ses désirs. Le priver de cette faculté, quand il n’en fait aucun usage contraire à [II-2] l’ordre public et aux bonnes mœurs, et uniquement pour satisfaire la convenance d’un autre citoyen, c’est légitimer une spoliation, c’est blesser la loi de la justice.

C’est encore violer les conditions de l’ordre; car quel ordre peut exister au sein d’une société où chaque industrie, aidée en cela par la loi et la force publique, cherche ses succès dans l’oppression de toutes les autres!

C’est méconnaître la pensée providentielle qui préside aux destinées humaines, manifestée par l’infinie variété des climats, des saisons, des forces naturelles et des aptitudes, biens que Dieu n’a si inégalement répartis entre les hommes que pour les unir, par l’échange, dans les liens d’une universelle fraternité.

C’est contrarier le développement de la prospérité publique; puisque celui qui n’est pas libre d’échanger ne l’est pas de choisir son travail, et se voit contraint de donner une fausse direction à ses efforts, à ses facultés, à ses capitaux, et aux agents que la nature avait mis à sa disposition.

Enfin c’est compromettre la paix entre les peuples, car c’est briser les relations qui les unissent et qui rendront les guerres impossibles, à force de les rendre onéreuses.

L’Association a donc pour but la liberté des Échanges.

Les soussignés ne contestent pas à la société le droit d’établir, sur les marchandises qui passent la frontière, des taxes destinées aux dépenses communes, pourvu qu’elles soient déterminées par la seule considération des besoins du Trésor.

Mais sitôt que la taxe, perdant son caractère fiscal, a pour but de repousser le produit étranger, au détriment du fisc lui-même, afin d’exhausser artificiellement le prix du produit national similaire et de rançonner ainsi la communauté au profit d’une classe, dès cet instant la Protection ou plutôt la Spoliation se manifeste; et c’est là le principe que l’Association aspire à ruiner dans les esprits et à effacer [II-3] complétement de nos lois, indépendamment de toute réciprocité et des systèmes qui prévalent ailleurs.

De ce que l’Association poursuit la destruction complète du régime protecteur, il ne s’ensuit pas qu’elle demande qu’une telle réforme s’accomplisse en un jour et sorte d’un seul scrutin. Même pour revenir du mal au bien et d’un état de choses artificiel à une situation naturelle, des précautions peuvent être commandées par la prudence. Ces détails d’exécution appartiennent aux pouvoirs de l’État; la mission de l’Association est de propager, de populariser le principe.

Quant aux moyens qu’elle entend mettre en œuvre, jamais elle ne les cherchera ailleurs que dans des voies constitutionnelles et légales.

Enfin l’Association se place en dehors de tous les partis politiques. Elle ne se met au service d’aucune industrie, d’aucune classe, d’aucune portion du territoire. Elle [II-4] embrasse la cause de l’éternelle justice, de la paix, de l’union, de la libre communication, de la fraternité entre tous les hommes; la cause de l’intérêt général, qui se confond, partout et sous tous les aspects, avec celle du Public consommateur.

Source

Œuvres Complètes de Frédéric Bastiat. Mises en ordre, revues et annotées d’après les manuscrits de l’auteur Deuxième Édition. Tome Deuxième. Le Libre-Échange (Paris: Guillaumin et Cie, Libraires, 1862).

Déclaration de principes, pp. 1-4.

Text

At the moment of uniting in defense of a great cause, the undersigned feel the need to set out their beliefs, to state the objective, the boundaries, the means, and the state of mind of their association.

TRADE is a natural right, just as PROPERTY is. Any citizen who has created or acquired a product has to have the option of either using it himself immediately or of selling it to someone anywhere in the world who agrees to give him in exchange an object he wants. To deprive him of this opportunity when he has done nothing that is contrary to public order and decent behavior, and solely in order to satisfy the desire of some other citizen, is to legitimize plunder and harm the law of justice.

It also violates the conditions for maintaining order, for what kind of order can exist within a society in which each industry, with the assistance of the law and public coercion, seeks to benefit by oppressing everyone else!

It fails to recognize the Providential intention that governs human destiny, which is revealed in the infinite variety of climates, seasons, the forces of nature, and individual aptitudes, goods that God has distributed so unequally among men with the sole aim of uniting them through trade and through the bonds of universal fraternity.

It runs counter to the development of public prosperity, since anyone who is not free to trade is not free to choose his work, and is forced to direct his efforts, his capacities and his capital, as well as the natural resources that nature has placed at his disposal, to a false end.

Finally it jeopardises the peace between nations, for it is to disrupt the relationships that unite them and which would make war impossible by making them too costly.

The aim of the Association, therefore, is FREE TRADE.

The undersigned do not dispute the right of society to impose taxes on goods that cross the frontier that are intended to cover public expenditure, provided that they are determined solely by consideration of the needs of the Treasury.

However, as soon as the tax loses its fiscal character and is designed to keep out foreign products to the detriment of the tax authorities themselves in order to raise artificially the price of similar products produced nationally and thus hold the community to ransom for the benefit of a single class, Protection, or rather Plunder, is the result; and this is the principle that the Association aspires to destroy in people’s minds and to erase totally from our laws, independently of any reciprocity and systems that prevail elsewhere.

Because the Association seeks the total destruction of the protectionist regime, it does not follow that it requires this reform to be accomplished in a single day and as the result of a single election. Even in order to move away from harm and return to what is beneficial, away from an artificial state of things to a more natural situation, some precautionary measures may be required as a matter of prudence. These details of execution lie within the powers of the State; the mission of the Association is to spread and popularise the principle.

As for the means it intends to use, it will only ever use constitutional and legal methods.

Finally the Association is independent of all political parties. It will be at the service of no industry, no class, and no region of the country. It will embrace the cause of eternal justice, peace, union, free communication, and fraternity among all peoples; (and embrace) the cause of the general interest that merges everywhere and in all respects with that of the Public as Consumers.

Source

HTML from "German History in Documents and Images" [Online elsewhere].

Source: W. Blos, Die deutsche Revolution 1848/49, p. 487 ff; reprinted in Ernst Rudolf Huber, ed., Deutsche Verfassungsdokumente 1803–1850, vol. 1, Dokumente zur deutschen Verfassungsgeschichte, 3rd ed., rev. and enl. (Stuttgart: W. Kohlhammer, 1978), pp. 332–34.

Text

We the undersigned place this motion before the German Parliament at Frankfurt a. M.: that it immediately approve the following compilation of the rights of the German people and see to their implementation.

A long period of the most profound humiliation weighs heavily on Germany. It may be characterized by the words: subjugation, stultification, and bleeding dry of the people. Under the influence of this system of tyranny, which, though broken in its power, still lives on in essence, Germany has more than once been brought to the brink of ruin. It has lost many of its most lovely provinces, and others are already severely threatened. The distress of the people has become unbearable. In Upper Silesia it has intensified to the point of famine.

Therefore all the ties that had bound the German people to the previous so-called order of things have dissolved, and it is the job of the assembly of German men that has come together on March 31 of this year in Frankfurt a. M. to create new ties with which the entire German people will be bound together into a free and great whole.

Security of property and person, prosperity, education, and freedom for all irrespective of birth, station, and creed is the goal toward which the German people aim. The means by which to attain these are:

1. Abolition of the standing army of soldiers and its merger with the citizens’ army for the purpose of building a true people’s army comprising all men capable of bearing arms.

2. Abolition of the standing army of state officials and replacement of the same by a benevolent government made up of freely elected men of the people.

3. Abolition of the standing armies of taxes that live off the marrow of the people, especially all those taxes that inhibit Germany’s domestic commerce, internal tariffs, and shipping duties that depress agriculture, tithes, seigneurial dues and rents etc., which encumber trade, trade taxes, excises etc., and their replacement:

• a) with a progressive income and property tax, by which the portion necessary for a livelihood remains free of all taxes;
• b) with a tariff raised at the borders of Germany for the protection of its trade, its industry, and its agriculture;

4. Abolition of all prerogatives, whatever names these might carry, especially of the nobility, the privileges of wealth, the abolition of privileged jurisdictions and their replacement by a general German civic law.

5. Abolition of the paternalism of the municipalities and replacement of the same by a municipal law based on self-government.

6. The closing of all monasteries and monastic institutions.

7. Dissolution of the covenant which hitherto existed between church and state and church and school, and replacement of the same by:

• a) the principles of equal rights for all creeds, [the principles] of undiminished freedom of belief and conscience, of the free right of association, of self-administration of the communities, and particularly their right to choose freely their clergy, teachers, and mayors.
• b) improvement of the teaching profession and more evenly distributed pastors’ salaries;
• c) abolition of school fees and fees for pastors [for baptism, marriages].

8. Abolition of censorship, licenses, and sureties, and the replacement of these compulsory institutions by the principle of freedom of the press to the widest extent.

9. Abolition of secret and written inquisition courts and their replacement by public and oral jury courts.

10. Abolition of the hundreds of restrictions on the personal freedoms of Germans from the various estates and the equal securing of the same by a special law (act of habeas corpus act in the broadest sense), which will also establish a law of associations and assembly in particular.

11. Elimination of the suffering of the working classes and the middle class, promotion of trade, the business profession, and agriculture. To this end, ample means are provided by the once enormous civil lists[1], appanages, unearned and excessive salaries and pensions, manifold endowments, and currently idle possessions of several corporate bodies, as well as domains of the land.

12. Redressing the disproportion between labor and capital by means of a special labor ministry, which shall oppose usury and protect labor, in particular secure labor a share of the profits created by labor.

13. Abolition of the thousand-fold and mutually divergent systems of civil law, criminal law, trial law, canon law, and constitutional law, and matters of coinage, weights, post office, railways etc., and their replacement by laws which, arising from the spirit of our time, establish the inner unity of Germany in spiritual [intellectual] and material terms along with its freedom.

14. Abolition of the disunity of Germany and the restoration of division in Imperial circles [Reichskreise] with all due consideration to present conditions.

15. Termination of the hereditary monarchy (despotism) and its replacement by freely elected parliaments headed by freely elected presidents, all united in the federal constitutional government on the model of the North American free states.

German people, these are the principles with whose help alone, in our view, Germany can become happy, respected, and free.

German brethren East and West, we urge you to support us in the effort to unify you and obtain inalienable human rights for you. In Frankfurt a. M. we will remain united until a freely elected parliament can take charge of Germany’s fate. In the meantime, we will draft the necessary bills and, with a freely elected executive committee, prepare the great work of Germany’s recovery.

Source

The History of Woman Suffrage, by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony and Matilda Gage: Vol. I: 1835-1860 (New York: Fowler & Wells, 1881). "Seneca Falls Declaration and Resolutions", pp. 70-73.

The HTML is from "Uncle Tom's Cabin and American Culture: A Multi-Media Archive" at the University of Virginia [Online elsewhere].

DECLARATION OF SENTIMENTS

[70]

[First Woman's Rights Convention. Seneca Falls, NY (19-20 July 1848)]

When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one portion of the family of man to assume among the people of the earth a position different from that which they have hitherto occupied, but one to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes that impel them to such a course.

We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men and women are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that to secure these rights governments are instituted, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. Whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of those who suffer from it to refuse allegiance to it, and to insist upon the institution of a new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they were accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their duty to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security. Such has been the patient sufferance of the women under this government, and such is now the necessity which constrains them to demand the equal station to which they are entitled.

The history of mankind is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations on the part of man toward woman, having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over her. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has never permitted her to exercise her inalienable right to the elective franchise.

He has compelled her to submit to laws, in the formation of which she had no voice.

He has withheld from her rights which are given to the most ignorant and degraded men—both natives and foreigners.

Having deprived her of this first right of a citizen, the elective franchise, thereby leaving her without representation in the halls of legislation, he has oppressed her on all sides.

He has made her, if married, in the eye of the law, civilly dead.

He has taken from her all right in property, even to the wages she earns.

He has made her, morally, an irresponsible being, as she can commit many crimes with impunity, provided they be done in the presence of her husband. In the covenant of marriage, she is compelled to promise obedience to her husband, he becoming, to all intents and purposes, her master—the law giving him power to deprive her of her liberty, and to administer chastisem*nt.

[71]

He has so framed the laws of divorce, as to what shall be the proper causes, and in case of separation, to whom the guardianship of the children shall be given, as to be wholly regardless of the happiness of women—the law, in all cases, going upon a false supposition of the supremacy of man, and giving all power into his hands.

After depriving her of all rights as a married woman, if single, and the owner of property, he has taxed her to support a government which recognizes her only when her property can be made profitable to it.

He has monopolized nearly all the profitable employments, and from those she is permitted to follow, she receives but a scanty remuneration. He closes against her all the avenues to wealth and distinction which he considers most honorable to himself. As a teacher of theology, medicine, or law, she is not known.

He has denied her the facilities for obtaining a thorough education, all colleges being closed against her.

He allows her in Church, as well as State, but a subordinate position, claiming Apostolic authority for her exclusion from the ministry, and, with some exceptions, from any public participation in the affairs of the Church.

He has created a false public sentiment by giving to the world a different code of morals for men and women, by which moral delinquencies which exclude women from society, are not only tolerated, but deemed of little account in man.

He has usurped the prerogative of Jehovah himself, claiming it as his right to assign for her a sphere of action, when that belongs to her conscience and to her God.

He has endeavored, in every way that he could, to destroy her confidence in her own powers, to lessen her self-respect, and to make her willing to lead a dependent and abject life.

Now, in view of this entire disfranchisem*nt of one-half the people of this country, their social and religious degradation—in view of the unjust laws above mentioned, and because women do feel themselves aggrieved, oppressed, and fraudulently deprived of their most sacred rights, we insist that they have immediate admission to all the rights and privileges which belong to them as citizens of the United States.

In entering upon the great work before us, we anticipate no small amount of misconception, misrepresentation, and ridicule; but we shall use every instrumentality within our power to effect our object. We shall employ agents, circulate tracts, petition the State and National legislatures, and endeavor to enlist the pulpit and the press in our behalf. We hope this Convention will be followed by a series of Conventions embracing every part of the country.

The following resolutions were discussed by Lucretia Mott, Thomas and Mary Ann McClintock, Amy Post, Catherine A. F. Stebbins, and others, and were adopted:

WHEREAS, The great precept of nature is conceded to be, that "man shall pursue his own true and substantial happiness." Blackstone in his [72] Commentaries remarks, that this law of Nature being coeval with mankind, and dictated by God himself, is of course superior in obligation to any other. It is binding over all the globe, in all countries and at all times; no human laws are of any validity if contrary to this, and such of them as are valid, derive all their force, and all their validity, and all their authority, mediately and immediately, from this original; therefore,

Resolved, That such laws as conflict, in any way, with the true and substantial happiness of woman, are contrary to the great precept of Nature and of no validity, for this is "superior in obligation to any other."

Resolved, That all laws which prevent woman from occupying such a station in society as her conscience shall dictate, or which place her in a position inferior to that of man, are contrary to the great precept of Nature, and therefore of no force or authority.

Resolved, That woman is man's equal—was intended to be so by the Creator, and the highest good of the race demands that she should be recognized as such.

Resolved, That the women of this country ought to be enlightened in regard to the laws under which they live, that they may no longer publish their degradation by declaring themselves satisfied with their present position, nor their ignorance, by asserting that they have all the rights they want.

Resolved, That inasmuch as man, while claiming for himself intellectual superiority, does accord to woman moral superiority, it is pre-eminently his duty to encourage her to speak and teach as she has opportunity, in all religious assemblies.

Resolved, That the same amount of virtue, delicacy, and refinement of behavior that is required of woman in the social state, should also be required of man, and the same transgressions should be visited with equal severity on both man and woman.

Resolved, That the objection of indelicacy and impropriety, which is so often brought against woman when she addresses a public audience, comes with a very ill-grace from those who encourage, by their attendance, her appearance on the stage, in the concert, or in feats of the circus.

Resolved, That woman has too long rested satisfied in the circ*mscribed limits which corrupt customs and a perverted application of the Scriptures have marked out for her, and that it is time she should move in the enlarged sphere which her great Creator has assigned her.

Resolved, That it is the duty of the women of this country to secure to themselves their sacred right to the elective franchise.

Resolved, That the equality of human rights results necessarily from the fact of the identity of the race in capabilities and responsibilities.

Resolved, therefore, That, being invested by the Creator with the same capabilities, and the same consciousness of responsibility for their exercise, it is demonstrably the right and duty of woman, equally with man, to promote every righteous cause by every righteous means; and especially in regard to the great subjects of morals and religion, it is self-evidently her right to participate with her brother in teaching them, both in private and in public, by writing and by speaking, by any instrumentalities proper to be used, and in any assemblies proper to be held; and this [73] being a self-evident truth growing out of the divinely implanted principles of human nature, any custom or authority adverse to it, whether modern or wearing the hoary sanction of antiquity, is to be regarded as a self-evident falsehood, and at war with mankind.

At the last session Lucretia Mott offered and spoke to the following resolution:

Resolved, That the speedy success of our cause depends upon the zealous and untiring efforts of both men and women, for the overthrow of the monopoly of the pulpit, and for the securing to woman an equal participation with men in the various trades, professions, and commerce.

The only resolution that was not unanimously adopted was the ninth, urging the women of the country to secure to themselves the elective franchise. Those who took part in the debate feared a demand for the right to vote would defeat others they deemed more rational, and make the whole movement ridiculous.

But Mrs. Stanton and Frederick Douglass seeing that the power to choose rulers and make laws, was the right by which all others could be secured, persistently advocated the resolution, and at last carried it by a small majority.

Thus is will be seen that the Declaration and resolutions in the very first Convention, demanded all the most radical friends of the movement have since claimed—such as equal rights in the universities, in the trades and professions; the right to vote; to share in all political offices, honors, and emoluments; to complete equality in marriage, to personal freedom, property, wages, children; to make contracts; to sue, and be sued; and to testify in courts of justice. At this time the condition of married women under the Common Law, was nearly as degraded as that of the slave on the Southern plantation.

Source

HTML from the "Digithèque de matériaux juridiques et politiques" at the Université de Perpignan Via Domitia [Online elsewhere].

Chapitre II. Autorités fédérales has been omitted for reasons of space.

Text

Au nom de Dieu Tout Puissant !

La Confédération suisse, voulant affermir l'alliance des confédérés, maintenir et accroître l'unité, la force et l'honneur de la nation suisse, a adopté la Constitution fédérale suivante,

Chapitre premier
Dispositions générales

Article premier

Les peuples des vingt-deux cantons souverains de la Suisse, unis par la présente alliance, savoir : Zurich, Berne, Lucerne, Uri, Schwyz, Unterwalden (le Haut et le Bas), Glaris, Zoug, Fribourg, Soleure, Bâle (Ville et Campagne), Schaffhouse, Appenzell (les deux Rhodes), Saint-Gall, Grisons, Argovie, Thurgovie, Tessin, Vaud, Valais, Neuchâtel, et Genève, forment dans leur ensemble la Confédération suisse.

Article 2

La Confédération a pour but d'assurer l'indépendance de la patrie contre l'étranger, de maintenir la tranquillité et l'ordre à l'intérieur, de protéger la liberté et les droits des confédérés et d'accroître leur prospérité commune.

Article 3

Les cantons sont souverains en tant que leur souveraineté n'est pas limitée par la Constitution fédérale, et, comme tels, ils exercent tous les droits qui ne sont pas délégués au pouvoir fédéral.

Article 4

Tous les Suisses sont égaux devant la loi. Il n'y a en Suisse ni sujets, ni privilège de lieu, de naissance, de personnes ou de familles.

Article 5

La Confédération garantit aux cantons leur territoire, leur souveraineté dans les limites fixées par l' Article 3, leurs constitutions, la liberté et les droits du peuple, les droits constitutionnels des citoyens, ainsi que les droits et les attributions que le peuple a conférés aux autorités.

Article 6

A cet effet les cantons sont tenus de demander à la Confédération la garantie de leurs constitutions. Cette garantie est accordée, pourvu :

• a. Que ces constitutions ne renferment rien de contraire aux dispositions de la Constitution fédérale ;
• b. Qu'elles assurent l'exercice des droits politiques d'après des formes républicaines, représentatives ou démocratiques ;
• c. Qu'elles aient été acceptées par le peuple et qu'elles puissent être révisées lorsque la majorité absolue des citoyens le demande.

Article 7

Toute alliance particulière et tout traité d'une nature politique entre cantons sont interdits.

En revanche, les cantons ont le droit de conclure entre eux des conventions sur des objets de législation, d'administration ou de justice ; toutefois, ils doivent les porter à la connaissance de l'autorité fédérale, laquelle, si ces conventions renferment quelque chose de contraire à la Confédération ou aux droits des autres cantons, est autorisée à en empêcher l'exécution. Dans le cas contraire, les cantons contractants sont autorisés à réclamer pour l'exécution la coopération des autorités fédérales.

Article 8

La Confédération a seule le droit de déclarer la guerre et de conclure la paix, ainsi que de faire, avec les États étrangers, des alliances et des traités, notamment des traités de péage (douanes) et de commerce.

Article 9

Toutefois, les cantons conservent le droit de conclure, avec les États étrangers, des traités sur des objets concernant l'économie publique, les rapports de voisinage et la police ; néanmoins, ces traités ne doivent rien contenir de contraire à la Confédération ou aux droits d'autres cantons.

Article 10

Les rapports officiels entre les cantons et les gouvernements étrangers ou leurs représentants ont lieu par l'intermédiaire du Conseil fédéral.

Toutefois, les cantons peuvent correspondre directement avec les autorités inférieures et les employés d'un État étranger, lorsqu'il s'agit des objets mentionnés à l' Article précédent.

Article 11

Il ne peut être conclu de capitulations militaires.

Article 12

Les membres des autorités fédérales, les fonctionnaires civils et militaires et les représentants ou les commissaires fédéraux ne peuvent accepter d'un gouvernement étranger ni pensions ou traitements, ni titres, présents ou décorations.

S'ils sont déjà en possession de pensions, de titres ou de décorations, ils devront renoncer à jouir de leurs pensions et à porter leurs titres ou leurs décorations pendant la durée de leurs fonctions.

Toutefois les employés inférieurs peuvent être autorisés par le Conseil fédéral à recevoir leurs pensions.

Article 13

La Confédération n'a pas le droit d'entretenir des troupes permanentes.

Nul canton ou demi-canton ne peut avoir plus de 300 hommes de troupes permanentes sans l'autorisation du pouvoir fédéral ; la gendarmerie n'est pas comprise dans ce nombre.

Article 14

Des différends venant à s'élever entre cantons, les États s'abstiendront de toute voie de fait et de tout armement. Ils se soumettront à la décision qui sera prise sur ces différends conformément aux prescriptions fédérales.

Article 15

Dans le cas d'un danger subit provenant du dehors, le gouvernement du canton menacé doit requérir le secours des États confédérés et en aviser immédiatement l'autorité fédérale, le tout sans préjudice des dispositions qu'elle pourra prendre. Les cantons requis sont tenus de prêter secours. Les frais sont supportés par la Confédération.

Article 16

En cas de troubles à l'intérieur, ou lorsque le danger provient d'un autre canton, le gouvernement du canton menacé doit en aviser immédiatement le Conseil fédéral, afin qu'il puisse prendre les mesures nécessaires dans les limites de sa compétence (Article 90, n° 3, 10 et 11) ou convoquer l'Assemblée fédérale. Lorsqu'il y a urgence, le gouvernement est autorisé, en avertissant immédiatement le Conseil fédéral, à requérir le secours d'autres États confédérés, qui sont tenus de le prêter. Lorsque le gouvernement est hors d'état d'invoquer le secours, l'autorité fédérale compétente peut intervenir sans réquisition ; elle est tenue d'intervenir lorsque les troubles compromettent la sûreté de la Suisse.

En cas d'intervention, les autorités fédérales veillent à l'observation des dispositions prescrites à l' Article 5.

Les frais sont supportés par le canton qui a requis l'assistance ou occasionné l'intervention, à moins que l'Assemblée fédérale n'en décide autrement en considération de circonstances particulières.

Article 17

Dans les cas mentionnés aux deux Articles précédents, chaque canton est tenu d'accorder libre passage aux troupes. Celles-ci seront immédiatement placées sous le commandement fédéral.

Article 18

Tout Suisse est tenu au service militaire.

Article 19

L'armée fédérale formée des contingents des cantons se compose :

• a. De l'élite, pour laquelle chaque canton fournit trois hommes sur cent âmes de population suisse ;
• b. De la réserve qui est la moitié de l'élite.

Lorsqu'il y a danger, la Confédération peut aussi disposer de la seconde réserve (Landwehr) qui se compose des autres forces militaires des cantons.

L'échelle des contingents fixant le nombre d'hommes que doit fournir chaque canton sera soumise à une révision tous les vingt ans.

Article 20

Afin d'introduire dans l'armée fédérale l'uniformité et l'aptitude nécessaires, on arrête les bases suivantes :

• 1° Une loi fédérale détermine l'organisation générale de l'armée ;
• 2° La Confédération se charge :
  • a. De l'instruction des corps du génie, de l'artillerie et de la cavalerie ; toutefois les Cantons chargés de ces armes fournissent les chevaux ;
  • b. De former les instructeurs pour les autres armes ;
  • c. De l'instruction militaire supérieure pour toutes les armes ; à cette fin, elle établit des écoles militaires et ordonne des réunions de troupes ;
  • d. De fournir une partie du matériel de guerre.
• La centralisation de l'instruction militaire pourra au besoin être développée ultérieurement par la législation fédérale.
• 3° La Confédération surveille l'instruction militaire de l'infanterie et des carabiniers, ainsi que l'achat, la construction et l'entretien du matériel de guerre que les cantons doivent fournir à l'armée fédérale.
• 4° Les ordonnances militaires des Cantons ne doivent rien contenir de contraire à l'organisation générale de l'armée non plus qu'à leurs obligations fédérales ; elle sont communiquées au Conseil fédéral pour qu'il les examine sous ce rapport.
• 5° Tous les corps de troupes au service de la Confédération portent le drapeau fédéral.

Article 21

La Confédération peut ordonner à ses frais ou encourager par des subsides les travaux publics qui intéressent la Suisse ou une partie considérable du pays.

Dans ce but, elle peut ordonner l'expropriation moyennant une juste indemnité. La législation fédérale statuera les dispositions ultérieures sur cette matière.

L'Assemblée fédérale peut interdire les constructions publiques qui porteraient atteinte aux intérêts militaires de la Confédération.

Article 22

La Confédération a le droit d'établir une Université suisse et une École polytechnique.

Article 23

Ce qui concerne les péages (douanes) relève de la Confédération.

Article 24

La Confédération a le droit, moyennant une indemnité, de supprimer en tout ou en partie les péages sur terre ou sur eau, les droits de transit, de chaussée et de pontonnage ; les droits de douane et les autres finances de ce genre accordées ou reconnues par la Diète, soit que ces péages et autres droits appartiennent aux Cantons, ou qu'ils soient perçus par des communes, des corporations ou des particuliers. Toutefois les droits de chaussée et les péages qui grèvent le transit seront rachetés dans toute la Suisse.

La Confédération pourra percevoir, à la frontière suisse, des droits d'importation, d'exportation et de transit.

Elle a le droit d'utiliser, moyennant indemnité, en les acquérant ou les prenant en location, les bâtiments actuellement destinés à l'administration des péages à la frontière suisse.

Article 25

La perception des péages fédéraux sera réglée conformément aux principes suivants :

• 1° Droits sur l'importation :
  • a. Les matières nécessaires à l'industrie du pays seront taxées aussi bas que possible.
  • b. Il en sera de même des objets nécessaire à la vie.
  • c. Les objets de luxe seront soumis au tarif le plus élevé.
• 2° Les droits de transit et en général les droits sur l'exportation seront aussi modérés que possible.
• 3° La législation des péages contiendra des dispositions propres à assurer le commerce frontière et sur les marchés.

Les dispositions ci-dessus n'empêchent point la Confédération de prendre temporairement des mesures exceptionnelles dans des circonstances extraordinaires.

Article 26

Le produit des péages fédéraux sur l'importation et le transit sera employé comme suit :

• a. Chaque Canton recevra quatre batz par tête de sa population totale, d'après le recensem*nt de 1838.
• b. Les Cantons qui. au moyen de cette répartition ne seront pas suffisamment couverts de la perte résultant pour eux de la suppression des droits mentionnés à l'Article 24, recevront de plus la somme nécessaire pour les indemniser de ces droits d'après la moyenne du produit net des cinq années 1842 à 1846 inclusivement.
• c. L'excédant de la recette des péages sera versé dans la Caisse fédérale.

Article 27

Lorsque des péages, des droits de chaussée où de pontonnage ont été accordés pour amortir le capital employé à une construction ou une partie de ce capital, la perception de ces péages et de ces droits ou le payement de l'indemnité cesse dès que la somme à couvrir, y compris les intérêts, est atteinte.

Article 28

Les dispositions qui précèdent ne dérogent point aux clauses relatées aux droits de transit renfermées dans des conventions conclues avec les entreprises des chemins de fer.

De son côté, la Confédération acquiert les droits réservés par ces traités aux Cantons touchant les finances perçues sur le transit.

Article 29

Le libre achat et la libre vente des denrées, du bétail et des marchandises proprement dites, ainsi que des autres produits du sol et de l'industrie, leur libre entrée, leur libre sortie et leur libre passage d'un Canton à l'autre, sont garantis dans toute l'étendue de la Confédération. Sont réservés :

• a. Quant à l'achat et à la vente, la régale du sel et de la poudre à canon ;
• b. Les dispositions des Cantons touchant la police du commerce et de l'industrie, ainsi que celle des routes ;
• c. Les dispositions contre l'accaparement ;
• d. Les mesures temporaires de police de santé, lors d'épidémies et d'épizooties. Les dispositions mentionnées sous les lettres b et c ci-dessus, doivent être les mêmes pour les citoyens du Canton et ceux des autres États confédérés. Elles sont soumises à l'examen du Conseil fédéral et ne peuvent être mises à exécution avant d'avoir reçu son approbation ;
• e. Les droits accordés ou retenus par la Diète et que la Confédération n'a pas supprimés (art. 24 et 31) ;
• f. Les droits de consommation sur les vins et autres boissons spiritueuses, conformément aux prescriptions de l'Article 32.

Article 30

La législation fédérale statuera, pour autant que la Confédération y est intéressée, les dispositions nécessaires touchant l'abolition des privilèges relatifs au transport des personnes et des marchandises de quelque espèce que ce soit, sur terre ou sur eau, existant entre Cantons ou dans l'intérieur d'un Canton.

Article 31

La perception des droits mentionnés à l'art. 29, lettre e, a lieu sous la surveillance du Conseil fédéral. On ne pourra, sans l'autorisation de l'Assemblée fédérale, ni les hausser ni en prolonger la durée, s'ils ont été accordés pour un temps déterminé.

Les Cantons ne pourront, sous quelque dénomination que ce soit, établir de nouveaux péages, non plus que de nouveaux droits de chaussée et de pontonnage. Toutefois l'Assemblée fédérale pourra autoriser la perception de péages, ou de tels droits, afin d'encourager, conformément à l' Article 21, des constructions d'un intérêt général pour le commerce, et qui ne pourraient être entreprises sans cette concession.

Article 32

Outre les droits réservés à l'art. 29, lettre e, les cantons sont autorisés à percevoir des droits de consommation sur les vins et les autres boissons spiritueuses, toutefois moyennant les restrictions suivantes :

• a. La perception de ces droits de consommation ne doit nullement grever le transit ; elle doit gêner le moins possible le commerce qui ne peut être frappé d'aucune autre taxe.
• b. Si les objets importés pour la consommation sont réexportés du canton, les droits payés pour l'entrée sont restitués sans qu'il en résulte d'autres charges.
• c. Les produits d'origine suisse seront moins imposés que ceux de l'étranger.
• d. Les droits actuels de consommation sur les vins et les autres boissons spiritueuses d'origine suisse ne pourront être haussés par les Cantons où il en existe. Il n'en pourra point être établi sur ces produits par les Cantons qui n'en perçoivent pas actuellement.
• e. Les lois et les arrêtés des Cantons sur la perception des droits de consommation sont, avant leur mise à exécution, soumis à l'approbation de l'autorité fédérale, afin qu'elle fasse, au be soin, observer les dispositions qui précèdent,

Article 33

La Confédération se charge de l'administration des postes dans toute la Suisse, conformément aux prescriptions suivantes :

• 1° Le service des postes ne doit, dans son ensemble, pas descendre au-dessous de son état actuel, sans le consentement des Cantons intéressés.
• 2° Les tarifs seront fixés d'après les mêmes principes et aussi équitablement que possible dans toutes les parties de la Suisse.
• 3° L'inviolabilité du secret des lettres est garantie.
• 4° La Confédération indemnisera comme suit les Cantons pour la cession qu'ils lui font du droit régalien des postes :
  • a. Les Cantons reçoivent chaque année la moyenne du produit net des postes sur leur territoire pendant les trois années 1844, 1845 et 1846. Toutefois si le produit net que la Confédération retire des postes ne suffit pas à payer cette indemnité, il est fait au Canton une diminution proportionnelle.
  • b. Lorsqu'un Canton n'a rien reçu directement pour l'exercice du droit de posté, ou lorsque, par suite d'un traité postal conclu avec un autre État confédéré, un Canton a beaucoup moins reçu pour ses postes que le produit net et constaté de l'exercice du droit régalien sur son territoire, cette circonstance est équitablement prise en considération, lors de la fixation de l'indemnité.
  • c. Lorsque l'exercice du droit régalien des postes a été laissé à des particuliers, la Confédération se charge de les indemniser, s'il y a lieu.
  • d. La Confédération a le droit et l'obligation d'acquérir, moyennant une indemnité équitables le matériel appartenant l'administration des postes, pour autant qu'il est propre à l'usage auquel il est destiné et que l'administration en a besoin.
  • e. L'administration fédérale a le droit d'utiliser les bâtiments actuellement destinés aux postes, moyennant une indemnité, en les acquérant ou les prenant en location.

Article 34

Les employée aux péages et aux postes doivent, en majeure partie, être choisis parmi les habitants des Cantons où ils sont placés.

Article 35

La Confédération exerce la haute surveillance sur les routes et les ponts dont le maintien l'intéresse. Les sommes à payer aux Cantons, en vertu des Articles 26 et 33, sont retenues par l'autorité fédérale lorsque ces routes et ces ponts ne sont pas convenablement entretenus par les Cantons, les corporations ou les particuliers que cela concerne.

Article 36

La Confédération exerce tous les droits compris dans la régale des monnaies. Les cantons cessent de battre monnaie ; le numéraire est frappé par la Confédération seule.

Une loi fédérale fixera le pied monétaire ainsi que le tarif des espèces en circulation ; elle statuera aussi les dispositions ultérieures sur l'obligation où sont les cantons de refondre ou de refrapper une partie des monnaies qu'ils ont émises.

Article 37

La Confédération introduira l'uniformité des poids et mesures dans toute l'étendue de son territoire, en prenant pour base le concordat fédéral touchant cette matière.

Article 38

La fabrication et la vente de la poudre à canon appartiennent exclusivement à la Confédération dans toute la Suisse.

Article 39

Les dépenses de la Confédération sont couvertes :

• a. Par les intérêts des fonds de guerre fédéraux ;
• b. Par le produit des péages fédéraux perçus à la frontière suisse ;
• c. Par le produit des postes ;
• d. Par le produit des poudres ;
• e. Par les contributions des Cantons qui ne peuvent être levées qu'en vertu d'arrêtés de l'Assemblée fédérale.

Ces contributions sont payées par les Cantons d'après l'échelle des contingents d'argent qui sera soumise à une révision tous les vingt ans.

Dans cette révision on prendra pour base tant la population des cantons que la fortune et les moyens de gagner qu'ils renferment.

Article 40

Il devra toujours y avoir en argent comptant dans la caisse fédérale au moins le montant du double contingent d'argent des Cantons, pour subvenir aux dépenses militaires occasionnées par les levées de troupes fédérales.

Article 41

La Confédération suisse garantit à tous les Suisses de l'une des confessions chrétiennes le droit de s'établir librement dans toute l'étendue du territoire suisse conformément aux dispositions suivantes :

• 1° Aucun Suisse ne peut être empêché de s'établir dans un Canton quelconque s'il est muni des pièces authentiques suivantes :
  • a. D'un acte d'origine ou d'une autre pièce équivalente ;
  • b. D'un certificat de bonnes moeurs ;
  • c. D'une attestation qu'il jouit des droits civiques et qu'il n'est point légalement flétri.

Il doit de plus, s'il en est requis, prouver qu'il est en état de s'entretenir lui et sa famille, par sa fortune, sa profession ou son travail.

Les Suisses naturalisés doivent, de plus, produire un certificat portant qu'ils sont, depuis cinq ans au moins, en possession d'un droit de cité cantonal.

• 2° Le Canton dans lequel un Suisse établit son domicile ne peut exiger de lui un cautionnement ni lui imposer aucune autre charge particulière pour cet établissem*nt.
• 3° Une loi fédérale fixera la durée du permis d'établissem*nt, ainsi que le maximum de l'émolument de chancellerie à payer au Canton pour obtenir ce permis.
• 4° En s'établissant dans un autre Canton, le Suisse entre en jouissance de tous les droits des citoyens de ce Canton, à l'exception de celui de voter dans les affaires communales et de la participation aux biens des communes et des corporations. En particulier la liberté d'industrie et le droit d'acquérir au d'aliéner des biens-fonds lui sont assurés conformément aux lois et ordonnances du Canton, lesquelles doivent, à tous ces égards, traiter le Suisse domicilié à l'égal du citoyen du Canton.
• 5° Les communes ne peuvent imposer à leurs habitants appartenant à d'autres Cantons des contributions ou charges communales plus fortes qu'à leurs habitants appartenant à d'autres communes de leur propre Canton.
• 6° Le Suisse établi dans un autre Canton peut en être renvoyé :
  • a. Par sentence du juge en matière pénale ;
  • b. Par ordre des autorités de police s'il a perdu ses droits civils et a été légalement flétri ; si sa conduite est contraire aux moeurs, s'il tombe à la charge du public, ou s'il a été souvent puni pour contravention aux lois ou règlements de police.

Article 42

Tout citoyen d'un Canton est citoyen suisse. Il peut à ce titre exercer les droits politiques pour les affaires fédérales et cantonales dans chaque Canton où il est établi. Il ne peut exercer ces droits qu'aux mêmes conditions que les citoyens du Canton et, en tant qu'il s'agit des affaires cantonales, qu'après un séjour dont la durée est déterminée par la législation cantonale ; cette durée ne peut excéder deux ans.

Nul ne peut exercer des droits politiques dans plus d'un Canton.

Article 43

Aucun Canton ne peut priver un de ses ressortissants du droit d'origine ou de cité.

Les étrangers ne peuvent être naturalisés dans un canton qu'autant qu'ils sont affranchis de tout lien envers l'État auquel ils appartenaient.

Article 44

Le libre exercice du culte des confessions chrétiennes reconnues est garanti dans toute la Confédération. Toutefois les Cantons et la Confédération pourront toujours prendre les mesures propres au maintien de l'ordre public et de la paix entre les confessions.

Article 45

La liberté de la presse est garantie.

Toutefois les lois cantonales statuent les mesures nécessaires à la répression des abus ; ces lois sont soumises à l'approbation du Conseil fédéral.

La Confédération peut aussi statuer des peines pour réprimer les abus dirigés contre elle ou ses autorités.

Article 46

Les citoyens ont le droit de former des associations pourvu qu'il n'y ait, dans le but de ces associations ou dans les moyens qu'elles emploient, rien d'illicite ou de dangereux pour l'État. Les lois cantonales statuent les mesures nécessaires à la répression des abus.

Article 47

Le droit de pétition est garanti.

Article 48

Tous les Cantons sont obligés de traiter les citoyens de l'une des confesions chrétiennes ressortissant des des autres États confédérés comme ceux de leur État, en matière de législation et pour tout ce qui concerne les voies juridiques.

Article 49

Les jugements civils définitifs rendus dans un Canton sont exécutoires dans toute la Suisse.

Article 50

Pour réclamations personnelles, le débiteur suisse ayant domicile et solvable, doit être recherché devant son juge naturel ; ses biens ne peuvent en conséquence être saisis ou séquestrés hors du Canton où il est domicilié en vertu de réclamations personnelles.

Article 51

La traite foraine est abolie dans l'intérieur de la Suisse, ainsi que le droit de retrait des citoyens d'un Canton contre ceux d'autres États confédérés.

Article 52

La traite foraine à l'égard des pays étrangers est abolie sous réserve de réciprocité.

Article 53

Nul ne peut être distrait de son juge naturel. En conséquence, il ne pourra être établi de tribunaux extraordinaires.

Article 54

Il ne pourra être prononcé de peine de mort pour cause de délit politique.

Article 55

Une loi fédérale statue sur l'extradition des accusés d'un canton à l'autre ; toutefois, l'extradition ne peut être rendue obligatoire pour les délits politiques et ceux de la presse.

Article 56

Il sera rendu une loi fédérale pour déterminer à quels Cantons ressortissent les gens sans patrie [Heimatlosen) et pour empêcher qu'il ne s'en forme de nouveaux.

Article 57

La Confédération a le droit de renvoyer de son territoire les étrangers qui compromettent la sûreté intérieure ou extérieure de la Suisse.

Article 58

L'Ordre des Jésuites et les sociétés qui lui sont affiliées ne peuvent être reçus dans aucune partie de la Suisse,

Article 59

Les autorités fédérales peuvent prendre, des mesures de police sanitaire lors d'épidémies et d'épizooties qui offrent un danger général.

Source

HTML from the "Digithèque de matériaux juridiques et politiques" at the Université de Perpignan Via Domitia [Online elsewhere].

The extract contains the

• Préambule;
• Chapitre premier - De la souveraineté;
• Chapitre II - Droits des citoyens garantis par la Constitution; and
• Chapitre III - Des pouvoirs publics

Text

Constitution de 1848

Constitution de 1848

Au nom du Peuple français,

L'Assemblée nationale a adopté, et, conformément à l'article 6 du décret du 28 octobre 1848, le président de l'Assemblée nationale promulgue la Constitution dont la teneur suit :

Préambule

En présence de Dieu et au nom du Peuple français, l'Assemblée nationale proclame :

I. La France s'est constituée en République. En adoptant cette forme définitive de gouvernement, elle s'est proposée pour but de marcher plus librement dans la voie du progrès et de la civilisation, d'assurer une répartition de plus en plus équitable des charges et des avantages de la société, d'augmenter l'aisance de chacun par la réduction graduée des dépenses publiques et des impôts, et de faire parvenir tous les citoyens, sans nouvelle commotion, par l'action successive et constante des institutions et des lois, à un degré toujours plus élevé de moralité, de lumières et de bien-être.

II. La République française est démocratique, une et indivisible.

III. Elle reconnaît des droits et des devoirs antérieurs et supérieurs aux lois positives.

IV. Elle a pour principe la Liberté, l'Égalité et la Fraternité. Elle a pour base la Famille, le Travail, la Propriété, l'Ordre public.

V. Elle respecte les nationalités étrangères, comme elle entend faire respecter la sienne ; n'entreprend aucune guerre dans des vues de conquête, et n'emploie jamais ses forces contre la liberté d'aucun peuple.

VI. Des devoirs réciproques obligent les citoyens envers la République, et la République envers les citoyens.

VII. Les citoyens doivent aimer la Patrie, servir la République, la défendre au prix de leur vie, participer aux charges de l'État en proportion de leur fortune ; ils doivent s'assurer, par le travail, des moyens d'existence, et, par la prévoyance, des ressources pour l'avenir ; ils doivent concourir au bien-être commun en s'entraidant fraternellement les uns les autres, et à l'ordre général en observant les lois morales et les lois écrites qui régissent la société, la famille et l'individu.

VIII. La République doit protéger le citoyen dans sa personne, sa famille, sa religion, sa propriété, son travail, et mettre à la portée de chacun l'instruction indispensable à tous les hommes ; elle doit, par une assistance fraternelle, assurer l'existence des citoyens nécessiteux, soit en leur procurant du travail dans les limites de ses ressources, soit en donnant, à défaut de la famille, des secours à ceux qui sont hors d'état de travailler.

En vue de l'accomplissem*nt de tous ces devoirs, et pour la garantie de tous ces droits, l'Assemblée nationale, fidèle aux traditions des grandes assemblées qui ont inauguré la Révolution française, décrète, ainsi qu'il suit, la Constitution de la République.

Constitution

Chapitre premier. De la souveraineté

Article premier.

La souveraineté réside dans l'universalité des citoyens français.

Elle est inaliénable et imprescriptible.

Aucun individu, aucune fraction du peuple ne peut s'en attribuer l'exercice.

Chapitre II. Droits des citoyens garantis par la Constitution

Article 2.

Nul ne peut être arrêté ou détenu que suivant les prescriptions de la loi.

Article 3.

La demeure de toute personne habitant le territoire français est inviolable ; il n'est permis d'y pénétrer que selon les formes et dans les cas prévus par la loi.

Article 4.

Nul ne sera distrait de ses juges naturels.

Il ne pourra être créé de commissions et de tribunaux extraordinaires, à quelque titre et sous quelque dénomination que ce soit.

Article 5.

La peine de mort est abolie en matière politique.

Article 6.

L'esclavage ne peut exister sur aucune terre française.

Article 7.

Chacun professe librement sa religion, et reçoit de l'État, pour l'exercice de son culte, une égale protection.

Les ministres, soit des cultes actuellement reconnus par la loi, soit de ceux qui seraient reconnus à l'avenir, ont le droit de recevoir un traitement de l'État.

Article 8.

Les citoyens ont le droit de s'associer, de s'assembler paisiblement et sans armes, de pétitionner, de manifester leurs pensées par la voie de la presse ou autrement.

L'exercice de ces droits n'a pour limites que les droits ou la liberté d'autrui et la sécurité publique.

La presse ne peut, en aucun cas, être soumise à la censure.

Article 9.

L'enseignement est libre.

La liberté d'enseignement s'exerce selon les conditions de capacité et de moralité déterminées par les lois, et sous la surveillance de l'État.

Cette surveillance s'étend à tous les établissem*nts d'éducation et d'enseignement, sans aucune exception.

Article 10.

Tous les citoyens sont également admissibles à tous les emplois publics, sans autre motif de préférence que leur mérite, et suivant les conditions qui seront fixées par les lois.

Sont abolis à toujours tout titre nobiliaire, toute distinction de naissance, de classe ou de caste.

Article 11.

Toutes les propriétés sont inviolables. Néanmoins l'État peut exiger le sacrifice d'une propriété pour cause d'utilité publique légalement constatée, et moyennant une juste et préalable indemnité.

Article 12.

La confiscation des biens ne pourra jamais être rétablie.

Article 13.

La Constitution garantit aux citoyens la liberté du travail et de l'industrie. La société favorise et encourage le développement du travail par l'enseignement primaire gratuit, l'éducation professionnelle, l'égalité de rapports, entre le patron et l'ouvrier, les institutions de prévoyance et de crédit, les institutions agricoles, les associations volontaires, et l'établissem*nt, par l'État, les départements et les communes, de travaux publics propres à employer les bras inoccupés ; elle fournit l'assistance aux enfants abandonnés, aux infirmes et aux vieillards sans ressources, et que leurs familles ne peuvent secourir.

Article 14.

La dette publique est garantie.

Toute espèce d'engagement pris par l'État avec ses créanciers est inviolable.

Article 15.

Tout impôt est établi pour l'utilité commune.

Chacun y contribue en proportion de ses facultés et de sa fortune.

Article 16.

Aucun impôt ne peut être établi ni perçu qu'en vertu de la loi.

Article 17.

L'impôt direct n'est consenti que pour un an.

Les impositions indirectes peuvent être consenties pour plusieurs années.

Chapitre III. Des pouvoirs publics

Article 18.

Tous les pouvoirs publics, quels qu'ils soient, émanent du peuple.

Ils ne peuvent être délégués héréditairement.

Article 19.

La séparation des pouvoirs est la première condition d'un gouvernement libre.

Source

HTML from Wikisource [Online elsewhere].

French Constitution of 1848 (New York Translation), translated by the New York-based Bureau de Courrier des Etats-Unis (1848).

The extract contains:

• Chapter I. Of Sovereignty.
• Chapter II. Rights of Citizens guaranteed by the Constitution. Chapter III. Of Public Power.

Text

In presence of god, and in the name of the French people, the National Assembly proclaims:

I. France has constituted herself a republic. In adopting that definitive form of gouvernment, her proposed aim is to advance with greater freedom in the path of civilization and progress, to ensure that the burdens and advantages of society shall be more and more equitably apportioned, to augment the comfort of every individual by the gradual reduction of the public expenses and taxes, and by the successive and constant action of her institutions and laws cause the whole body of citizens to attain, without further commotion, a constantly increasing degree of morality, intelligence and prosperity.

II. The French republic is democratic, one and indivisible.

III. It recognizes rights and duties anterior and superior to all positive laws.

IV. Its principles are liberty, equality, fraternity. Its basis is family, labor, property, and public order.

V. It respects the nationality of foreign states, as it causes its own to be respected. It undertakes no wars with a view of conquest, and never employs its power against the liberty of any people.

VI. Reciprocal duties bind the citizens to the republic and the republic to the citizens.

VII. It is the duty of the citizens to love their country, serve the republic, and defend it at the hazard of their lives, to participate in the expenses of the State, in proportion to their property; to secure to themselves, by their labor, the means of existence, and by prudent forethought provide resources for the future, to cooperate for the common welfare by fraternally aiding each other, and in the preservation of general order by observing the moral and written laws which regulate society, families and individuals.

VIII. It is the duty of the republic to protect the citizen in his person, his family, his religion, his prosperity, and his labor, and to bring within the reach of all that education which is necessary to every man; it is also its duty, by fraternal assistance, to provide the means of existence to necessitous citizens, either by procuring employment for them, within the limits of its resources, or by giving relief to those who are unable to work and who have no relatives to help them.

For the fulfillment of all these duties, and for the guarantee of all these rights, the National Assembly, faithful to the traditions of the great Assemblies by whom the French revolution was inaugurated, decrees the constitution of the republic, as following:

Chapter I.—Of Sovereignty.

Article 1.

The sovereignty exists in the whole body of French citizens. It is inalienable and imprescriptible. No individual, no fraction of the people can arrogate to themselves its exercise.

Chapter II.—Rights of Citizens guaranteed by the Constitution.

Art. 2.

No person can be arrested or detained, except as prescribed by law.

Art. 3.

The dwelling of every person inhabiting the French territory is inviolable, and cannot be entered except according to the forms and in the cases provided against by law.

Art. 4.

No one shall be removed from his rightful judges—no commissions or extraordinary tribunals can be created under any pretext, or by any denomination whatsoever.

Art. 5.

The penalty of death for political offences is abolished.

Art. 6.

Slavery cannot exist upon any French territory.

Art. 7.

Every one may freely profess his own religion and shall receive from the State equal protection in the exercise of his worship. The ministers of the religions at present recognized by law, as well as those which may be hereafter recognized, have the right to receive an allowance from the State.

Art. 8.

Citizens have the right of associating together and assembling peaceably and unarmed, in order to petition or manifest their ideas by means of the press or otherwise. The exercise of these rights can only be limited by the rights or the liberty of others, or for the public security. The press cannot in any case be subjected to censorship.

Art. 9.

Education is free. The liberty of teaching is to be exercised according to the capacity and morality determined by conditions of the laws, and under the supervision of the State. This superintendence is to be extended to all establishments of education and instruction, without any exception.

Art. 10.

All citizens are equally admissible to all public employments, without other reason of preference than merit, and according to the conditions to be determined by law. All titles of nobility, all distinctions of birth, class or caste are abolished forever.

Art. 11.

All descriptions of property are inviolable; nevertheless, the State may demand the sacrifice of property for reasons of public utility, legally proved, and in consideration of a just and previous indemnity.

Art. 12.

The confiscation of property can never be reestablished.

Art. 13.

The Constitution guarantees to citizens the freedom of labor and of industry. Society favors and encourages the developement of labor by gratuitous primary instruction, by professional education, by the equality of rights between the employer and the workman, by institutions for the deposit of savings and those of credit, by agricultural institutions; by voluntary associations, and the establishment by the State, the departments and the communes, of public works proper for the employment of unoccupied laborers. Society also will give aid to deserted children, to the sick, and to the destitute aged who are without relatives to support them.

Art. 14.

The public debt is guaranteed. Every species of engagement made by the State with its creditors is inviolable.

Art. 15.

All taxes are imposed for the common good. Every one is to contribute in proportion to his means and fortune.

Art. 16.

No tax can be levied or collected except by virtue of the law.

Art. 17.

Direct taxation is only awarded for one year. Indirect taxes may be awarded for several years.

Chapter III.—Of Public Power.

Art. 18.

All public powers, whatever they may be, emanate from the people. They cannot be delegated by hereditary descent.

Art. 19.

The separation of powers is the first principle of a free government.