Were the Bill of Rights 'baked in' to the Constitution, or adopted as separate considerations? Why were they written as amendments, as opposed to as part of the main body? Had anything like them ever been adopted before, and, if not, where did the idea come from?

by td4999
The_Manchurian

One of the inspirations for the American Bill of Rights was... the English Bill of Rights (and Scottish Claim of Rights Act, which was the Scottish version).

England already had a Bill of Rights, passed in 1689. In 1688, with the help of some members of Parliament, King James II (a Catholic) was expelled and replaced by his (Protestant) daughter Mary II and her Dutch Husband, William of Orange. But there was a problem. Parliament could not "answer it to the nation or Prince of Orange till we declare what are the rights invaded", ie they had to legally justify why they'd allowed a Dutchman to kick out the King and become the new King, by explaining what laws James had broken.

Conveniently, this happened to limit the new King's power.

It included the following provisions, which it claimed were "certain ancient rights and privileges":

the pretended power of suspending the laws and dispensing with laws by regal authority without consent of Parliament is illegal;

the commission for ecclesiastical causes* is illegal;

levying taxes without grant of Parliament is illegal;

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

keeping a standing army in time of peace, unless it be with consent of Parliament, is against law;

Protestants may have arms for their defence suitable to their conditions and as allowed by law;

election of members of Parliament ought to be free;

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;

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

jurors in trials for high treason ought to be freeholders;

promises of fines and forfeitures before conviction are illegal and void;

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

*This was a Commission James set up to essentially influence Anglicanism and make it more Catholic. It had suspended several Bishops and Priests for refusing to follow the King's commands on services, including the Bishop of London.

Some of these laws have since been amended or replaced. Others are vague enough not to matter; people have the right to have arms as allowed by law, so you can just pass a law restricting guns. The Queen can't take your gun away because she feels like it, but Parliament absolutely can, and has, banned all handguns, automatics, large-calibre semi-autos, and automatic shotguns with a magazine holding 3+ shots. And exactly how frequently do you have to hold Parliaments? 10 years? 20 years? And how long does each Parliament have to be? (A later law defined it as 5 years maximum for elections, and Parliaments last most of the year.)

But others are still in place. For example, when a Member of Parliament speaks in parliament, they are protected from Slander laws, and can talk about things which have been banned by a Judge's injunction. For example, if a celebrity acquires a Judge's injunction banning newspapers reporting their affairs or harassment claims against them, an MP can talk about it in Parliament.

And of course, it includes basic constitutional principles; the government needs to get enough votes to pass new taxes (although in practice they pass a Finance Bill which contains all new taxes for the year, and MPs must take it or leave it), the Prime Minister can't just introduce a new tax when they feel like it.

Most notably, you'll notice certain similarities of language; no "cruel and unusual punishment", "freedom of speech", the right to "arms".

You'll also notice that many of these laws are more restrictive than the American version. The US Bill of Rights gives every free citizen the right to bear arms; the English Bill of Rights only gives it to Protestants. The US Bill of Rights gives everyone the right to freedom of speech; the UK Bill just says that parliamentarians, when in parliament, have freedom of speech from any institution outside parliament (Parliament itself can still punish them; for example, the Speaker can and does kick people out for a day for swearing or accusing others of lying.)

An MP in Parliament can legally say "Mark Zuckerburg drinks the blood of virgins to stay young" but if I say it, Mark Zuckerburg can sue me for slander.