The Bill of Rights 1689, also known as the Bill of Rights 1688,[nb 2] is a landmark Act in the constitutional law of England that sets out certain basic civil rights and clarifies who would be next to inherit the Crown. It received the Royal Assent on 16 December 1689 and is a restatement in statutory form of the Declaration of Right presented by the Convention Parliament to William III and Mary II in February 1689, inviting them to become joint sovereigns of England. The Bill of Rights lays down limits on the powers of the monarch and sets out the rights of Parliament, including the requirement for regular parliaments, free elections, and freedom of speech in Parliament.[3] It sets out certain rights of individuals including the prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment and confirmed that "Protestants may have arms for their defence suitable to their conditions and as allowed by law". It also includes no right of taxation without Parliament's agreement. Furthermore, the Bill of Rights described and condemned several misdeeds of James II of England.[
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Our cherished Bill of Rights, which turned 225 years old this month, is one of the great oddities of American constitutional history. What began as a mere afterthought to the Constitution ended up saving the Constitution from its Anti-Federalist critics, and today looms larger in the American mind than the Constitution itself.
