The English Bill of Rights was enacted by the English Parliament and singed into law by King William III in 1689. It is one of the fundamental documents of English constitutional law, and marks a fundamental milestone in the progression of English society from a nation of subjects under the plenary authority of a monarch to a nation of free citizens with inalienable rights. This process was a gradual evolution beginning with the Magna Charta in 1215 and advancing intermittently as subsequent monarchs were compelled to recognize limitations on their power.
The establishment of the English Bill of Rights was precipitated by repeated abuses of power by King James II during his reign from 1685 to 1689. Among these abuses, he suspended acts of Parliament, collected taxes not authorized by law, and undermined the independence of the judiciary and the universities. He interfered in the outcome of elections and trials and refused to be bound by duly enacted laws. Furthermore, he attempted to impose Catholicism on a staunchly Protestant nation through the persecution of Protestant dissenters and the replacement of Anglican officials who refused to acquiesce in his illegal acts.
In November of 1688 William of Orange and his wife Mary, daughter of James II, invaded England with the popular support of the English people and much of the English nobility. He brought with him a large army comprised primarily of Dutch mercenaries, but James ultimately fled for France without significant bloodshed taking place. In January of 1689 a Convention assembled in London to determine the succession of the English Crown. The Convention was composed of former members of Parliament and functioned much like a parliament, but as Parliament had been legally disbanded and the Great Seal had been thrown in the River Thames, their acts did not formally carry the force of law.[3] After much debate the Convention drafted a Declaration of Rights and offered the throne of England jointly to William and Mary. After the accession of William and Mary and the formation of a legal Parliament, this Declaration was adapted to create a Bill of Rights which was signed into law, forever altering the balance of power between the sovereign and his subjects.
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