Editing Bill of Rights 1689 (section)

==The Act==
The Declaration of Right was enacted in an Act of Parliament, the Bill of Rights 1689, which received [[royal assent]] in December&nbsp;1689.{{sfn|Thatcher|1907|pp=10}} 

The Act asserted "certain ancient rights and liberties" by declaring that:{{sfn|Williams|1960|pp=28–29}} 
*the pretended power of suspending the laws and dispensing with (i.e. ignoring) laws by regal authority without consent of Parliament is illegal; 
*the [[Ecclesiastical Commission of 1686|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 [[Right to keep and bear arms|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 [[Parliamentary privilege|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 punishment]]s 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.

The Act declared James's flight from England following the [[Glorious Revolution]] to be an [[abdication]] of the throne. It listed twelve of James's policies by which James designed to "endeavour to subvert and extirpate the protestant religion, and the laws and liberties of this kingdom".{{sfn|Williams|1960|p=26}} These were:{{sfn|Williams|1960|p=27}}
*by assuming and exercising a power of dispensing with and suspending of laws and the execution of laws without consent of Parliament; 
*by prosecuting the [[Seven Bishops]]; 
*by establishing the court of commissioners for ecclesiastical causes; 
*by levying taxes for the use of the Crown by pretence of prerogative as if the same was granted by Parliament; 
*by raising and keeping a standing army within this kingdom in time of peace without consent of Parliament; 
*by causing 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 cognisable only in Parliament, and by divers (diverse) other arbitrary and illegal courses;
*by employing unqualified persons on juries in trials, and jurors in trials for high treason which were not freeholders; 
*by imposing excessive bail on persons committed in criminal cases against the laws made for the liberty of the subjects; 
*by imposing excessive fines and illegal and cruel punishments; 
*by making 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 of which were declared to be utterly and directly contrary to the known laws and statutes and freedom of the<!--"this" is not NPOV unless in a direct quotation--> realm.

In a prelude to the [[Act of Settlement 1701|Act of Settlement]] to come twelve years later, the Bill of Rights barred [[Roman Catholic Church|Roman Catholics]] from the throne of England as "it hath been found by experience that it is inconsistent with the safety and welfare of this Protestant kingdom to be governed by a papist prince"; thus [[William III of England|William&nbsp;III]] and [[Mary II of England|Mary&nbsp;II]] were named as the successors of James II and that the throne would pass from them first to Mary's heirs, then to her sister, [[Anne, Queen of Great Britain|Princess Anne of Denmark]] and her heirs (and, thereafter, to any heirs of William by a later marriage).