A bill of rights is a list or summary of rights that are considered important and essential by a group of people. The purpose of these bills is to protect those rights against infringement of people. The term "bill of rights" originates from Britain, and it refers to the fact that the English Bill of Rights was literally a bill, which is a proposed law, that was passed by Parliament in 1689. Bills of rights require proper enforcement and support in order to be effective and actually protect the rights enumerated in them. English Bill of Rights (1689). ... The House of Representatives Chamber of the Parliament of Australia in Canberra. ...

An entrenched Bill of rights exists as a separate legal instrument that falls outside of the normal jurisdiction of a country's legislative body. In many constitutional governments, an official legal bill of rights recognized by the government in principle holds more authority than the legislative bodies alone. An unentrenched bill of rights, on the other hand, may be weakened by subsequent acts that are passed by legislatures, and they do not need an approval by popular vote to alter it. Since it may be changed, an unentrenched bill of rights is a poor defense against a corrupt or tyrannical legislature. This article is about constitutional concepts. ...

A statutory unentrenched bill of rights exists as a separate act that is passed by a legislative body. As such it can be amended or repealed by the body that created it. It is therefore not as permanent as a constitutional bill of rights. A constitutional bill of rights cannot be changed except with the approval of that country's voting public.

In other jurisdictions, the definition of rights may be statutory. In other words, it may be repealed just like any other law, and does not necessarily have greater weight than other laws. Not every jurisdiction enforces the protection of the rights articulated in its bill of rights. The Statute of Grand Duchy of Lithuania A statute is a formal, written law of a country or state, written and enacted by its legislative authority, perhaps to then be ratified by the highest executive in the government, and finally published. ...

Australia is the only western country without a constitutional or legislative bill of rights, although debate for the creation of such a bill is ongoing in many states.^[1]

Important bills of rights

• The Code of Hammurabi, a 4,000 year old document of laws and punishments (and thus, vicarious freedoms) literally "set in stone". One of several similar codes from this period in the Middle East.
• Cyrus Cylinder Allowing freedom of religion and abolishment of slavery (559-530 BC; Persian Empire/Iran)
• Constitution of Ancient Athens, establishing the Athenian democracy, allowing elected leaders and separate branches of government written by Cleisthenes (508BC; Greece)
• Magna Carta (1215; England)
• Bill of Rights 1689 (England) and Claim of Right (Scotland)
• Virginia Bill of Rights (June 1776)
• Preamble to the United States Declaration of Independence (July 1776)
• United States Bill of Rights to the United States Constitution (Completed in 1789, ratified in 1791)
• Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (1789; France)
• Constitution of Greece (1822; Epidaurus)
• Basic rights and liberties in Finland (1919)
• Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948)
• Fundamental rights and duties of citizens in People's Republic of China (1949)
• European Convention on Human Rights (1950)
• Fundamental Rights of Indian citizens (1950)
• Canadian Bill of Rights (1960)
• Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (1982)
• Artigo Quinto of the Constitution of Brazil (1988)
• New Zealand Bill of Rights Act (1990)
• Hong Kong Bills of Rights Ordinance (1991)
• Human Rights Act 1998 (United Kingdom)
• Constitution of South Africa Chapter 2: Bill of Rights (1996)
• Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (2006)

An inscription of the Code of Hammurabi. ... A map showing countries commonly considered to be part of the Middle East The Middle East is a region comprising the lands around the southern and eastern parts of the Mediterranean Sea, a territory that extends from the eastern Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf. ... The Cyrus Cylinder. ... Slave redirects here. ... Persia redirects here. ... This article is about the capital of Greece. ... Athenian democracy (sometimes called Direct democracy) developed in the Greek city-state of Athens. ... Cleisthenes (also Clisthenes or Kleisthenes) was a noble Athenian of the accursed Alcmeonidate family. ... This article is about the English charter issued in 1215. ... English Bill of Rights (1689). ... Wikisource has original text related to this article: Claim of Right The Claim of Right is an Act passed by the Parliament of Scotland in April 1689. ... George Mason was the principal author of the Virginia Declaration of Rights. ... The United States Declaration of Independence was an act of the Second Continental Congress, adopted on July 4, 1776, which declared that the Thirteen Colonies in North America were Free and Independent States and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to... The United States Bill of Rights consists of the first 10 amendments to the United States Constitution. ... Wikisource has original text related to this article: The United States Constitution The United States Constitution is the supreme law of the United States of America. ... Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen: Revolutionary patriotism borrows familiar iconography of the Ten Commandments Wikisource has original text related to this article: Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (French: La... The Syntagma (Σύνταγμα), the Constitution of Greece is resolved by the Fifth Revisionary Parliament of the Hellenes and entered into force in 1975. ... For the constitution of the Grand Duchy of Finland see: Swedish Constitution of 1772 The Constitution of Finland (in Finnish, Suomen perustuslaki, or in Swedish, Finlands grundlag) is the supreme source of national law of Finland. ... The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (abbreviated UDHR) is an advisory declaration adopted by the United Nations General Assembly (A/RES/217, 10 December 1948 at Palais de Chaillot, Paris). ... The Constitution of the Peoples Republic of China (中华人民共和国宪法; pinyin: Zhōnghuá Rénmín Gònghéguó Xiànfǎ) is the highest law within the Peoples Republic of China. ... “ECHR” redirects here. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... John Diefenbaker holds the Bill of Rights The Canadian Bill of Rights is a federal statute and bill of rights enacted by Prime Minister John Diefenbakers government on August 10, 1960. ... The Charter, signed by Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau in 1981. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... The New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 is an enactment of the New Zealand Parliament setting out the rights and fundamental freedoms of the citizens of New Zealand. ... The Human Rights Act 1998 is an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom which received Royal Assent on November 9, 1998, and mostly came into force on October 2, 2000. ... The Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union is a document containing human rights provisions, solemnly proclaimed by the European Parliament, the Council of the European Union, and the European Commission in December 2000. ...

References

1. ^ Amnesty International Australia Plan 2006. Amnesty International Australia. Retrieved on 2007-11-07.

Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 311th day of the year (312th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

See also

• Natural rights
• Civil rights
• Inalienable rights
• Human rights
• Bill of Rights Defense Committee

For other uses, see Universalism (disambiguation). ... Civil rights or positive rights are those legal rights retained by citizens and protected by the government. ... The term inalienable rights (or unalienable rights) refers to a set of human rights that are in some sense fundamental, are not awarded by human power, and cannot be surrendered. ... Human rights are rights which some hold to be inalienable and belonging to all humans. ... The National Bill of Rights Defense Committee (BORDC) is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization which encourages local communities to take an active role in the ongoing national debate about threats to civil liberties guaranteed by the Bill of Rights, such as the USA PATRIOT Act, NSA warrantless surveillance controversy, and the...

External links

• See transcript of the original U.S. Bill of Rights from the National Archives.