Bill of Rights

In Britain, an act of Parliament of 1689 that established Parliament as the primary governing body of the country. It made provisions limiting royal prerogative (the right to act independently of Parliament) with respect to legislation, executive power, money levies, courts, and the army, and stipulated Parliament's consent to many government functions.

The Bill of Rights embodied the Declaration of Rights which contained the conditions on which William and Mary were offered the throne in the Glorious Revolution. The act made illegal the suspension of laws by royal authority without Parliament's consent; the power to dispense with laws; the establishment of special courts of law; levying money by royal prerogative without Parliament's consent; and the maintenance of a standing army in peacetime without Parliament's consent. It also asserted a right to petition the sovereign, freedom of parliamentary elections, freedom of speech in parliamentary debates, and the necessity of frequent parliaments.

The Bill of Rights is the nearest approach to a written constitution that the United Kingdom possesses. Its provisions, where applicable, were incorporated in the US constitution ratified in 1788.