Bill of Rightsn.
/ˌbɪl əv ˈrʌɪts/, U.S. /ˌbɪl əv ˈraɪts/ 1. A bill enshrining the English constitutional settlement of 1689, which, enacting the earlier Declaration of Rights, established the deposition of James II and the accession of William and Mary, secured the Protestant succession, and laid down principles of parliamentary supremacy over the Crown.The Bill of Rights was passed by Parliament in December 1689; the Declaration of Rights was presented on 13 February 1689 (1688 old style), and the bill is thus sometimes referred to as dating from 1688: see quot. 1957.
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1689 Orig. Jrnls. House of Commons 13 Aug. (Parl. Archives HC/CL/JO/1/89) 272 The Bill of Rights (in which yor Lordships as well as the Commons are highly concerned)..is in danger to bee lost.
1769 D. Hume Let. 28 Mar. (1932) II. 197 This Villain is to thunder against the Violation of the Bill of Rights, in not allowing the County of Middlesex the Choice of its Member.
c1770 B. Franklin Marginalia in W. B. Willcox Papers of B. Franklin (1973) XVII. 382 What ancient Laws? Probably Magna Charta, the Bill of Rights, Petition of Right, &c.
1827 H. Hallam Constit. Hist. Eng. II. xvi. 549 The act of settlement was..the complement of the revolution itself and the bill of rights.
1863 H. Cox Inst. Eng. Govt. ii. iii. 619 Persons who profess the Popish religion or marry Papists are, by the Bill of Rights, debarred the Crown.
1957 Times 20 Nov. 4/2 In writing his letter to the Minister Mr. Strauss was engaged in a ‘proceeding in Parliament’ within the meaning of the Bill of Rights, 1688.
1997 A. Barnett This Time vii. 222 To protect MPs in the seventeenth century the Bill of Rights stated that no law court can judge what MPs say in Parliament.
2.
a. A formal declaration of the (proposed) legal and civil rights and freedoms of the citizens of any state, country, federation, etc.
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society > law > legal right > [noun] > civil rights > specific declaration of
petition of right1636
Bill of Rights1768
society > law > legal right > [noun] > document conferring right or privilege > concerning rights of citizens
Bill of Rights1768
Citizen's Charter1851
1768 J. Dickinson Lett. from Farmer in Pennsylvania 20 In the national, parliamentary sense insisted on, the word ‘tax’ was certainly understood by the congress at New-York, whose resolves may be said to form the American ‘bill of rights’.
1783 (title) A Constitution containing a Bill of Rights and form of government, agreed upon by the delegates of the people of the state of New-Hampshire.
1830 Evangelical Mag. 20 Mar. 91/1 To the State Constitutions, in the most of cases, a ‘Bill of Rights’, so called, is prefixed, which is nothing more than a specification of the rights of the people.
1834 Amer. Railroad Jrnl. 1 Nov. 683/3 The remarkable item of intelligence by this ship, is the adoption by the Spanish Cortes, of a bill of rights.
1947 Deb. House of Commons (Canada) 16 May 3151/2 Public opinion across this country is asking parliament to bring in a bill of rights, a charter of Canadian freedoms.
1955 Bull. Atomic. Soc. Mar. 86/2 A bill of rights would safeguard every individual against violations by the United Nations of certain basic liberties.
2010 South Afr. 2 Feb. 2/4 McKaiser responded by saying that the South African Bill of Rights protects individuals from a majoritarian state.
b. spec. The ten articles ratified collectively in 1791 as amendments to the U.S. Constitution.Individual amendments to the U.S. Constitution are conventionally referred to by their ordinal number; the articles constituting the Bill of Rights are thus the first to the tenth amendments.
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society > law > written law > [noun] > clause > types of clause > specific amendment
Bill of Rights1819
ERA1970
1787 Jrnl. 12 Sept. in M. Farrand Rec. Fed. Convention (1911) II. 582 It was moved and seconded to appoint a Committee to prepare a Bill of Rights.
1788 T. Jefferson Writings (1859) II. 533 The annexation of a bill of rights to the Constitution.]
1819 Portfolio Apr. 273 [Congress] cannot make laws respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof... Nor in violation of any of the articles of the bill of rights annexed to the constitution, in the form of amendments.
1891 Rep. 14th Ann. Meeting Amer. Bar Assoc. 237 The circumstances which surrounded our ancestors when the revolutionary bills of rights of the States and the Federal Bill of Rights were framed are still more significant.
1932 N. M. Butler Looking Forward xxviii. 339 The Constitution would never have been ratified..had not the Bill of Rights been promptly incorporated in it as the first ten Amendments.
1976 National Observer (U.S.) 25 Sept. 13/1 Such segregation was..a screaming mockery of the Bill of Rights.
2008 New Yorker 14 Apr. 72/2 The Constitution and the Bill of Rights were controversial when they were written and they've been controversial ever since.
3. In extended use: any document or piece of legislation setting forth rights or entitlements for a specific class of people, or for people within a specific context or area of activity.
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society > law > [noun] > bill > general types of
overture1561
bill of review1623
transmiss1764
personal bill1844
remanet1845
private member's bill1872
counter-bill1880
Bill of Rights1892
proposition1911
1892 R. L. Stevenson & L. Osbourne Wrecker xi. 181 Our shipping laws..proceed throughout on the hypothesis that poor Jack is an imbecile, and the other parties to the contract, rogues and ruffians. A long and wordy paper of precautions, a fo'c's'le bill of rights, must be read separately to each man.
1946 Liberty 25 May 10/3 Members of the WAAC discharged for disability..are not entitled to the benefits of the G.I. Bill of Rights [sc. the Servicemen's Readjustment Act, 1944].
1957 N.Y. Times 9 May 33/2 A patients' bill of rights is being drawn up by the National League for Nursing.
1962 Official Rep. Legislative Council Deb. (Colony & Protectorate Kenya) 89 1249 Sudan in order to generate industrial development has considered very carefully and produced a Bill which is entitled a Bill of Rights for Industry.
1998 Bloomington (Indiana) Herald-Times 7 Aug. a8/4 Air rage over mistreatment and deception has become so routine that this summer the American Society of Travel Agents compiled a Consumers' Bill of Rights.
2010 Independent 28 Dec. (Viewspaper section) 12/1 He'd recently been ordered to smartwire the residence hall to allow the boarders ‘equal access’ under the Digital Bill of Rights.
This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, June 2013; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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