After England beheaded its King for refusing to restrict his own power, for a while there was no king nor even a hereditary House of Lords. A disappointing decade in which Oliver Cromwell, “the Protector” governed with a Parliamentary remnant produced a restored monarchy and House of Lords. Charles’ son, Charles II, back on the throne, knew better than to claim the same absolute power that decapitated his father. No more Forced Loans, Ship’s Money or other attempts to take advantage of technicalities to raise revenue without Parliament. Instead, Charles raised money by selling himself to France and buying the cooperation of key members of Parliament.  

When the king died childless, few could stand his younger brother and successor, James II who had recently converted to Catholicism. Fearing for his life, James II made it easy for opponents by fleeing and throwing the Royal seal into the Thames.

England now had a rare opportunity to set government squarely on Constitutional foundations. A special “Convention Parliament” – not strictly legal but specially convened to deal with this emergency – wrestled with their own right to resolve the crisis. Nearly everybody agreed that the beloved Mary and her husband William should be Queen and King. But a basic Constitutional question vexed them and for awhile prevented that happy outcome: Who had the right to decide that Charles I granddaughter Mary and especially her husband William should jointly be Queen and King? Never fully resolved, a united Parliament presented the new royal couple with the Crown and an English Bill of Rights which they willingly agreed to.  

Proclaiming “the ancient rights and liberties of the subjects,” the Bill of Rights prohibited the Monarch from ever again vetoing acts of Parliament; from generally taxing “without grant of Parliament.” It guaranteed “the right of the subjects to petition the king” assuring them they wouldn’t be prosecuted for protesting. It prohibited the King from keeping standing armies in the kingdom in times of peace without Parliament’s consent. The Bill of Rights also guaranteed free elections, freedom of speech and debate in Parliament. And perhaps most famously it guaranteed “that excessive bail ought not to be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.” As they jointly accepted the crown, William and Mary formally embraced these “ancient and indubitable rights and liberties of the people of this kingdom.” 

In sum, along with Magna Carta and the Petition of Right, this English Bill of Rights comprised for British subjects on both sides of the Atlantic, the most essential evidence of the British Constitution.