Question

What was the purpose of the English bill of rights?

Answer 1

"The purpose is to legally establish the sovereignty of Parliament. In particular to establish that the monarch cannot levy taxes, raise an army, run their own courts or hold elections. Only Parliament can do those things."

Answer 2

The Bill of Rights is a legal document passed by the Parliament of England in 1689 that formed the basis for a democratic parliamentary monarchy in that country.

After the death of Olivier Cromwell in 1658, who had declared England a republic, kingship was restored under Charles II, but relations between king and parliament remained tense. Royal arbitrariness was curtailed by the Habeas Corpus Act of 1679, whereby no one could be detained without a court order. When King James II seemed to want to reintroduce Catholicism, Parliament contacted his son-in-law, the Dutch governor William III. The kingship was offered to him and his wife Mary. After William's arrival in 1688, James fled abroad; this nonviolent coup was called the Glorious Revolution. After the coronation of the Dutch stadholder and his wife, they were forced to recognize the Bill of Rights, which listed the freedoms of the people and Parliament. Together with the Magna Carta from 1215, the Bill of Rights formed the basis for English democracy.