Bill of Rights

A bill of rights is a statement that is often a law or part of a constitution that lists certain human rights that citizens or residents of a free and democratic society have, or ought to have under the laws of that society. It prescribes the limits of power the government to intervene in the lives of its citizens. In some jurisdictions it is entrenched in the constitution or Basic Law of that nation-state, in other's it may just be a regular statute which may be repealed. However, the repeal of a bill of rights will send a strong signal to the populus that the legislature or parliament is acting without respect to the rights of the inhabitants of that country. Such repeal may cause civil unrest, civil disobedience or even revolution as the powers that be are no longer respecting the will of the people. Some jurisdictions may have a bill of rights that may not be enforced such as the rights that were given in the Soviet Union but not enforced.

See:

• Universal Declaration of Human Rights
• United States Bill of Rights
• British Bill of Rights
• Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms

This page is a stub please feel free to improve it if you are knowledgeable in this subject matter.