<Tr> <Th> Purpose </Th> <Td> Assert the rights of Parliament and the individual, and ensure a Protestant political supremacy </Td> </Tr> <P> The Bill of Rights, also known as the English Bill of Rights, is an Act of the Parliament of England that sets out certain basic civil rights and clarifies who would be next to inherit the Crown . It received the Royal Assent on 16 December 1689 and is a restatement in statutory form of the Declaration of Right presented by the Convention Parliament to William III and Mary II in February 1689, inviting them to become joint sovereigns of England . The Bill of Rights lays down limits on the powers of the monarch and sets out the rights of Parliament, including the requirement for regular parliaments, free elections, and freedom of speech in Parliament . It sets out certain rights of individuals including the prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment and reestablished the right of Protestants to have arms for their defence within the rule of law . Furthermore, the Bill of Rights described and condemned several misdeeds of James II of England . </P> <P> These ideas reflected those of the political thinker John Locke and they quickly became popular in England . It also sets out--or, in the view of its drafters, restates--certain constitutional requirements of the Crown to seek the consent of the people, as represented in Parliament . </P> <P> In the United Kingdom, the Bill of Rights is further accompanied by Magna Carta, the Petition of Right, the Habeas Corpus Act 1679 and the Parliament Acts 1911 and 1949 as some of the basic documents of the uncodified British constitution . A separate but similar document, the Claim of Right Act 1689, applies in Scotland . The Bill of Rights 1689 was one of the inspirations for the United States Bill of Rights . </P>

The bill of rights derived from the concept of rights proposed by