Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen

   

The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, (French: La Déclaration des Droits de l'Homme et du citoyen), was one of the fundamental documents of the French Revolution, defining a set of individual rights (and collective rights of the people vis a vis the state). It was adopted August 26, 1789 by the National Constituent Assembly (Assemblée Nationale Constituante), as the first step toward writing a constitution.

Adoption of the Declaration

At the time the Declaration was drafted by the Marquis de Lafayette, it was intended as part of a transition from an absolute to a constitutional monarchy. In the event, France soon became a Republic, but this document remained fundamental.

The principles set forth in the declaration come from the philosophical and political principles of the Age of Enlightenment, such as individualism, the social contract as theorised by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and the separation of powers espoused by le Baron de Montesquieu. It may have also been based on the Virginia Declaration of Rights developed by George Mason and on the U.S. Declaration of Independence.

Substance of the Declaration

This statement of principles contained the kernel of a much more radical re-ordering of society than had yet taken place. A mere six weeks after the storming of the Bastille and barely three weeks after the abolition of feudalism, the Declaration put forward a doctrine of popular sovereignty and equal opportunity:

"Article III – The principle of any sovereignty resides essentially in the Nation. No body, no individual can exert authority which does not emanate expressly from it."
(From Article VI) – "All the citizens, being equal in [the eyes of the law], are equally admissible to all public dignities, places, and employments, according to their capacity and without distinction other than that of their virtues and of their talents."

All citizens are to be guaranteed the rights of "liberty, property, safety, and resistance against oppression." The Declaration argues that the need for law derives from the fact that "... the exercise of the natural rights of each man has only those borders which assure other members of the society the enjoyment of these same rights". Thus, the declaration sees law as an "expression of the general will", intended to promote this equality of rights and to forbid "only actions harmful to the society."

The Declaration also put forward several provisions similar to the United States Constitution and Bill of Rights, which date from the same year. Like the U.S. Constitution, it discusses the need to provide for the common defense and states some broad principles about taxation. It also specifies a public right to an accounting from public agents as to how they have discharged the public trust. Like the U.S. Bill of Rights, it provides against ex post facto application of criminal law and puts forward such principles as presumption of innocence, freedom of speech and of the press, and a slightly weaker guarantee of freedom of religion — "provided that [... the] manifestation [... of their religious opinions] does not trouble the public order established by the law". It asserts the rights of property, while reserving a public right of eminent domain:

"Article XVII - Property being an inviolable and sacred right, no one can be deprived of private usage, if it is not when the public necessity, legally noted, evidently requires it, and under the condition of a just and prior indemnity [i.e., compensation]."

Effect today

According to the preamble of the Constitution of the French Fifth Republic (adopted on October 4, 1958, and the current constitutions as of 2004), the principles set forth in the Declaration have constitutional value. Many laws and regulations have been cancelled because they did not comply with those principles as interpreted by the Conseil Constitutionnel ("Constitutional Council") or the Conseil d'État ("Council of State").

See also

English translation




de:Erklärung der Menschen- und Bürgerrechte es:Declaración de los Derechos del Hombre y del Ciudadano fr:Déclaration des Droits de l'Homme et du Citoyen de 1789 pl:Deklaracja Praw Człowieka i Obywatela

Retrieved from "http://www.centipedia.com/articles/Declaration_of_the_Rights_of_Man_and_of_the_Citizen"

This page has been accessed 532 times. This page was last modified 12:46, 18 Nov 2004. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License (see Copyrights for details).