Major milestones in rights development

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  • Created by: kmules15
  • Created on: 18-05-21 18:03

Magna Carta- 1215

- Agreement between King John and barons against King's abuse of power

- Contained one of the earliest demands for assembly 

- Gave basic rights to King's subjects 

- Established the right for a fair trial

- No taxation without consent 

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Bill of Rights- 1689

- Reaction to arbitrary rule of James II

- Established sovereignty of parliament and its supremacy over monarchy 

- Terms include:

- Regular parliamentary elections 

- Basic rights for citizens 

- Parliaments supremacy in taxation and legislation 

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Acts of Settlement- 1701

- Reinforced 1689 Bill of Rights 

- Main aim = ensure a Protestant succession to the throne

- Exclude James II and his heirs

- Established right of parliament to determine the line of succession to the throne 

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Acts of Union- 1707

- United England and Scotland (both shared a monarch since 1603 but had seperate Parliaments 

- Both now had one parliament based in Westminster 

- 1997, Tony Blair's New Labour government passed legislation to set up a Scottish Parliament 

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Acts of Parliament 1911 + 1949

- Assertd supremacy of House of Commons over House of Lords 

- Limited its power of veto 

- 1911 Act- banned the delaying of money bills + non- financial bills could be delayed by two years 

- 1949 Act- limited the veto period from two years to one 

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European Communities Act- 1972

- Took Britain into the European Economic Community (Edward Heath)

- Meant EU law took precedence over UK law 

- Act is expected to be repealed after Brexit 

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Human Rights Act- 1998

- Incorporated the European Convention of Human Rights into UK law

- Established:

- Right to life, security and liberty

- Right to a fair trial 

- Right for privacy and a private life etc 

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Devolution Acts- 1999

- Devolved power from Parliament to new assmeblies in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland 

- 2014 IndyRef saw independence defeat for Scotland but topic of Scottish independence doesn't go away

- Devolution addresses the problem of over centralisation of power in parliament 

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