The International Cooperation Group
Publications
![line](/web/20071125051242im_/http://canada.justice.gc.ca/fr/ps/inter/img/line1.gif)
The French Revolution and the organization of justice
![line](/web/20071125051242im_/http://canada.justice.gc.ca/fr/ps/inter/img/line1.gif)
DECLARATION OF
THE RIGHTS OF MAN AND THE CITIZEN
1791
The representatives of the French people, organized in a National Assembly,
considering that ignorance, forgetfulness or contempt of the rights of
man are the sole causes of public miseries and the corruption of governments,
have resolved to set forth in a solemn declaration the natural, inalienable
and sacred rights of man, so that this declaration, being ever-present
to all the members of the social body, may unceasingly remind them of
their rights and duties; in order that the acts of the legislative power
and those of the executive power may at each moment be compared with
the aim of every political institution and thereby may be more respected;
and in order that the demands of the citizens, grounded henceforth upon
simple and incontestable principles, may always take the direction of
maintaining the constitution and welfare of all.
In consequence, the
National Assembly recognizes and declares, in the presence and under
the auspices of the Supreme Being, the following rights of man and
citizen:
Article 1. Men are born free and remain free and equal in rights. Social
distinctions can be based only on public utility.
2. The aim of every political association is the preservation of the
natural and imprescriptible rights of man. These rights are liberty,
property, security and resistance to oppression.
3. The source of all sovereignty resides essentially in the nation.
No body, no individual can exercise authority that does not expressly
proceed from the latter.
4. Liberty consists in the power to do anything that does not injure
others; accordingly, the exercise of the rights of each man has no limits
except those that secure the enjoyment of these same rights to the other
members of society. These limits can be determined only by law.
5. The law has only the right to forbid such actions as are injurious
to society. Nothing can be forbidden that is not interdicted by the law,
and no one can be constrained to do that which the law does not order.
6. The law is the expression of the general will. All citizens have
the right to take part personally, or by their representatives, in its
formation. It must be the same for all, whether it protects or punishes.
All citizens, being equal in its eyes, are equally eligible to all public
dignities, places and employments, according to their capacities, and
without other distinction than that of their virtues and talents.
7. No man can be accused, arrested or detained, except in the cases
determined by the law and according to the forms it has prescribed. Those
who procure, expedite, execute or cause arbitrary orders to be executed,
ought to be punished. But every citizen summoned or seized by virtue
of the law ought to render instant obedience; he makes himself guilty
by resistance.
8. The law ought only to establish penalties that are strictly and obviously
necessary, and no one can be punished except by virtue of a law established
and promulgated prior to the offence and legally applied.
9. Every man being presumed innocent until he has been pronounced guilty,
if it is thought indispensable to arrest him, all means that may go beyond
what is strictly necessary to secure his person ought to be strictly
suppressed by law.
10. No one should be bothered on account of his opinions, even religious,
provided their presentation does not upset the public order established
by law.
11. The free communication of ideas and opinions is one of the most
precious rights of man. Every citizen can therefore speak, write and
print freely, subject to responsibility for the abuse of this freedom
in cases as determined by law.
12. The guarantee of the rights of man and citizen requires a public
force; this force is therefore instituted for the advantage of all and
not for the personal benefit of those to whom it is entrusted.
13. A general tax is indispensable for the maintenance of the public
force and for the expenses of administration; it ought to be equally
apportioned among all citizens according to their means.
14. All citizens have a right to ascertain, by themselves or by their
representatives, the necessity of the public tax, to consent to it freely,
to follow the employment of it and to determine its amount, basis, collection
and duration.
15. Society has the right to call for an account of the administration
of every public agent.
16. Any society in which the guarantee of the rights is not secured,
or the separation of powers is not determined, has no constitution at
all.
17. Property being a sacred and inviolable right, no one can be deprived
of it, unless a legally established public necessity demands it, under
the condition of a just and prior indemnity.
Note – This text is a translation from the French. The French version
comes from the original edition of the Declaration of the rights of man
and the citizen, which is part of the Constitution of 3 September 1791. (Collection des décrets de l'Assemblée nationale constituante,
rédigée, suivant l'ordre des matières, par M. Arnoult,
membre de cette Assemblée, Dijon, Imprimerie de P. Causse, 1792,
Tome premier, pages 299-302).
Publications
|