n end forever.

[4] For summary of the bill, see Constitutional Documents in the
Appendix, p. xxxi. For the complete text, see Taswell-Langmead's
"Constitutional History of England" or Lee's "Source Book of English
History."

The chief provisions of the Bill of Rights were:
(1) That the King should not maintain a standing army in time of
peace, except by consent of Parliament.
(2) That no money should be taken from the people save by the
consent of Parliament.
(3) That every subject has the right to petition the Crown for the
redress of any grievance.
(4) That the election of members of Parliament ought to be free from
interference.
(5) That Parliament should frequently assemble and enjoy entire
freedom of debate.
(6) That the King be debarred from interfering in any way with the
proper execution of the laws.
(7) That a Roman Catholic or a person marrying a Roman Catholic be
henceforth incapable of receiving the crown of England.

Late in the reign (1701) Parliament reaffirmed and still further
extended the provisions of the Bill of Rightss by the Act of
Settlement, which established a new royal line of sovereigns confined
exclusively to Protestants.[1] This Act with the preceding one may be
said to have introduced that principle of the British Constitution
which has been called "The Reign of Law." It practically abolished
the principle of a fixed hereditary succession and reestablished in
the clearest and most decided manner the right of the nation to choose
its own rulers.

[1] Compare S349, note 2. The Act of Settlement (see p. xxxii of
Appendix) provided that after Princess Anne (in default of issue by
William or Anne) the crown should descend to the Electress Sophia of
Hanover, Hermany, and her PROTESTANT DESCENDANTS. The Electress
Sophia was the granddaughter of James I. She married Ernest Augustus,
Elector (or ruler) of Hanover. As Hallam says, she was "very far
removed from any hereditary title," as, aside from James II's son
(S490), whose legitimacy no one now doubted, there were several who
stood nearer in right of succession.

According to that measure, "an English sovereign is now as much the
creature of an act of Parliament as the pettiest taxgatherer in his
realm";[2] and he is dependent for his office and power on the will of
the people as really, though of course not as directly as the
President of the United States.

[2] Green's "Short History of the English People" and