bill of rights
 權利法案,人權法案


 Right n.
 1. That which is right or correct. Specifically: (a) The straight course; adherence to duty; obedience to lawful authority, divine or human; freedom from guilt, -- the opposite of moral wrong. (b) A true statement; freedom from error of falsehood; adherence to truth or fact.
 Seldom your opinions err;
 Your eyes are always in the right.   --Prior.
 (c) A just judgment or action; that which is true or proper; justice; uprightness; integrity.
 Long love to her has borne the faithful knight,
 And well deserved, had fortune done him right.   --Dryden.
 2. That to which one has a just claim. Specifically: (a) That which one has a natural claim to exact.
    There are no rights whatever, without corresponding duties.   --Coleridge.
 (b) That which one has a legal or social claim to do or to exact; legal power; authority; as, a sheriff has a right to arrest a criminal. (c) That which justly belongs to one; that which one has a claim to possess or own; the interest or share which anyone has in a piece of property; title; claim; interest; ownership.
    Born free, he sought his right.   --Dryden.
    Hast thou not right to all created things?   --Milton.
    Men have no right to what is not reasonable.   --Burke.
 (d) Privilege or immunity granted by authority.
 3. The right side; the side opposite to the left.
    Led her to the Souldan's right.   --Spenser.
 4. In some legislative bodies of Europe (as in France), those members collectively who are conservatives or monarchists. See Center, 5.
 5. The outward or most finished surface, as of a piece of cloth, a carpet, etc.
 At all right, at all points; in all respects. [Obs.] --Chaucer.
 Bill of rights, a list of rights; a paper containing a declaration of rights, or the declaration itself. See under Bill.
 By right, By rights, or  By good rights, rightly; properly; correctly.
    He should himself use it by right.   --Chaucer.
    I should have been a woman by right.   --Shak.
 -- Divine right, or Divine right of kings, a name given to the patriarchal theory of government, especially to the doctrine that no misconduct and no dispossession can forfeit the right of a monarch or his heirs to the throne, and to the obedience of the people.
 To rights. (a) In a direct line; straight. [R.] --Woodward. (b) At once; directly. [Obs. or Colloq.] --Swift.
 To set to rights, To put to rights, to put in good order; to adjust; to regulate, as what is out of order.
 Writ of right Law, a writ which lay to recover lands in fee simple, unjustly withheld from the true owner. --Blackstone.


 Bill, n.
 1. Law A declaration made in writing, stating some wrong the complainant has suffered from the defendant, or a fault committed by some person against a law.
 2. A writing binding the signer or signers to pay a certain sum at a future day or on demand, with or without interest, as may be stated in the document. [Eng.]
 Note: ☞ In the United States, it is usually called a note, a note of hand, or a promissory note.
 3. A form or draft of a law, presented to a legislature for enactment; a proposed or projected law.
 4. A paper, written or printed, and posted up or given away, to advertise something, as a lecture, a play, or the sale of goods; a placard; a poster; a handbill.
    She put up the bill in her parlor window.   --Dickens.
 5. An account of goods sold, services rendered, or work done, with the price or charge; a statement of a creditor's claim, in gross or by items; as, a grocer's bill.
 6. Any paper, containing a statement of particulars; as, a bill of charges or expenditures; a weekly bill of mortality; a bill of fare, etc.
 Bill of adventure. See under Adventure.
 Bill of costs, a statement of the items which form the total amount of the costs of a party to a suit or action.
 Bill of credit. (a) Within the constitution of the United States, a paper issued by a State, on the mere faith and credit of the State, and designed to circulate as money. No State shall “emit bills of credit.” --U. S. Const.   --Peters.   --Wharton.   --Bouvier (b) Among merchants, a letter sent by an agent or other person to a merchant, desiring him to give credit to the bearer for goods or money.
 Bill of divorce, in the Jewish law, a writing given by the husband to the wife, by which the marriage relation was dissolved. --Jer. iii. 8.
 Bill of entry, a written account of goods entered at the customhouse, whether imported or intended for exportation.
 Bill of exceptions. See under Exception.
 Bill of exchange Com., a written order or request from one person or house to another, desiring the latter to pay to some person designated a certain sum of money therein generally is, and, to be negotiable, must be, made payable to order or to bearer. So also the order generally expresses a specified time of payment, and that it is drawn for value. The person who draws the bill is called the drawer, the person on whom it is drawn is, before acceptance, called the drawee, -- after acceptance, the acceptor; the person to whom the money is directed to be paid is called the payee. The person making the order may himself be the payee. The bill itself is frequently called a draft. See Exchange. --Chitty.
 Bill of fare, a written or printed enumeration of the dishes served at a public table, or of the dishes (with prices annexed) which may be ordered at a restaurant, etc.
 Bill of health, a certificate from the proper authorities as to the state of health of a ship's company at the time of her leaving port.
 Bill of indictment, a written accusation lawfully presented to a grand jury. If the jury consider the evidence sufficient to support the accusation, they indorse it “A true bill,” otherwise they write upon it “Not a true bill,” or “Not found,” or “=\Ignoramus”\=, or “Ignored.”
 Bill of lading, a written account of goods shipped by any person, signed by the agent of the owner of the vessel, or by its master, acknowledging the receipt of the goods, and promising to deliver them safe at the place directed, dangers of the sea excepted. It is usual for the master to sign two, three, or four copies of the bill; one of which he keeps in possession, one is kept by the shipper, and one is sent to the consignee of the goods.
 Bill of mortality, an official statement of the number of deaths in a place or district within a given time; also, a district required to be covered by such statement; as, a place within the bills of mortality of London.
 Bill of pains and penalties, a special act of a legislature which inflicts a punishment less than death upon persons supposed to be guilty of treason or felony, without any conviction in the ordinary course of judicial proceedings. --Bouvier. --Wharton.
 Bill of parcels, an account given by the seller to the buyer of the several articles purchased, with the price of each.
 Bill of particulars Law, a detailed statement of the items of a plaintiff's demand in an action, or of the defendant's set-off.
 Bill of rights, a summary of rights and privileges claimed by a people. Such was the declaration presented by the Lords and Commons of England to the Prince and Princess of Orange in 1688, and enacted in Parliament after they became king and queen. In America, a bill or declaration of rights is prefixed to most of the constitutions of the several States.
 Bill of sale, a formal instrument for the conveyance or transfer of goods and chattels.
 Bill of sight, a form of entry at the customhouse, by which goods, respecting which the importer is not possessed of full information, may be provisionally landed for examination.
 Bill of store, a license granted at the customhouse to merchants, to carry such stores and provisions as are necessary for a voyage, custom free. --Wharton.
 Bills payable (pl.), the outstanding unpaid notes or acceptances made and issued by an individual or firm.
 Bills receivable (pl.), the unpaid promissory notes or acceptances held by an individual or firm. --McElrath.
 A true bill, a bill of indictment sanctioned by a grand jury.


 Dec·la·ra·tion n.
 1. The act of declaring, or publicly announcing; explicit asserting; undisguised token of a ground or side taken on any subject; proclamation; exposition; as, the declaration of an opinion; a declaration of war, etc.
 2. That which is declared or proclaimed; announcement; distinct statement; formal expression; avowal.
    Declarations of mercy and love . . . in the Gospel.   --Tillotson.
 3. The document or instrument containing such statement or proclamation; as, the Declaration of Independence (now preserved in Washington).
    In 1776 the Americans laid before Europe that noble Declaration, which ought to be hung up in the nursery of every king, and blazoned on the porch of every royal palace.   --Buckle.
 4. Law That part of the process or pleadings in which the plaintiff sets forth in order and at large his cause of complaint; the narration of the plaintiff's case containing the count, or counts. See Count, n., 3.
 Declaration of Independence. Amer. Hist. See Declaration of Independence in the vocabulary. See also under Independence.
 Declaration of rights. Eng. Hist See Bill of rights, under Bill.
 Declaration of trust Law, a paper subscribed by a grantee of property, acknowledging that he holds it in trust for the purposes and upon the terms set forth.
 Note: The Declaration of Independence of The United States of America
 When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume, among the Powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
 We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.  Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.  But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. -- Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government.
 The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States.  To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
 He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
 He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
 He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
 He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
 He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
 He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
 He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws of Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migration hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
 He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.
 He has made judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
 He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our People, and eat out their substance.
 He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
 He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.
 He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended legislation:
 For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
 For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from Punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
 For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
 For imposing taxes on us without our Consent:
 For depriving us, in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
 For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:
 For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
 For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
 For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with Power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
 He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
 He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
 He is at this time transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy of the Head of a civilized nation.
 He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
 He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
 In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms:  Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury.  A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free People.
 Nor have We been wanting in attention to our British brethren.  We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us.  We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here.  We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence.  They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity.  We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
 We, therefore, the Representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by the Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do.  And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the Protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

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 Bill of Rights
      n : a statement of fundamental rights and privileges (especially
          the first ten amendments to the United States
          Constitution)