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church and the republican parties, occasioned the measure 

 to be dropped, after it had been in dependence for two 

 months, and the matter of difference bad been agitated in 

 several conferences without effect. The bill was however 

 again brought in immediately after the opening of the next 

 session, on the 19th of October, 1689, and the amendment 

 respecting the Princess Sophia not having been again pro- 

 posed, it passed both houses, and received the royal assent 

 in the same shape in which it had formerly passed the Com- 

 mons, with the addition only of a clause inserted by the 

 Lords, enacting that the kings and queens of England 

 should be obliged, at their coming to the crown, to take the 

 test in the first parliament that should be called at the be- 

 ginning of their reign, and that if any king or queen of 

 England should embrace the Roman Catholic religion, or 

 marry with a Roman Catholic prince or princess, their sub- 

 jects should be absolved of their allegiance. This remark- 

 able clause is stated to have been agreed to without any 

 opposition or debate. 



The Bill of Rights, after declaring the late King James II. 

 to have done various acts, which are enumerated, utterly 

 and directly contrary to the known laws and statutes and 

 freedom of this realm, and to have abdicated the govern- 

 ment, proceeds to enact as follows 



' 1. That the pretended power of suspending of laws, or 

 the execution of laws, by regal authority, without consent 

 of parliament, is illegal. 2. That the pretended power of 

 dispensing with laws, or the execution of laws, by regal 

 authority, as it hath been assumed and exercised of late, is 

 illegal. 3. That the commission for creating the late court 

 of commissioners for ecclesiastical causes, and all other 

 commissions and courts of like nature, are illegal and per- 

 nicious. 4. That levying of money for or to the use of the 

 crown, by pretence of prerogative, without grant of parlia- 

 ment, for longer time, or in other manner, than the same is 

 or shall be granted, is illegal. 5. That it is the right of 

 the subjects to petition the king, and all commitments and 

 prosecutions for such petitioning are illegal. 6. That the 

 raising or keeping a standing army within the kingdom in 

 time of peace, unless it be with consent of parliament, is 

 against law. 7. That the subjects, which are Protestants, 

 may have arms for their defence, suitable to their condition, 

 and as allowed by law. 8. That election of members of 

 parliament ought to be free. 9. That the freedom of speech, 

 and debates or proceedings in parliament, ought not to be 

 impeached or questioned in any court or place out of parlia- 

 ment. 10. That excessive bail ought not to be required, 

 nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punish- 

 ments inflicted. 11. That jurors ought to be duly empan- 

 nelled and returned, and jurors which pass upon men in 

 trials for high treason ought to be freeholders. 12. That all 

 grants and promises of fines and forfeitures of particular 

 persons, before conviction, are illegal and void. ] 3. And 

 that for redress of all grievances, and for the amending, 

 strengthening, and preserving of the laws, parliaments 

 ought to be held frequently.' 



It is added that the Lords and Commons 'do claim, de- 

 mand, and insist upon all and singular the premises as their 

 undoubted rights and liberties; and that no declarations, 

 judgments, doings, or proceedings, to the prejudice of the 

 people in any of the said premises, ought in anywise to be 

 drawn hereafter into consequence or example.' 



The act also recognises their Majesties William III. and 

 Mary as King and Queen of England, France, and Ire- 

 land, and the dominions thereunto belonging ; and declares 

 that the crown and royal dignity of the said kingdoms and 

 dominions shall be held by their said majesties during their 

 lives and the life of the survivor of them ; that the sole and 

 full exercise of the regal power shall be only in and exe- 

 cuted by King William, in the names of himself and her 

 majesty, during their joint lives ; and that after their de- 

 cease the crown shall descend to the heirs of the body of the 

 queen, and, in default of such issue, to the Princess Anne 

 of Denmark and the heirs of her body, and, failing her issue, 

 to the heirs of the body of the king. 



The Declaration of Rights is understood to have been 

 principally the composition of Lord (then Mr.) Somers, who 

 was a member of the first, and chairman of the second, of 

 two committees, on whose reports it was founded. The ori- 

 ginal draught of the Bill of Rights was also probably the 

 production of his pen. In the latter especially there is very 

 apparent a desire to preserve in the new arrangement as 

 much as possible of the principle of hereditary succession to 



the crown. The legislature, for instar.ee, in strong terms 

 expresses its thankfulness that God had mercifully pre- 

 served King William and Queen Mary to reign over them 

 ' upon the throne of their ancestors ;' and the new settlement 

 is cautiously designated merely ' a limitation of the crown.' 

 Mr. Burke has, from these expressions, contended (in his 

 ' Reflections on the Revolution in France') that the notion 

 of the English people having at the Revolution asserted a 

 right to elect their kings is altogether unfounded. ' I never 

 desire,' he adds, in repudiation of the opposite opinion as 

 held by one class of persons professing Whig principles, ' to 

 be thought a better Whig than Lord Somers, or to under- 

 stand the principles of the Revolution better than those by 

 whom it was brought about, or to read in the Declaration of 

 Rights any mysteries unknown to those whose penetrating 

 style has engraved in our ordinances and in our hearts the 

 words and spirit of that immortal law.' 



The Declaration and Bill of Rights may be compared 

 with the Petition of Rights (drawn up by Sir Edward Coke), 

 which was presented by parliament to Charles I. in 1628, 

 and passed by him into a law. (See PETITION OF RIGHT.) 



BILL OF SALE, a deed or writing under seal, evidenc- 

 ing the sale of personal property. In general, the transfer 

 of possession is the best evidence of ownership, but cases 

 frequently occur in which it is necessary or desirable that 

 the change of property should be attested by a formal in- 

 strument of transfer ; and in all cases in which it is not 

 intended that the sale shall be followed by delivery, such a 

 solemnity is essential to the legal efficacy of the agree- 

 ment. The occasions to which these instruments are com- 

 monly made applicable are sales of fixtures and furniture 

 in a house, of the stock of a shop, of the good-will of a 

 business (which of course is intransferrable by delivery), of 

 an office, or the like. But their most important use is in 

 the transfer of property in ships, which being held in shares 

 cannot, in general, be delivered over on each change of 

 part ownership. It seems to have been from antient times 

 the practice, as well in this country as in other commercial 

 states, to attest the sale of ships by a written document ; 

 and at the present day a bill of sale is, by the registry acts, 

 rendered necessary to the validity of all transfers of shares 

 in British ships, whether by way of sale or of mortgage. 

 In general, bills of sale, being ex vi termini founded on 

 valuable consideration, are available against the creditors 

 of the seller ; but by the operation of the bankrupt laws, 

 goods remaining with the consent of the true owner in the 

 order and disposition of the insolvent at the time of his 

 bankruptcy, are deemed to be the property of the latter, 

 and pass to his assignees to be distributed with the rest of 

 his effects for the benefit of his creditors. Moreover, in all 

 cases such a deed may be set aside on proof that it was a 

 merely colourable and fraudulent expedient for defeating 

 the claim of bond, fide creditors, and the courts of law are in 

 general little disposed to favour assignments of this kind, 

 made secretly and without the notoriety which attends the 

 actual transfer of possession. 



BILLINGSGATE, a London market at the western ex- 

 tremity of the Custom-house, and the only wholesale market 

 for supplying the metropolis with fish. It was established 

 in 1699, and is held every day, except Sunday, when how- 

 ever mackerel is allowed to be sold. The market is so di- 

 vided that oysters are sold in one part and other descriptions 

 of shell-fish in another; red-herrings, cod, salmon, and 

 eels, are to be found in the respective divisions of the market 

 assigned for their sale. The two latter are the only kinds 

 sold by weight. The English rivers and coasts furnish an 

 almost inexhaustible supply of fish, and each season brings 

 its peculiar kind, such as herring, salmon, cod, pilchard, 

 mackerel, turbot, lobster, oyster, &c. 



An article which enters largely into the consumption of the 

 public should be supplied under as few restrictions as pos 

 sible. It is partly with this view that fresh fish of all de- 

 scriptions, taken by British subjects and imported in British 

 vessels, may be imported into the United Kingdom without 

 report, entry, or warrant. Lobsters and turbot are admitted 

 free of duty, whether imported in British vessels or other- 

 wise. Cured fish of every kind is admitted free of duty i> 

 caught, taken, and cured by British subjects ; but fish which 

 is taken or cured by foreigners, or brought in foreign vessels. 

 except turbot and lobsters, as previously noticed, are ad 

 mitted on payment of the following duties: oysters, pet 

 bushel, 1*. Gd. stock-fish, per 120, 5s, ; sturgeon, per keg, 

 not containing more than five gallons, 9s. The duty on 



