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« NFA Record Problems | Main | Kopel: "The Klan's Favorite Law" »

Lord Somers' notes on 1688 Declaration of Rights

Posted by David Hardy · 30 March 2005 09:21 AM

The British 1688/89 (old vs. new style dates) includes the guarantee that "the subjects which are protestant may have arms for their defense suitable to their condition and as allowed by law." Some commentators -- Roy Weatherup, for example -- still try to read this as some manner of "collective right" -- in his explanation, "It should be pointed out that the King did not disarm Protestants in any literal sense; the reference is to his desire to abandon the militia in favor of a standing army..."

The claim is untenable in light of the unearthing of a 1778 volume by a British antiquarian, which reprints the notes of Lord Somers (floor manager for the Declaration in the House of Lords), on the debate in the House of Commons. The notes make clear that the speakers were in fact moved by the fact that they and others ("himself disarmed") had been individually subjected to confiscation.

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· 17th Century

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