La Déclaration des Droits
de l'Homme et du Citoyen, France 1789 –
original French text
Preamble
The representatives of the French people, formed into a National
Assembly, considering that ignorance, neglect or scorn of the rights
of man to be the only causes of national misfortunes and the corruption
of governments, have resolved to set out, in a solemn Declaration, the
natural, unalienable and sacred rights of man,
so that this Declaration, always present to all members of society,
reminds them constantly of their rights and their duties;
so that the acts of the legislative power and those of the executive
power, being able to be compared at every moment with the aim of the whole
political institution, should have greater respect for that aim;
so that the demands of the citizens, founded henceforth on simple
and indisputable principles, are always oriented to conserving the Constitution
and to the happiness of everybody.
Consequently , the National Assembly acknowledges and declares,
in the presence and under the auspices of the Supreme Being, the following
rights of man and of the citizen:
First Article —Men are born and remain free and equal in rights.
Social distinctions can be based only upon benefit for the community.
Article 2 —The aim of every political association is the
preservation of the natural rights of man, which rights must not be prevented.
These rights are freedom, property, security and resistance to oppression.
Article 3 —The fundamentals of sovereignty has its origins
essentially in the Nation. No organisation, nor individual, may exercise
any authority that does not expressly come from there.
Article 4 —Liberty consists in being able to do anything
that does not harm other people. Thus, the exercise of the natural rights
of each man has only those limits that that ensure to the other members
of society the enjoyment of these same rights. These limits may be determined
only by the law.
Article 5 —The law has only the right to forbid those actions
that are detrimental to society. Anything that is not forbidden by law
may not be prevented, and none may be compelled to do what the law does
not require.
Article 6 —The law is the expression of the collective wishes
of the public. All citizens have the right to contribute, personally or
through their representatives, to the forming of the law. The law must
be the same for all, whether it protects or it punishes. All citizens,
being equal in its eyes, shall be equally eligible for all important offices,
positions and public employments, according to their ability and without
other distinction than that of their qualities and talents.
Article 7 —No man can be accused, arrested or detained except
in the cases determined by the law, and according to the methods that
the law has stipulated. Those who pursue, distribute, enforce, or cause
to be enforced, arbitrary orders must be punished; but any citizen summoned,
or apprehended in accordance with the law, must obey immediately: he makes
himself guilty by resisting.
Article 8—The law must introduce only punishments that are
strictly and indisputably necessary; and no one may be punished except
in accordance with a law instituted and published before the offence is
committed, and legally applied.
Article 9—Because every man is presumed innocent until he
has been declared guilty, if it should be considered necessary to arrest
him, any force beyond the minimum necessary to arrest and imprison the
person will be treated with severely.[2]
Article 10—No-one should be harassed for his opinions, even
religious views, provided that the expression of such opinions does not
cause a breach of the peace as established by law.
Article 11—The free communication of thought and opinions
is one of the most precious rights of man. Any citizen can therefore speak,
write and publish freely; however, they are answerable for abuse of this
freedom as determined by law.
Article 12—Guaranteeing the rights of man and of the citizen
requires a public force[3].
This force is therefore established for the benefit of all, and not for
the particular use of those to whom it is entrusted.
Article 13—For the maintenance of the public force, and for
administrative expenses, a common tax is necessary. It must be spread
in similar fashion among all citizens, in proportion to their capability.
Article 14—All citizens have the right to verify for themselves,
or through their representatives, the necessity for the public tax. They
further have the right to grant the tax freely, to watch over how it is
used, and to determine its amount[4],
the basis for its assessment and of its collection, and its duration.
Article 15—Society has the right to ask a public official
for an explication of his management and supervision.
Article 16—Any society in which the guarantee of rights is
not ensured, nor a separation of powers is worked out, has no Constitution.
Article 17—Property, being an inviolable and sacred right,
no one may be deprived of it; unless public necessity, legally investigated,
clearly requires it, and just and prior compensation has been paid.
End
Notes
- It is very easy, when translating French, to
be misled by the many faux amis (false friends)—words
that look the same in French and English but have different meanings.
Sometimes, this difference may affect the translation little, but
in some cases a more accurate translation gives a very different aspect
to the meaning of the original text.
I am at odds with previous available translations that I have seen.
Although previous translators have much facility in creating word
pictures, they seem often to have avoided reference to a French-English
dictionary. This results in inadequate interpretations of an important
document.
- The wording in the final clause of article 9
has been written to reflect more clearly the notion being described.
Here, in this endnote, is a more literal translation of this last
part of article 9:
“...all harshness that is not necessary to secure his person
must be severely suppressed by the law.”
-
of policemen,
gendarmes, troops.
-
Quotité:
literally the fixed amount representing each share.
There are two types of tax
—tax by shares, where one determines in the first instance
the amount each person must pay;
—and tax by distribution, where each administrative unit (commune)
must pay; the amount paid being subsequently shared between the
inhabitants who each pay their portion.
|
