The English 1689 Bill of Rights

Robin de Crittenden is a 67 year old man who lives near Wolverhampton who apparently is fighting a parking fine arguing that a provision of the 1689 Bill of Rights provides that they are unlawful;

That all grants and promises of fines and forfeitures of particular persons before conviction are illegal and void.

Although the Bill of Rights is considered, along with inter alia the Magna Carta, the Scottish Claim of Right and the Reform Act, as 'constitutional documents' they are not afforded particular special status in the UK in the same way as they might in other countries. Rights acquired under the Bill of Rights are not superior to any other law whether antecedent or subsequent, unlike for example in the USA where subsequent law derives its authority from the framework provided by the constitution, the first ten amendments to which form the USA Bill of Rights.

For this reason, Mr. de Crittenden doesn't have much of a hope that he will escape the charge - but it is a valiant effort.

A spokeswoman for the National Parking Adjudication Service said no previous challenge to parking fines using the Bill of Rights had been successful.

Until now there has been no judicial review of the outcome of the adjudication, though any such effort on the grounds suggested would fail.

Posted by Paul in Legal System Law at November 19, 2005 08:40 AM | 2 Comments | Browse Related Books