Book, Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen Contributes 1/15[LS]

The Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen, of 1789, emerged in one of the most effervescent periods in the history of humanity. The conciseness of ideas and the plasticity of its provisions contributed, with great intensity, to the dissemination of human rights on the European continent, which gave it a position of deserved prominence in the scope of human achievements. Furthermore, there were many who boasted its originality and indicated, as its basis of justification, the ideas defended by Rousseau in the famous Social Contract. The true origin and the exact existential foundation of the maxims espoused by the French Declaration were the target of the keen scientific spirit of Georg Jellinek, who carried out a detailed historical-comparative analysis, with the aim of demonstrating that the French Declaration, far from being marked by the trait of originality, has its origins in Anglo-Saxon thought, more specifically in the Bills of Rights published by several independent states in North America, formerly English colonies. It does not carry out mere conjectures, but an effective textual comparison, allowing the origin of institutes that persist to this day to be definitively recovered, forming the very basis of contemporary constitutionalism. Another aspect of singular importance is that the rights recognized in the North American declarations had their origins, not exactly political, but essentially religious, the result of the freedom of conscience that was beginning to germinate at the time of the Reformation. Freedom of conscience characterized the individuality of human beings, and this individuality was the foundation supporting the innate rights that were recognized during the Franco-American Revolutions. It is also worth highlighting the fact that the rights included in the North American Bills of Rights are already incorporated into the daily life of the former colonies, being recognized even by the English Crown. These pre-existing rights, it is important to emphasize, were effectively declared, not constituted. Already in French lands, the Ancien Régime was marked by monarchical absolutism, in which only the nobility and the clergy had rights, not the bourgeoisie and much less the people. Source of reference for understanding fundamental rights from a historical perspective, worthy of being known by everyone interested in the subject, students or legal practitioners.