Petition of Right

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The Petition of Right 1628 was produced by the English Parliament in the run-up to the English Civil War. It was addressed to Charles I of England in 1628 but is dated 1627 because it retroactively came into force from the start of the 1627 session of Parliament. In enacting the Petition, Parliament attempted to seek redress on the following points:

• Taxation without Parliament's consent
• Forced loans
• Arbitrary arrest
• Imprisonment contrary to Magna Carta
• Arbitrary interference with property rights
• Lack of enforcement of habeas corpus
• Forced billeting of troops
• Imposition of martial law
• Exemption of officials from due process

The petition had the support of Sir Edward Coke; John Pym claimed that the rights demanded predated even the Norman conquest and were confirmed by successive kings. The King was under great financial pressure, and agreed in June to look into the "abuses", but maintained his prerogative rights.

See also

• Fundamental Laws of England
• UK topics

External links

• Full text
• Text, different source (scroll down to (D))
• The King's reply to the Petition, scroll down to (J)
• The Parliamentary Archives holds this historic record

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Last updated on Wednesday February 06, 2008 at 17:17:00 PST (GMT -0800)
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