Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen

The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen proclaimed that people possess basic rights by virtue of being human, rather than receiving them as favours from a ruler. Adopted by France's National Assembly in 1789, it presented these rights as natural and inalienable, and made their protection the purpose of political authority.

Natural rights and equal human status

The Declaration challenged hereditary privilege by asserting that men are born and remain free and equal in rights. Its central claim was that government must preserve rights that already belong to individuals.

• It identified liberty, property, security and resistance to oppression as natural and imprescriptible rights, meaning rights that do not lapse with time.
• Liberty meant freedom to do anything that did not injure another person; its limits were to secure the same rights for everyone and could be determined only by law.
• Social distinctions could be justified only by common utility, not simply by inherited status.

National sovereignty and equality before law

The Declaration located sovereignty in the nation, rejecting the idea that a monarch possessed an independent, absolute right to rule. Public authority had to derive from the nation.

• Law was described as the expression of the general will, and citizens had the right to participate in making it, personally or through representatives.
• The law had to be the same for everyone, whether it protected or punished.
• Citizens were equally eligible for public offices according to their abilities, with distinctions based on virtue and talent rather than birth.
• Public taxation was to be distributed equitably among citizens according to their means.

Freedoms and safeguards against arbitrary power

Natural rights required practical protections against arbitrary state action. The Declaration therefore connected individual freedom with legal safeguards and public accountability.

• No person could be accused, arrested or detained except in cases and through procedures established by law.
• Freedom of opinion, including religious opinion, was protected, provided its expression did not disturb public order established by law.
• Citizens could speak, write and print freely, while remaining responsible for abuses defined by law.
• Property was declared inviolable and sacred; deprivation required legally established public necessity and just, prior compensation.
• Society had the right to demand an account from public officials for their administration.