Petition of Right

Petition of Right, document presented to Charles I of England by Parliament (1628) in protest against his arbitrary fiscal methods. It asserted four principles: no taxation without parliamentary consent, no imprisonment of subjects without due legal cause, no billeting of soldiers in private houses without payment, and no declaring of martial law in peacetime. Accepted (although later disregarded) by the king, it represents a landmark in English constitutional history.

See also: United Kingdom.