DECLARATION OF HUMAN
AND CIVIC RIGHTS
OF 26 AUGUST 1789
The representatives of the French People, formed into a National Assembly,
considering ignorance, forgetfulness or contempt of the rights of man to be the
only causes of public misfortunes and the corruption of Governments, have
resolved to set forth, in a solemn Declaration, the natural, unalienable and sacred
rights of man, to the end that this Declaration, constantly present to all members
of the body politic, may remind them unceasingly of their rights and their duties;
to the end that the acts of the legislative power and those of the executive power,
since they may be continually compared with the aim of every political institution,
may thereby be the more respected; to the end that the demands of the citizens,
founded henceforth on simple and incontestable principles, may always be
directed toward the maintenance of the Constitution and the happiness of all.
In consequence whereof, the National Assembly recognises and declares, in
the presence and under the auspices of the Supreme Being, the following Rights
of Man and of the Citizen.
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Issue 2002
Article first
Men are born and remain free and equal in rights. Social distinctions may be
based only on considerations of the common good.
Article 2
The aim of every political association is the preservation of the natural
and imprescriptible rights of Man. These rights are Liberty, Property, Safety and
Resistance to Oppression.
Article 3
The principle of any Sovereignty lies primarily in the Nation. No corporate
body, no individual may exercise any authority that does not expressly emanate
from it.
Article 4
Liberty consists in being able to do anything that does not harm others: thus,
the exercise of the natural rights of every man has no bounds other than those that
ensure to the other members of society the enjoyment of these same rights. These
bounds may be determined only by Law.
Article 5
The Law has the right to forbid only those actions that are injurious to
society. Nothing that is not forbidden by Law may be hindered, and no one may
be compelled to do what the Law does not ordain.
Article 6
The Law is the expression of the general will. All citizens have the right to
take part, personally or through their representatives, in its making. It must be the