reign institutions. That is, the Americans in 1776
went on building upon foundations that were with them long-standing. The
French, on the other hand, tore up all the foundations of their state's
structure. What was in the one case a factor in the process of
consolidation served in the other as a cause of further disturbance.
This was even recognized at the time by sharp-sighted men, such as
Lally-Tollendal[47] and, above all, Mirabeau.[48]

But from the consideration of the American bills of rights there arises
a new problem for the historian of law: How did Americans come to make
legislative declarations of this sort?

To the superficial observer the answer seems simple. The very name
points to English sources. The Bill of Rights of 1689, the Habeas Corpus
Act of 1679, the Petition of Right of 1628, and finally the _Magna
Charta libertatum_ appear to be unquestionably the predecessors of the
Virginia bill of rights.

Assuredly the remembrance of these celebrated English enactments, which
the Americans regarded as an inherent part of the law of their land, had
a substantial share in the declarations of rights after 1776. Many
stipulations from Magna Charta and the English Bill of Rights were
directly embodied by the Americans in their lists.

And yet a deep cleft separates the American declarations from the
English enactments that have been mentioned. The historian of the
American Revolution says of the Virginia declaration that it protested
against all tyranny in the name of the eternal laws of man's being: "The
English petition of right in 1688 was historic and retrospective; the
Virginia declaration came directly out of the heart of nature and
announced governing principles for all peoples in all future times."[49]

The English laws that establish the rights of subjects are collectively
and individually confirmations, arising out of special conditions, or
interpretations of existing law. Even Magna Charta contains no new
right, as Sir Edward Coke, the great authority on English law, perceived
as early as the beginning of the seventeenth century.[50] The English
statutes are far removed from any purpose to recognize general rights of
man, and they have neither the power nor the intention to restrict the
legislative agents or to establish principles for future legislation.
According to English law Parliament is omnipotent and all statutes
enacted or confirmed by it are of equal value.

The American declarations,