Declaration of Human Rights
In the dramatic last scene of the French cinema classic
Danton,
(directed by Polish director Andrzej Wajda
and starring Gèrard Depardieu) the Declaration of Human Rights
recited by Robespierre's child serves as a soundtrack for Danton's execution.
It is one of the most powerful scenes ever captured on film, more powerful
than Coppola's baptims in The Godfather. Below is an English
translation of the French original. If you have time, it's worthwhile
to compare it to the modern, diluted
version.
The representatives of the French people, constituted as a National
Assembly, and considering that ignorance, neglect or contempt of the
rights of man are the sole causes of public misfortunes and governmental
corruption, have resolved to set forth in a solemn declaration the natural,
inalienable and sacred rights of man: so that by being constantly present
to all the members of the social body this declaration may always remind them
of their rights and duties; so that by being liable at every moment to
comparison with the aim of any and all political institutions the acts of the
legislative and executive powers may be the more fully respected; and so that
by being founded henceforward on simple and incontestable principles the
demands of the citizens may always tend toward maintaining the constitution
and the general welfare.
In consequence, the National Assembly recognizes and declares, in the
presence and under the auspices of the Supreme Being, the following rights
of man and the citizen:
- Men are born and remain free and equal in rights. Social distinctions
may be based only on common utility.
- The purpose of all political association is the preservation of the
natural and imprescriptible rights of man. These rights are liberty,
property, security and resistance to oppression.
- The principle of all sovereignty rests essentially in the nation.
No body and no individual may exercise authority which does not emanate
expressly from the nation.
- Liberty consists in the ability to do whatever does not harm another;
hence the exercise of the natural rights of each man has no other limits
than those which assure to other members of society the enjoyment of the
same rights. These limits can only be determined by the law.
- The law only has the right to prohibit those actions which are
injurious to society. No hindrance should be put in the way of anything
not prohibited by the law, nor may any one be forced to do what the law
does not require.
- The law is the expression of the general will. All citizens have the
right to take part, in person or by their representatives, in its
formation. It must be the same for everyone whether it protects or
penalizes. All citizens being equal in its eyes are equally admissible to
all public dignities, offices and employments, according to their ability,
and with no other distinction than that of their virtues and talents.
- No man may be indicted, arrested or detained except in cases determined
by the law and according to the forms which it has prescribed. Those who
seek, expedite, execute or cause to be executed arbitrary orders should
be punished; but citizens summoned or seized by virtue of the law should
obey instantly, and render themselves guilty by resistance.
- Only strictly and obviously necessary punishments may be established by
the law, and no one may be punished except by virtue of a law established
and promulgated before the time of the offense, and legally applied.
- Every man being presumed innocent until judged guilty, if it is deemed
indispensable to arrest him, all rigor unnecessary to securing his person
should be severely repressed by the law.
- No one should be disturbed for his opinions, even in religion,
provided that their manifestation does not trouble public order as
established by law.
- The free communication of thoughts and opinions is one of the most
precious of the rights of man. Every citizen may therefore speak, write
and print freely, if he accepts his own responsibility for any abuse of
this liberty in the cases set by the law.
- The safeguard of the rights of man and the citizen requires public
powers. These powers are therefore instituted for the advantage of all,
and not for the private benefit of those to whom they are entrusted.
- For maintenance of public authority and for expenses of administration,
common taxation is indispensable. It should be apportioned equally among
all the citizens according to their capacity to pay.
- All citizens have the right, by themselves or through their
representatives, to have demonstrated to them the necessity of public
taxes, to consent to them freely, to follow the use made of the proceeds,
and to determine the means of apportionment, assessment, and collection,
and the duration of them.
- Society has the right to hold accountable every public agent of the
administration.
- Any society in which the guarantee of rights is not assured or the
separation of powers not settled has no constitution.
- Property being an inviolable and sacred right, no one may be deprived of
it except when public necessity, certified by law, obviously requires it,
and on the condition of a just compensation in advance.