Declaration of the Rights of Man
The 1789 French declaration of universal rights
Overview
Proclaimed in August 1789 at the heart of the French Revolution, the declaration announced that men are born and remain free and equal in rights, and listed liberty, property, security, resistance to oppression, presumption of innocence, free expression, and due process. It prefaced the French constitutions and stands in their current preamble with constitutional force. Together with the American Declaration it is the fountainhead of modern human rights law. Its echo runs through the Universal Declaration of 1948. Its fourth article holds liberty to consist in doing anything that harms no one else.
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