It must be the same for all, whether it protects or punishes. Every citizen has a right to participate personally, or through his representative, in its foundation. Law is the expression of the general will. Nothing may be prevented which is not forbidden by law, and no one may be forced to do anything not provided for by law.Ħ. Law can only prohibit such actions as are hurtful to society. These limits can only be determined by law.ĥ. Liberty consists in the freedom to do everything which injures no one else hence the exercise of the natural rights of each man has no limits except those which assure to the other members of the society the enjoyment of the same rights. No body nor individual may exercise any authority which does not proceed directly from the nation.Ĥ. The principle of all sovereignty resides essentially in the nation. These rights are liberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression.ģ. The aim of all political association is the preservation of the natural and imprescriptible rights of man. Social distinctions may be founded only upon the general good.Ģ. Men are born and remain free and equal in rights.
Therefore the National Assembly recognizes and proclaims, in the presence and under the auspices of the Supreme Being, the following rights of man and of the citizen: Articles:ġ. Power, as well as those of the executive power, may be compared at any moment with the objects and purposes of all political institutions and may thus be more respected, and, lastly, in order that the grievances of the citizens, based hereafter upon simple and incontestable principles, shall tend to the maintenance of the constitution and redound to the happiness of all. The representatives of the French people, organized as a National Assembly, believing that the ignorance, neglect, or contempt of the rights of man are the sole cause of public calamities and of the corruption of governments, have determined to set forth in a solemn declaration the natural, unalienable, and sacred rights of man, in order that this declaration, being constantly before all the members of the Social body, shall remind them continually of their rights and duties in order that the acts of the legislative Approved by the National Assembly of France, August 26, 1789
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