THE RULE OF LAW 2. Protecting the rights of the people

		The UK	The USA
The right to bear arms	the original	1689 Declaration of Rights: Protestants armed under the control of the law = religious right to prevent any Catholic rebellion	1789 Bill of Rights (amendments to the Constitution): any citizen can be armed and form a militia = individual right to prevent any abuse of power by the state
	its evolution	No longer an individual right because not supported by public opinion => police not systematically armed & gun laws after mass shootings to restrict and ban the use of firearms	Still a right to self-defence supported by public opinion and firearms widely spread => no gun laws despite mass shootings
The right to fair punishment	the original	“cruel and unusual punishment [shall not be] inflicted”
	its evolution	Death penalty by hanging abolished in 1969 (suspended since 1965) because “cruel and unusual punishment”	Capital punishment by electrocution or lethal injection allowed on a federal scale and in use in a narrow majority of the states