Déclaration des Droits de l’Homme et du Citoyen de 1789

9 questions, answered

For the teacher

1. 1

   Which four natural rights does article 2 list?

   Liberty, property, security (sûreté) and resistance to oppression (article 2). Sources: [1]

2. 2

   According to article 4, what is liberty, and who may set its limits?

   Liberty is being able to do anything that does not harm others; its limits are those that let others enjoy the same rights, and only the law may set them (article 4). Sources: [1]

3. 3

   The preamble gives three reasons for writing these rights down. What are they?

   So that the Declaration constantly reminds members of society of their rights and duties; so that the acts of the legislative and executive powers can be compared at any moment with the aim of every political institution; and so that citizens’ demands, founded on simple principles, serve the constitution and the happiness of all (preamble). Sources: [1]

4. 4

   Articles 7, 8 and 9 protect a person facing justice. What does each guarantee, and which practice of the Ancien Régime do they reject?

   Article 7: arrest and detention only in the cases and forms set by law, and punishment for those who give or carry out arbitrary orders. Article 8: only necessary penalties, under a law passed before the offence. Article 9: the presumption of innocence and no needless harshness. They reject imprisonment by lettre de cachet, on the king’s decision alone and without trial; the Conseil constitutionnel reads article 9 as a condemnation of it. Sources: [1, 13, 2]

5. 5

   Where does article 3 place sovereignty, and what does it forbid?

   In the nation. No body and no individual may exercise authority that does not expressly come from the nation (article 3). Sources: [1]

6. 6

   Article 6 says that all citizens may take part in making the law. Who could actually vote under the Constitution of 1791?

   Only “active citizens”: among other conditions, they had to be at least 25, pay a direct tax equal to at least three days of work, and not be domestic servants (Constitution of 1791, title III, chapter I, section II, article 2). Students can discuss the gap between the principle and its first application. Sources: [7]

7. 7

   In 1791 Olympe de Gouges rewrote article 1. What did she change, and what did she criticise in the Declaration of 1789?

   Her article 1 reads “La femme naît libre et demeure égale à l’homme en droits”. She contested the universal claim of the 1789 text and denounced the exclusion of women from national representation, asking citizenship and its rights for them. Sources: [12]

8. 8

   Use Montesquieu to explain article 16.

   For Montesquieu, anyone who holds power tends to abuse it, so the legislative, executive and judicial powers must be held by different bodies that can check one another. Article 16 turns this into a definition: without guaranteed rights and separated powers, a society “has no Constitution”. Sources: [14, 1]

9. 9

   Is this Declaration of 1789 still law in France today? Give two examples.

   Yes. The Preamble of the Constitution of 1958 refers to it, and the Conseil constitutionnel reviews laws against it. In 1999 it derived the right to respect for private life from article 2; in 2013 and 2018 it attached freedom of conscience to article 10; it has struck down provisions for breaching the separation of powers of article 16. Sources: [2, 4, 5, 6]