How was 'the right to bear arms' understood in 17th-18th century England?
score:2
Hat tip to @BrianZ who summarized it well; this is a research opportunity. There are a couple of sources that might serve as seeds for research, but there does not seem to be a common agreement about the right to bear arms in English law.
The best citation I've found is the following:
There was no ancient political or legal precedent for the right to arms. The Ancient Constitution did not include it; it was neither in Magna Charta 1215 nor in the Petition of Right 1628. No early English government would have considered giving the individual such a right. Through the old militia laws —Henry II’s Assize of Arms (1181) and Edward I’s Statute of Winchester (1285)— early governments had imposed a responsibility on subjects, according to their income, to be prepared. Schwoerer, Lois G. (2000). "Tö Hold And Bear Arm: The English Perspective" (PDF). Chicago-Kent Law Review.
I found that source after consulting Kevin Stroud, a lawyer, historian, and creator of the (excellent) History of English podcast who admitted that this was not his particular area of expertise, but suggested that:
. . . many people trace the origin of that right to a proclamation issued by Henry II in 1181 called the “Assize of Arms of 1181.” It wasn’t so much a “right” to keep and bear arms as it was an “obligation” to maintain such weapons.
(Kevin Stroud)
The assize reads in part,
Moreover, every free layman who possesses chattels or rents to the value of 16m. shall have a shirt of mail, a helmet, a shield, and a lance; and every free layman possessing chattels or rents to the value of 10m. shall have a hauberk, an iron cap, and a lance. Assize
The Assize establishes arms as an obligation of a full citizen and prohibits the right to Jews and others. The requirement extends down to the lowest born freeman.
Notes on historiography
My first temptation when I read the question was to begin analysis from a modern, American point of view; I could begin there and look backwards for sources supporting a connection between the English "right to bear arms" and the corresponding right expressed in the US Bill of Rights.
There are some obvious problems with that, and I'd just heard a podcast that referenced the definition of churl including the right to bear arms. It might be more successful to begin with an early source and work forward to OP's quote from the English Bill of Rights.
Upvote:3
In an article 1983, a legal scholar named Joyce Lee Malcolm mentions how little is known about this:
Experts in English constitutional and legal history have neglected this subject... with the result that no full-scale study of the evolution of the right to keep and bear arms has yet been published. Consequently, there is doubt about such elementary facts as the legality and availability of arms in seventeenth and eighteenth century England, and uncertainty about whether the English right to have arms extended to the entire Protestant population or only to the aristocracy.
My cursory impression is that there hasn't been a whole lot of progress since then. The following year Stephen Halbrook did publish a book with a highly relevant chapter. Although Halbrook is a professional historian, he has strong ideological commitments on the topic and no particular expertise in early modern English law.
In sum, this question is pretty much wide open for historical research, but if you want a little more detail on the debate as it stood in the early 1980s, Malcolm's article may be worth a read.
More post
- 📝 Before Liberty Ships became widely available, what kind of cargo ships supplied Britain?
- 📝 Why did the USSR switch from 1524 mm gauge to 1520 mm gauge in the late 1960's?
- 📝 Why was Hiroshima selected to be the city in Japan on which the first atom bomb was dropped?
- 📝 What is the difference between "seigneurie" and "manor"?
- 📝 Which country ruled Flanders in the 16th century?
- 📝 Are modern day Egyptians the genetic descendants of Ancient Egyptians?
- 📝 Would a common person in the 18th century have heard Mozart's music during his lifetime?
- 📝 What was the population of the main area of settlement in New York City in 1890?
- 📝 Why does the Puerto Rican flag look so much like the one of the U.S.A.?
- 📝 Why didn't colonial empires exchange their colonies with others empire to make their territories whole?
- 📝 Who was the last Egyptian pharaoh to be worshipped as a 'deity' or seen as something 'divine' whether in potential or actuality?
- 📝 Why didn't the Khalkh Mongols support the Dzungars in their fight against China?
- 📝 GULAG vs the US prison system
- 📝 What's the significance of "Splashware"?
- 📝 What were the EMP effects, if any, of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki?
- 📝 Why did Shostakovich not release his 4th, but did release his 5th symphony?
- 📝 How did Western leaders justify NATO's eastwards expansion after promising the Soviet leadership it won't happen?
- 📝 When did last names start being used, and who introduced the concept?
- 📝 How did pirates back in the day not get killed themselves when they attacked ships?
- 📝 Have any opinions by Fanny Allen of her father's book on theology survived?
- 📝 Why are the ground floors windows of northern Italian palazzi often barred up?
- 📝 Did Søren Norby ever visit Iceland?
- 📝 Why were eastern European states larger than western European states for much of history?
- 📝 What do we know about "Honorary Aryans" like Milch, Warburg and a few others?
- 📝 What evidence is there for the severity of Roman scourging before crucifixion?
- 📝 What was Babur's attitude upon watching heads of his enemies stacked up forming a tower?
- 📝 Why were some German and Japanese cities bombed more than others during WW2? Is there a scientific consensus?
- 📝 Did German aircraft operate off Lebanon in 1941?
- 📝 What are all fantastic creatures on The Nile mosaic of Palestrina?
- 📝 Scientists who became major political leaders
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 How was 'the right to bear arms' understood in 17th-18th century England?
- 📝 How common was banditry in 16th & 17th century Great Britain and Ireland?
- 📝 How was the linen weaving trade learnt in 18th century Scotland?
- 📝 Was it widespread during the 17th and 18th Century for British country people to be evicted and replaced with more profitable agriculture?
- 📝 Why was 17th Century England a particularly supportive place for groundbreaking thought?
- 📝 How long was a sea journey from England to East Africa 1868-1877?
- 📝 How common was it for people to live 80+ years in the 17th century?
- 📝 Why do some 17th and 18th century maps depict Ottoman sanjaks north of the Danube in Wallachia?
- 📝 How was the dynamics of a naval battle in the 17th century?
- 📝 How did Poland avoid partition in the 17th century, but not the 18th century?
- 📝 Was 18th century Prussia really so militarily obsessed?
- 📝 Where and how did scientists of the 18th and 19th century learn foreign languages?
- 📝 Was the enclosure responsible for the supply of factory workers in 18th and 19th Century England?
- 📝 What was the typical range of travel of a Pennsylvanian resident for everyday life in the late 18th early 19th Century Pennsylvania?
- 📝 How do I interpret this 17th century English ledger?
- 📝 How was Enguerrand VII de Coucy able to keep his allegiance to both king of England and France during the Hundred Years War?
- 📝 How did people 'park' their horse and buggy in early 20th century cities? How was theft prevented?
- 📝 How did society regard identical twins in the 17th century in Europe?
- 📝 What was the average age of first marriage in 18th century Russia?
- 📝 In 18th century America, how did people board ships to travel long distance?
- 📝 Did the civil wars of 17th century England facilitate an independent spirit in the American colonies?
- 📝 Who was the 18th century French eccentric who proposed the Dutch colonize SW Australia?
- 📝 How was 19th century ship tonnage reported?
- 📝 How did coach service in 18th century America work?
- 📝 How common was cannibalism in Christian Europe until the 17th century?
- 📝 Sect in England in the 18th century
- 📝 How to find the image of a 17th century music instruments manufacture?
- 📝 How accurate was rocket artillery in the 18th and 19th centuries?
- 📝 What was the purpose of tunnel fighting in a 17th century siege?
- 📝 How much was cost for a regular (standard class) passenger to come on passenger ship from Liverpool England to Canada between 1906-1908
