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About : The minimal compact: An “open source” constitutional framework for post-national collectivities (v0.1.1)
First written and published online in 2003, the Minimal Compact is a manifesto for creating a constitution between people, based on open-source software concepts and practices, that goes beyond the framework of the nation state.

Published March 2009

Adam Greenfield is a writer and critical futurist, and as of 2009 holds the position of Head of Design Direction, Service and User Interface Design for Nokia. He has spent the past ten years exploring the intersection of technology, design and culture, with a strong focus on issues around ubiquitous computing. His 2006 book on the subject, Everyware, has been acclaimed as “groundbreaking,” “elegant,” and “soulful” by Bruce Sterling, and “gracefully written, fascinating, and deeply wise” by Wired’s Steve Silberman. His book The City Is Here For You To Use (Do Projects, forthcoming) explores the impact of these technologies on urban form and metropolitan experience. Previously a rock critic, San Francisco bike messenger, PSYOP sergeant, and head of the information architecture department for the Tokyo office of the notorious early Internet consultancy Razorfish, Greenfield most recently co-taught the “Urban Computing” course at New York University’s Interactive Telecommunications Program with Kevin Slavin. He currently lives and works in Helsinki, Finland, and blogs at speedbird.wordpress.com. His Twitter feed can be found at twitter.com/agpublic.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License

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About : This eBook contains the texts of three key charters of rights spanning almost 900 years. The first, originally published in 1100, was the Charter of Liberties confirmed by King Henry I on securing his throne despite widespread opposition. His reign was subsequently regarded as a golden age of the rule of law and justice, particularly as it was followed by a brutal civil war.

The People’s Charter of 1838 was a response to the Great Reform Act of 1832 which widened the franchise, but stopped short of universal male suffrage, secret ballot, and other elements of parliamentary reform. It was supported by working class ‘Chartists’ seeking representation through enfranchisement and participation in the parliamentary process through MP’s being paid (not having to rely on private wealth).

Charter 88 was a demand for a written constitution, electoral and constitutional reform for the UK arising out of the period of the Thatcher government. Many of its demands are still unmet and pertinent today – visit Unlock Democracy to follow their recent projects.

First Published in 1100, 1838 and 1988
Sourced from Wikipedia, www.thechartists.net and www.britannia.com

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About : The 1689 Bill of Rights is an Act of the English Parliament setting out the rights of citizens and the relationship between the Crown and Parliament. It was passed, after the Glorious Revolution of 1688, by the dual monarchs William III and Mary II and declared James II’s flight from the country to be an abdication of the throne. The Bill of Rights is one of the cornerstones of the ‘unwritten’ English constitution, as well as a predecessor of the US Bill of Rights and is also enshrined in the laws of many countries of the former British Empire.

First Published 1689
Sourced from The Constitution Society

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About : Magna Carta is commonly perceived to be the foundation of English rights and liberties, but in fact was a legal charter forcing King John to concede rights, follow legal procedures and agree to be bound by the law, mainly for his barons’ benefit. The 1297 version remains in law in England and Wales and guarantees these rights for all “freemen” – most notably the writ of habeus corpus. Magna Carta is often cited as a milestone on the development of English common law, constitutional law and the US Constitution.

First Published 1215
Sourced from The Constitution Society

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The Petition of Right was a landmark episode in the history of English, and later British, democracy. As a check to the increasingly despotic rule of King Charles I, the English Parliament sought to confirm many of the rights and privileges established through earlier Acts against violation by the king. The Petition of Right confirmed Parliament’s exclusive right to levy taxes, the writ of habeus corpus against imprisonment without trial, no martial law in time of peace or billeting of soldiers in civilian homes. Key figures such as Sir Edward Coke and John Pym were the driving forces behind its drafting.

First Published 1628
Sourced from The Constitution Society

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The Charter of the Forest is the lesser known companion to the Magna Carta issued during the reign of King Henry III. In force from 1217 until 1971, recent interest in the charter has focused on the very real rights, privileges and protections that it offered to common people to use the Royal Forests for forage, grazing and fuel. Under a succession of previous monarchs these forests had been greatly enclosed and harsh penalties imposed, including death and mutilation, which the charter repealed.

First Published 1217
Sourced from The Constitution Society

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December 10th 2008 is the 60th Anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the United Nations General Assembly. It is the foundation of international human rights law, the first universal statement on the basic principles of inalienable human rights, and a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations.

Proboscis is re-publishing the Declaration as an eBook in the spirit of the 60th anniversary campaign’s aim to help people everywhere to learn about their human rights, “it is timely to emphasize the living document’s enduring relevance, its universality, and that it has everything to do with all of us.”

As the Declaration’s custodians and beneficiaries, all of us must reclaim the UDHR, make it our own. While we are entitled to our human rights, we should also respect the human rights of others and help make universal human rights a reality for all of us. In our efforts lies the power of the UHDR: it is a living document that will continue to inspire generations to come.

First Published in 1948
Sourced from the United Nations

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About : An Agreement of the Free People of England is a key manifesto arising out of the tumult of the English Civil Wars and, specifically, the vision of John Lilburne, Richard Overton, William Walwyn and Thomas Prince. It sets out to be a model for an English Constitution, referring back to the 1628 Petition of Rights, which itself confirmed numerous rights and liberties. It called for freedom from absolute power through representative government, elected for one year only by all men over 21 (though not quite universal suffrage); the removal of privileges and exemptions from the law; ban on serving military officers being elected to parliament; the abolition of corruption; the right to silence in court; legal cases to be heard in English and charges against them to be heard by defendants; trial by jury; a limit on term of office and separation of powers between legislature and judiciary; an elected judiciary; civilian control of the military ; freedom of conscience and right to conscientious objection; right to life, liberty and freedom without imprisonment for debt or without due process of law; fair taxation and free trade not monopolies.

At at time when the powers of parliament and civil liberties are being eroded by the executive and police can search an MP’s office, seize material and arrest the MP without a warrant, it is ever relevant to reflect back on our radical past and the establishment of our current democracy. Visionaries like John Lilburne remind us that what we cherish are our ‘freeborn rights’ – protected by the State but not bestowed by it. In those turbulent times three civil wars and the Glorious Revolution were needed to establish the primacy of government by elected representatives – Parliament’s role as overseer of the executive is the bastion against any over zealous government whittling away at those rights,

having by wofull experience found the prevalence of corrupt interests powerfully inclining most men once entrusted with authority, to pervert the same to their own domination, and to the prejudice of our Peace and Liberties

Liberty’s Guide to Human Rights

John Lilburne (1614–1657), also known as Freeborn John, was an agitator in England before, during and after the English Civil Wars of 1642–1650. From 1638 he engaged in unlicensed publishing championing the ‘freeborn rights’ of all. A Lieutenant-Colonel in the Parliamentary Army he fought at Edgehill, Brentford, Marston Moor and Tickhill Castle. Imprisoned in 1645 he wrote the first version of An Agreement for the People which became the focus of the Leveller contingent in the New Model Army’s 1647 Putney Debates. Lilburne was imprisoned by Cromwell in 1649 virtually until his death in 1657.

Richard Overton (c.1599-1664)

William Walwyn (c.1600-1681)

First Published May 1649
Sourced from The Constitution Society

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Of the Origin and Design of Government in General A4 | US Letter PDF 300Kb
Of Monarchy and Hereditary Succession A4 | US Letter PDF 350Kb
Thoughts on the Present State of American Affairs (Part 1) A4 | US Letter PDF 340Kb
Thoughts on the Present State of American Affairs (Part 2) A4 | US Letter PDF 330Kb
Of the Present Ability of America A4 | US Letter PDF 520Kb
Appendix A4 | US Letter PDF 450Kb

Selected and Introduced for Short Work by Alex Steffen, editor of Worldchanging

Bombarded as we are with advertising and propaganda looking to link products or candidates to the concept of freedom, we tend to lose sight of how radical a set of ideas democracy, personal liberty and human rights really are, and how recently, really, the fight to make them the universal rule began. The best antidote to that forgetfulness is Common Sense, the book that, in a very real sense, can be credited with raising the American public will to revolution. It was a radical and deep document then. It is still radical today. Would that we had more writers with Paine’s passion, skill and clarity today.

Alex Steffen
April 2008

Thomas Paine (1737-1809). Englishman by birth. American by choice. French by decree. Citizen of the World.

First Published in Philadelphia 1776
Sourced from Project Gutenberg