Cord Byrd: “The right of freedom of speech was publicly accorded to both Commons and the House of Lords by Henry V in 1407. He…”

“The right of freedom of speech was publicly accorded to both Commons and the House of Lords by Henry V in 1407. He reigned from 1399 to 1413. He publicly declared that the Commons, members of both Houses of Parliament, had the right to speak and speak without any fear of being challenged in any other place. That right was written into the English Bill of Rights, article 9--the English Bill of Rights, which was enacted in December 1689. William III and Mary were offered the joint sovereignty by Commoners, the House of Commons, when James II, just before he left England and went to the court of France, never to return to England, they offered to William and Mary the joint sovereignty. And in early 1689, William and Mary were crowned joint sovereigns. But first of all they had to agree to a Bill of Rights. And in that Bill of Rights, in the nineth article, there is a provision that members of Parliament should not be questioned in any place but Parliament. And in our own Constitution, article I, section 6, we find virtually the same language, no Member of either House may be questioned in any other place, or anything said in debate, so on and so on. So there was the right of freedom of speech. Our English forebears recognized that important right, and they wrote it into the Bill of Rights, the English Bill of Rights.”