Charles III William, Duke of Rothesay Swinney government The Rt Hon John Swinney MSP The Rt Hon John Swinney MSP Kate Forbes MSP Sixth session Alison Johnstone MSP Angela Constance MSP Dorothy Bain KC The Rt Hon Lord Carloway KC PC United Kingdom Parliament elections European Parliament elections Local elections Referendums Starmer ministry The Rt Hon Keir Starmer MP The Rt Hon Ian Murray MP A Claim of Right for Scotland was a document crafted by the Campaign for a Scottish Assembly in 1988, declaring the sovereignty of the Scottish people.
The Claim of Right was signed at the General Assembly Hall, on the Mound in Edinburgh on 30 March 1989 by 58 of Scotland's 72 Members of Parliament, 7 of Scotland's 8 MEPs, 59 out of 65 Scottish regional, district and island councils, and numerous political parties, churches and other civic organisations, e.g., trade unions.
As the Claim of Right Act also deposed a king, (James VII and II), and with him the Three Estates, (legislative Parliament), its reference to the Convention as representing the Estates (communities) of Scotland, “assembled in a full and free representative of this Nation” and acting as “their ancestors in the like cases have usually done for the vindicating and asserting their ancient rights and liberties”, means that it enacted the sovereignty of the people over a monarch and his parliament.
By contrast, the English Bill of Rights, also passed in 1689, limited the power of its monarchy by transferring the authority of the monarch to the parliament, inaugurating what is now known as the doctrine of parliamentary sovereignty.
[2][3] The Claim of Right reads: We, gathered as the Scottish Constitutional Convention, do hereby acknowledge the sovereign right of the Scottish people to determine the form of Government best suited to their needs, and do hereby declare and pledge that in all our actions and deliberations their interests shall be paramount.