On the record
No intent can make a defamatory publication good, nothing can make it have a good tendency; truth is not pleadable.
Said by
Edmund Burke
Source
gutenberg.orgNo intent can make a defamatory publication good, nothing can make it have a good tendency; truth is not pleadable.
Burke argues that truth cannot be used as a defense in cases of defamation, emphasizing the severity of libel laws.
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They will become flatterers instead of legislators,--the instruments, not the guides of the people.
But when the leaders choose to make themselves bidders at an auction of popularity, their talents, in the construction of the state, will be of no service.
The improvements of the National Assembly are superficial, their errors fundamental.
Whatever they are, I wish my countrymen rather to recommend to our neighbors the example of the British Constitution than to take models from them for the improvement of our own.