On the record
It cannot be admitted, because it is a perversion of the fundamental principle, that every power given for the protection of the people below should be responsible to the power above.
Said by
Edmund Burke
Source
gutenberg.orgEdmund Burke: “It cannot be admitted, because it is a perversion of the fundamental principle, that every power given for the…”
Editor's note · Context
Burke argues that power should be accountable to those it protects, emphasizing the importance of responsibility in governance.
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More from Edmund Burke
Jan 1, 1790
As he is not to obey us, but we are to obey the law in him, our Constitution has made no sort of provision towards rendering him, as a servant, in any degree responsible.
Jan 1, 1790
The House of Lords, for instance, is not morally competent to dissolve the House of Commons,--no, nor even to dissolve itself, nor to abdicate, if it would, its portion in the legislature of the kingdom.
Jan 1, 1790
But the course of succession is the healthy habit of the British Constitution.
Jan 1, 1790
If kings who did not owe their crown to the choice of their people had no title to make laws, what will become of the statute De tallagio non concedendo? of the Petition of Right? of the act of Habeas Corpus?
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