On the record
All human laws are, properly speaking, only declaratory; they may alter the mode and application, but have no power over the substance of original justice.
Said by
Edmund Burke
Source
gutenberg.orgEdmund Burke: “All human laws are, properly speaking, only declaratory; they may alter the mode and application, but have no power over…”
Editor's note · Context
Burke asserts that human laws merely declare existing justice rather than create it, emphasizing the primacy of original justice.
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More from Edmund Burke
Jan 1, 1790
Though a king may abdicate for his own person, he cannot abdicate for the monarchy.
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A state without the means of some change is without the means of its conservation.
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They look upon the legal hereditary succession of their crown as among their rights, not as among their wrongs,--as a benefit, not as a grievance,--as a security for their liberty, not as a badge of servitude.
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This is the spirit of our Constitution, not only in its settled course, but in all its revolutions.
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