On the record
For to what purpose is a history of a law of which it is impossible to trace the beginning, and which during its continuance has admitted no essential changes?
Said by
Edmund Burke
Source
gutenberg.orgEdmund Burke: “For to what purpose is a history of a law of which it is impossible to trace the beginning, and which during its…”
Editor's note · Context
Burke challenges the purpose of documenting a law that has no clear beginnings or significant changes.
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More from Edmund Burke
Jan 1, 1790
Our people will find employment enough for a truly patriotic, free, and independent spirit, in guarding what they possess from violation.
Jan 1, 1790
I think our happy situation owing to our Constitution,--but owing to the whole of it, and not to any part singly,--owing in a great measure to what we have left standing in our several reviews and reformations, as well as to what we have…
Jan 1, 1790
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.
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They come from one who has been no tool of power, no flatterer of greatness, and who in his last acts does not wish to belie the tenor of his life.
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