On the recordJanuary 1, 1790
It is an institution of beneficence; and law itself is only beneficence acting by a rule.
Said by
Edmund Burke
Source
gutenberg.orgEditor's note · Context
Burke defines civil society as a benevolent institution and law as the structured application of beneficence.
Share
More from Edmund Burke
Jan 1, 1790
The speculative line of demarcation, where obedience ought to end and resistance must begin, is faint, obscure, and not easily definable.
Jan 1, 1790
If all the absurd theories of lawyers and divines were to vitiate the objects in which they are conversant, we should have no law and no religion left in the world.
Jan 1, 1790
Always acting as if in the presence of canonized forefathers, the spirit of freedom, leading in itself to misrule and excess, is tempered with an awful gravity.
Jan 1, 1790
Though a king may abdicate for his own person, he cannot abdicate for the monarchy.
Other voices in this conversation
