On the record
Laws are the offspring of the original genius of a people, and while we may renovate, we must not unduly reform.
Said by
Harold J. Laski
Source
gutenberg.orgHarold J. Laski: “Laws are the offspring of the original genius of a people, and while we may renovate, we must not unduly reform.”
Editor's note · Context
Laski argues that laws should reflect the unique character of a people while allowing for thoughtful reform.
Share
More from Harold J. Laski
There are realms of conduct within which, to be free, I must be permitted to act as I please; to be denied self-expression there, is to be denied freedom.
He realized that freedom is born of a certain spontaneity for which the rigid lines of doctrinaire thinkers left no room.
Yet that does not render useless, even for our own day, the kind of work Locke did.
But we cannot understand the eighteenth century, or its theories, unless we realize that its temper was still dominantly aristocratic.
Other voices in this conversation
