The doctrine of prescription might be admirable if all statesmen were so wise as Burke; but in the hands of lesser men it becomes no more than the protective armour of vested interests into the ethics of which it refuses us leave to examine.
Laski warns that Burke's doctrine of prescription can protect vested interests rather than promote ethical governance.
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We grant it in religion to deny it in politics; we grant it in politics, to deny it in economic matters.
Each age makes some idol in its own image and sacrifices upon its altar the freedom of those who refuse it worship.
It has been the historic character of persecution always to degrade the persecutor and to strengthen the persecuted by drawing attention to their claims.
When attacks on liberty are political or economic, it is their motive rather than their nature that changes.
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