Walter Bagehot: “People wonder that so literary a people as the Americans--a people who read more than any people who ever lived, who…”

Our law very often reminds one of those outskirts of cities where you cannot for a long time tell how the streets come to wind about in so capricious and serpent-like a manner.

But it is natural also that persons used to analyse political institutions should look at these anomalies with a little tenderness and a little interest.

Just so the lines of our Constitution were framed in old eras of sparse population, few wants, and simple habits; and we adhere in seeming to their shape, though civilisation has come with its dangers, complications, and enjoyments.

I cannot, therefore, join in the full cry against anomalies; in my judgment it may quickly overrun the scent, and so miss what we should be glad to find.