On the record
If you ask the immense majority of the Queen's subjects by what right she rules, they would never tell you that she rules by Parliamentary right, by virtue of 6 Anne, c. 7.
Said by
Walter Bagehot
Source
gutenberg.orgWalter Bagehot: “If you ask the immense majority of the Queen's subjects by what right she rules, they would never tell you that she…”
Editor's note · Context
This passage questions the legitimacy of the Queen's rule, suggesting that most subjects do not recognize parliamentary authority as the basis for her reign.
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More from Walter Bagehot
Perhaps such powers as these are what a wise man would most seek to exercise and least fear to possess.
That a House of Commons may work well it must perform, as we saw, five functions well: it must elect a Ministry well, legislate well, teach the nation well, express the nation's will well, bring matters to the nation's attention well.
They are solely concerned with his attractiveness as a candidate; they need not regard his efficiency as a ruler.
He could have found the truth as a statesman just as he found it when a judge; but he never did find it.
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