On the record
Accordingly, it is believed that the principal characteristics of the English Constitution are inapplicable in countries where the materials for a monarchy or an aristocracy do not exist.
Said by
Walter Bagehot
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gutenberg.orgWalter Bagehot: “Accordingly, it is believed that the principal characteristics of the English Constitution are inapplicable in countries…”
Editor's note · Context
Bagehot argues that the characteristics of the English Constitution cannot be applied to nations lacking the necessary societal structures for monarchy or aristocracy.
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More from Walter Bagehot
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.
The casual line was traced according to the strength of deceased combatants; succeeding generations fought elsewhere; and the hesitating line of a half-drawn battle was left to stand for a perpetual limit.
These anomalies, in a hundred instances, mark the old boundaries of a constitutional struggle.
At last it strikes you that they grew up, house by house, on the devious tracks of the old green lanes; and if you follow on to the existing fields, you may often find the change half complete.
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