Almost every case must now be determined by some precedent, be that precedent good or bad, or whether it properly applies or not; and the practice is become so general as to suggest a suspicion, that it proceeds from a deeper policy than at first sight appears.
Paine observes that English legal decisions are excessively reliant on precedents, suggesting a deliberate policy behind this practice.
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The thing, in many points, contained better principles than those upon which the Government had hitherto been administered; but with respect to the Cour Pleniere, it was no other than a medium through which despotism was to pass, without…
It was Government dethroning Government; and the old one, by attempting to make a new one, made a chasm.
To possess ourselves of a clear idea of what government is, or ought to be, we must trace it to its origin.
In fine, society performs for itself almost everything which is ascribed to government.