The English ConstitutionThere is a great difficulty in the way of a writer who attempts to sketch a living Constitution-a Constitution that is in actual work and power. The difficulty is that the object is in constant change. An historical writer does not feel this difficulty: he deals only with the past; he can say definitely, the Constitution worked in such and such a manner in the year at which he begins, and in a manner in such and such respects different in the year at which he ends; he begins with a definite point of time and ends with one also. But a contemporary writer who tries to paint what is before him is puzzled and a perplexed: what he sees is changing daily. He must paint it as it stood at some one time, or else he will be putting side by side in his representations things which never were contemporaneous in reality. |
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able action administration American arguments assembly authority believe better body cabinet cabinet government chamber choose classes constitution course critical defect difficulty duty educated effect elected element England English equal executive existence fact feeling force function George give greatest half head House of Commons House of Lords ideas imagine important influence interest keep king least legislation legislature less live look majority matter means ment mind minister ministry monarch nation nature necessary never object once opinion Parliament Parliamentary party peers perhaps persons political popular possible present President principle Queen question reason representatives result rule rulers society sort sovereign speak sure theory things thought tion true vote whole wish
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Página 104 - Secondly, having once given her sanction to a measure, that it be not arbitrarily altered or modified by the Minister. Such an act she must consider as failing in sincerity towards the Crown, and justly to be visited by the exercise of her constitutional right of dismissing that Minister.
Página 299 - After five years' work I allowed myself to speculate on the subject, and drew up some short notes ; these I enlarged in 1844 into a sketch of the conclusions, which then seemed to me probable : from that period to the present day 1 have steadily pursued the same object.
Página 17 - a hyphen which joins, a buckle which fastens the legislative part of the State to the executive part'.
Página 105 - To state the matter shortly, the sovereign has, under a constitutional monarchy such as ours, three rights— the right to be consulted, the right to encourage, the right to warn.
Página 59 - THE USE of the Queen, in a dignified capacity, is incalculable. Without her in England, the present English Government would fail and pass away. Most people when they read that the Queen walked on the slopes at Windsor — that the Prince of Wales went to the Derby — have imagined that too much thought and prominence were given to little things. But they have been in error; and it is nice to trace how the actions of a retired widow and an unemployed youth become of such importance.
Página 298 - On my return home it occurred to me, in 1837, that something might perhaps be made out on this question by patiently accumulating and reflecting on all sorts of facts which could possibly have any bearing on it. After five years...
Página 10 - Great communities are like great mountains, — they have in them the primary, secondary, and tertiary strata of human progress ; the characteristics of the lower regions resemble the life of old times rather than the present life of the higher regions.
Página 14 - The efficient secret of the English Constitution may be described as the close union, the nearly complete fusion, of the executive and legislative powers.
Página 56 - A country of respectful poor, though far less happy than where there are no poor to be respectful, is nevertheless far more fitted for the best government. You can use the best classes of the respectful country; you can only use the worst where every man thinks he is as good as every other.
Página 16 - The Cabinet, in a word, is a board of control chosen by the legislature, out of persons whom it trusts and knows, to rule the nation.
Referencias a este libro
Institutional Theory in Political Science: The 'new Institutionalism' B. Guy Peters Sin vista previa disponible - 2005 |
Información bibliográfica
| Título | The English Constitution Online Access with Subscription: Heinonline Volumen330 de The World's classics |
| Autor | Walter Bagehot |
| Editor | Chapman and Hall, 1867 |
| Procedencia del original | Biblioteca Pública de Nueva York |
| Digitalizado | 26 Oct. 2007 |
| ISBN | 1508931887, 9781508931881 |
| Largo | 348 páginas |
| Exportar cita | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |