Book contents
- The Cambridge Companion to the Rule of Law
- Cambridge Companions to Law
- The Cambridge Companion to the Rule of Law
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- Part I Introduction
- Part II Histories
- Part III Moralities
- 6 The Rule of Law as an Essentially Contested Concept
- 7 The Rule of Law in Montesquieu
- 8 The Spirit of Legality: A. V. Dicey and the Rule of Law
- 9 Michael Oakeshott’s Republican Theory of the Rule of Law
- 10 The Morality of the Rule of Law: Lon L. Fuller
- 11 E.P. Thompson and the Rule of Law: Qualifying the Unqualified Good
- 12 Functions of the Rule of Law
- 13 A Positive Theory of the Rule of Law
- Part IV Pathologies
- Part V Trajectories
- Part VI Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index
11 - E.P. Thompson and the Rule of Law: Qualifying the Unqualified Good
from Part III - Moralities
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 03 August 2021
By
Book contents
- The Cambridge Companion to the Rule of Law
- Cambridge Companions to Law
- The Cambridge Companion to the Rule of Law
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- Part I Introduction
- Part II Histories
- Part III Moralities
- 6 The Rule of Law as an Essentially Contested Concept
- 7 The Rule of Law in Montesquieu
- 8 The Spirit of Legality: A. V. Dicey and the Rule of Law
- 9 Michael Oakeshott’s Republican Theory of the Rule of Law
- 10 The Morality of the Rule of Law: Lon L. Fuller
- 11 E.P. Thompson and the Rule of Law: Qualifying the Unqualified Good
- 12 Functions of the Rule of Law
- 13 A Positive Theory of the Rule of Law
- Part IV Pathologies
- Part V Trajectories
- Part VI Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
These words appear in a short eleven-page passage headed “The rule of law” in E. P. Thompson’s 300-page historical study of one British statute enacted in May 1723. Yet the passage, and particularly the quoted words, received enormous attention at the time and since, provoking widespread criticism as well as praise.2 Edward Palmer Thompson (1924–1993) was probably the best-known British historian of the second half of the twentieth century, acclaimed for The Making of the English Working Class.
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- Information
- The Cambridge Companion to the Rule of Law , pp. 202 - 220Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2021