![Book Cover of History of England from the Invasion of Julius Caesar to the Revolution of 1688, Volume 1D](/image/book/history-of-england-from-the-invasion-of-julius-caesar-to-the-revolution-of-1688-volume-1d.webp)
History of England from the Invasion of Julius Caesar to the Revolution of 1688, Volume 1D
by David Hume
'History of England from the Invasion of Julius Caesar to the Revolution of 1688, Volume 1D' Summary
He wrote of the Revolution: "By deciding many important questions in favour of liberty, and still more, by that great precedent of deposing one king, and establishing a new family, it gave such an ascendent to popular principles, as has put the nature of the English Constitution beyond all controversy". Thus Hume is at odds with those who argue that the British Constitution is entirely evolutionary, and did not emerge from a revolution, just like the later American and French Constitutions, and the earlier Dutch Constitution.
The source of this antinomian interpretation of British freedom can be traced in Hume's account of the revolutionary debates themselves. William of Orange had been invited to invade by a coalition of English Whigs and Tories. To placate the latter's maxim that "the throne was never vacant", or in modern parlance the monarch never dies, the fiction was agreed that King James would be said to have abdicated. It fell to the Scottish Parliamentary Convention, meeting a month after the English one: "in a bold and decisive vote", to declare "that king James, by his maladministration, and his abuse of power, had forfeited all title to the crown". Hume wanted to present the UK as having a modern constitution. He did not see it as something that stretched back seamlessly to Magna Carta or the laws of King Alfred.
The narrative ends with a parliamentary convention annexing to the settlement "a declaration of rights, where all the points, which had, of late years, been disputed between king and people, were finally determined; and the powers of the royal prerogative were more narrowly circumscribed and more exactly defined, than in any former period of the English government". In fact Britain has two declarations of right from this period. The Bill of Rights is (or was) the basic law of England, the Claim of Right that for Scotland.
There are important differences between these little studied declarations. Where the Bill of Rights states that the King cannot make laws without the consent of Parliament, the Claim of Right says that all assertions of a right to rule above the law are themselves against the law. The Bill of Rights was inspired by John Locke. Behind the Claim of Right can be detected the guiding hand of James Dalrymple, 1st Viscount of Stair 1619–1695. Hume studied law as a student at Edinburgh. He implies that he neglected this study. This must be taken with a pinch of salt. He may have wanted to avoid giving the lay reader the impression that he had written a history just for lawyers like William Blackstone. What is certain is that he names two of the founders of Roman Dutch law, Johannes Voet and Arnold Vinnius, in the same breath as Cicero and Virgil. Cicero was, of course, a lawyer. The standard work for a Scottish law student to study was, then as now, "Stair's Institutions of the laws of Scotland".
Hume names neither of the unamended constitutions of 1689. He wanted a new constitution for the United Kingdom to flesh out these outline declarations. He set out his proposals in the essay Idea of a Perfect Commonwealth, which is a reworking of The Commonwealth of Oceana by the 17th-century Rutland visionary James Harrington. Leaving the extent of the Commonwealth and the location of its capital undecided, Hume's highly devolved scheme was "to have all the advantages both of a great and a little Commonwealth". In some ways it resembles the model of Presbyterian church government. Hume was no theorist of an unwritten constitution.
Book Details
Author
![David Hume image](/thumbs/image/author/david-hume.webp)
David Hume
Scotland
David Hume was a Scottish Enlightenment philosopher, historian, economist, librarian and essayist, who is best known today for his highly influential system of philosophical empiricism, scepticism, an...
More on David HumeDownload eBooks
Listen/Download Audiobook
- Select Speed
Related books
![The History of England, from the Accession of James II - (Volume 3, Chapter 16) Cover image](/thumbs/image/book/the-history-of-england-from-the-accession-of-james-ii-volume-3-chapter-16.webp)
The History of England, from the Accession of James II - (Volume 3, Chapter 16) by Thomas Babington Macaulay
The History of England from the Accession of James the Second (1848) is the full title of the five-volume work by Lord Macaulay (1800–1859) more gener...
![The Citizen's Almanac Cover image](/thumbs/image/book/the-citizens-almanac.webp)
The Citizen's Almanac by United States of America
New citizens of the United States were given this pamphlet when they became citizens. The Citizen's Almanac contains information on the history, peopl...
![Knickerbocker's History of New York, Vol. 1 Cover image](/thumbs/image/book/knickerbockers-history-of-new-york-vol-1.webp)
Knickerbocker's History of New York, Vol. 1 by Washington Irving
A History of New York, subtitled From the Beginning of the World to the End of the Dutch Dynasty, is an 1809 literary parody on the history of New Yor...
![The History of England, from the Accession of James II - (Volume 4, Chapter 19) Cover image](/thumbs/image/book/the-history-of-england-from-the-accession-of-james-ii-volume-4-chapter-19.webp)
The History of England, from the Accession of James II - (Volume 4, Chapter 19) by Thomas Babington Macaulay
The History of England from the Accession of James the Second (1848) is the full title of the five-volume work by Lord Macaulay (1800–1859) more gener...
![Chronicles of Canada Volume 03 – Founder of New France: A Chronicle of Champlain Cover image](/thumbs/image/book/chronicles-of-canada-volume-03-founder-of-new-france-a-chronicle-of-champlain.webp)
Chronicles of Canada Volume 03 – Founder of New France: A Chronicle of Champlain by Charles William Colby
For Canada , Champlain is not alone a heroic explorer of the seventeenth century, but the founder of Quebec; and it is a rich part of our heritage tha...
![History of the United States, Volume 5 Cover image](/thumbs/image/book/history-of-the-united-states-volume-5.webp)
History of the United States, Volume 5 by Charles A. Beard
In 1921, Charles and Mary Beard published their textbook: History of the United States. A contemporaneous review stated: The authors… assume enough ma...
![The Public Orations of Demosthenes Cover image](/thumbs/image/book/the-public-orations-of-demosthenes.webp)
The Public Orations of Demosthenes by Demosthenes
Demosthenes was a prominent Greek statesman and orator of ancient Athens. His orations constitute the last significant expression of Athenian intelle...
![Chronicles of Canada Volume 08 - Great Fortress: A Chronicle of Louisbourg 1720-1760 Cover image](/thumbs/image/book/chronicles-of-canada-volume-08-great-fortress-a-chronicle-of-louisbourg-1720-1760.webp)
Chronicles of Canada Volume 08 - Great Fortress: A Chronicle of Louisbourg 1720-1760 by William Charles Henry Wood
Louisbourg was no mere isolated stronghold which could be lost or won without affecting the wider issues of oversea dominion. On the contrary, it was...
![History of England from the Invasion of Julius Caesar to the Revolution of 1688, Volume 1C Cover image](/thumbs/image/book/history-of-england-from-the-invasion-of-julius-caesar-to-the-revolution-of-1688-volume-1c.webp)
History of England from the Invasion of Julius Caesar to the Revolution of 1688, Volume 1C by David Hume
This is Volume 1C which covers the reigns of Henry VII to Mary I. The History of England is David Hume's great work on the history of England (also c...
![Chronicles of Canada Volume 02 - Mariner of St. Malo: A Chronicle of the Voyages of Jacques Cartier Cover image](/thumbs/image/book/chronicles-of-canada-volume-02-mariner-of-st-malo-a-chronicle-of-the-voyages-of-jacques-cartier.webp)
Chronicles of Canada Volume 02 - Mariner of St. Malo: A Chronicle of the Voyages of Jacques Cartier by Stephen Leacock
Jacques Cartier grew up as a sailor, married well and became an agent of exploration for King Francis I of France. In April, 1534, he sailed for the N...
Reviews for History of England from the Invasion of Julius Caesar to the Revolution of 1688, Volume 1D
No reviews posted or approved, yet...