Tradition Discredited

Abstract

It has often been said, that in the second half of the 19th century English historiography about the medieval parliament was highly anachronistic and finalistic; it showed an almost direct relationship with the Victorian Golden Age of the parliamentary system under Gladstone and Disraeli. This historiography extolled Parliament as something all but divine; even historical scholars studying its origins were dazzled by its glorious presence, and were unable to discern anything else. A crude simplification, yes, but nevertheless true. The English political climate at that time was ideally suited to an anachronistic perspective, the more so in comparison with countries such as France.¹

If the abridgement of tradition is ideology, the criticism of tradition may be history —the ascription o the past of a relation to the present more complex than mere transmission.

(J.G.A. Pocock, 1968)

Is the High Court of Parliament the only Court in the realm incompetent or incapable to keep order within its own Chambers?

(A. Milman, 1878)