--- title: "2 Absolute power Quotes By Philip Hamburger" description: "2 Absolute power quotes by Philip Hamburger. Plus more from Philip Hamburger and more Absolute power sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4ee/philip-hamburger-28176_absolute-power_indeed-they-embraced-a-tradition-that-wa_500812.jpg" --- > [“Indeed, they embraced a tradition that was notorious for its incompatibility with American law and liberty. The connection between absolute and administrative power was not a secret. In the most prominent book on constitutional law of the late nineteenth century,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-hamburger/indeed-they-embraced-a-tradition-that-was-notorious-for-its/) [Philip Hamburger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-hamburger/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4ee/philip-hamburger-28176_absolute-power_indeed-they-embraced-a-tradition-that-wa_500812.jpg) > [“In sum, part I has shown that administrative law revives prerogative legislation, together with the prerogative of suspending and dispensing with law—thus restoring an extralegal regime of making and unmaking law. And lest it be thought that this is improbable,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-hamburger/in-sum-part-i-has-shown-that-administrative-law-revives-prerogative/) [Philip Hamburger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-hamburger/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/edc/philip-hamburger-28176_absolute-power_in-sum-part-i-has-shown-that-administrat_635761.jpg) ## Other authors on Absolute power - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b016/author-lord-acton-61079.jpg) Lord Acton 10 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/absolute-power/lord-acton/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b009/author-eric-hoffer-33497.jpg) Eric Hoffer 8 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/absolute-power/eric-hoffer/) - [Bangambiki Habyarimana 6 quotes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/absolute-power/bangambiki-habyarimana/) ## More by Philip Hamburger > [“On behalf of the deference under the Administrative Procedure Act, it is said that Congress is not constitutionally barred from authorizing deference—as if Congress…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-hamburger/on-behalf-of-the-deference-under-the-administrative-procedure-act-it/) [Philip Hamburger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-hamburger/) > [“By the same token, the executive cannot exercise legislative power, even if it has legislative authorization, for when it acts alone, it is a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-hamburger/by-the-same-token-the-executive-cannot-exercise-legislative-power/) [Philip Hamburger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-hamburger/) > [“Indeed, they embraced a tradition that was notorious for its incompatibility with American law and liberty. The connection between absolute and administrative power was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-hamburger/indeed-they-embraced-a-tradition-that-was-notorious-for-its/) [Philip Hamburger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-hamburger/) > [“Indeed, during the ensuring centuries, Englishmen repeatedly protested that a king could “not break or dispense with the positive laws,” and they asked, “What…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-hamburger/indeed-during-the-ensuring-centuries-englishmen-repeatedly-protested/) [Philip Hamburger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-hamburger/) > [“In sum, part I has shown that administrative law revives prerogative legislation, together with the prerogative of suspending and dispensing with law—thus restoring an…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-hamburger/in-sum-part-i-has-shown-that-administrative-law-revives-prerogative/) [Philip Hamburger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-hamburger/) > [“Administrative law thereby has transformed American government and society. Although this mode of power is unrecognized by the Constitution, it has become the government’s…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-hamburger/administrative-law-thereby-has-transformed-american-government-and/) [Philip Hamburger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-hamburger/) > [“The danger of an administrative return to an extralegal regime becomes particularly concrete when one recognizes the potential for evasion. Administrative law evades not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-hamburger/the-danger-of-an-administrative-return-to-an-extralegal-regime/) [Philip Hamburger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-hamburger/) > [“The people could still have their republic, but much legislative power would be shifted out of an elected body and into the hands of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-hamburger/the-people-could-still-have-their-republic-but-much-legislative-power/) [Philip Hamburger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-hamburger/) > [“It therefore is necessary to consider the possibility that administrative law was an instrument of a class that took a dim view of popularly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-hamburger/it-therefore-is-necessary-to-consider-the-possibility-that/) [Philip Hamburger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-hamburger/) > [“In general, the natural dividing line between legislative and nonlegislative power was between rules that bound subjects and those that did not. Legal obligation…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-hamburger/in-general-the-natural-dividing-line-between-legislative-and/) [Philip Hamburger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-hamburger/) > [“This breadth of constitutional law in barring extralegal legislation is revealing about more than the past. The reader will have to wait patiently until…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-hamburger/this-breadth-of-constitutional-law-in-barring-extralegal-legislation/) [Philip Hamburger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-hamburger/) > [“Following in this tradition, Americans constitutions almost uniformly authorized American governments to act against their subjects only through and under law. As put by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-hamburger/following-in-this-tradition-americans-constitutions-almost-uniformly/) [Philip Hamburger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-hamburger/) > [“And already here the danger should be evident—that government has returned to the era before constitutions, when kings or executives ruled not through law…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-hamburger/and-already-here-the-danger-should-be-evident-that-government-has/) [Philip Hamburger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-hamburger/) > [“Some specialized types of administrative legislation require further attention—for example, determinations that make law. These determinations echo the old determinations of facts, in which…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-hamburger/some-specialized-types-of-administrative-legislation-require-further/) [Philip Hamburger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-hamburger/) > [“Roger Twysden—a mid-seventeenth-century commentator—observed, “This maxim, that the king cannot alone alter the law” is “the basis or ground of all the liberty and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-hamburger/roger-twysden-a-mid-seventeenth-century-commentator-observed-this/) [Philip Hamburger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-hamburger/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/absolute-power/philip-hamburger/#itemlist", "name": "2 Absolute power Quotes By Philip Hamburger", "numberOfItems": 2, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Indeed, they embraced a tradition that was notorious for its incompatibility with American law and liberty. The connection between absolute and administrative power was not a secret. In the most prominent book on constitutional law of the late nineteenth century, Dicey began by observing that “the views of the prerogative maintained by Crown lawyers under the Tudors and the Stuarts bear a marked resemblance to the legal and administrative ideas which at the present day under the Third Republic still support the droit administratif of France.”82 The Americans who espoused administrative power, however, had little patience for history and even less for law. As has been seen, they preferred to speak in German-derived sociological terms about functional realities and about the historical inevitability of administrative power in modern society. Like their German intellectual forbears, moreover, they dismissed constitutional obstacles as mere formalities, usually with a tone of contempt. It is a style that has not altogether passed.83 That governments seek power, including absolute power, should be no surprise. What is disappointing is that so many Americans drew upon absolutist ideas without pausing to consider the significance of their civilian and German heritage or why such ideas had been rejected by Anglo-American constitutional law.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Philip Hamburger" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-hamburger/indeed-they-embraced-a-tradition-that-was-notorious-for-its/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4ee/philip-hamburger-28176_absolute-power_indeed-they-embraced-a-tradition-that-wa_500812.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4ee/philip-hamburger-28176_absolute-power_indeed-they-embraced-a-tradition-that-wa_500812.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4ee/philip-hamburger-28176_absolute-power_indeed-they-embraced-a-tradition-that-wa_500812.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Indeed, they embraced a tradition that was notorious for its incompatibility with American law and liberty…” — Philip Hamburger", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“In sum, part I has shown that administrative law revives prerogative legislation, together with the prerogative of suspending and dispensing with law—thus restoring an extralegal regime of making and unmaking law. And lest it be thought that this is improbable, it should be recalled that some leading advocates of administrative law candidly admitted that their project was to return to prerogative power. John Dickinson, for example, observed that “the question of whether or not the king can issue ordinances parallels our modern question as to whether or not an executive body or officer can establish regulations; and the arguments used pro and con have followed much the same lines.”25 Put more theoretically, administrative lawmaking is not a power exercised through law, but a power outside it. Indeed, as will become more fully apparent in part III, it is a power above the law. But even when considered simply as a power outside the law, this extralegal regime revives what once was considered absolute power. Administrative law thus returns to the very sort of power that constitutions developed in order to prohibit. The prerogative to issue law-like commands was the primary point of contention in the English constitutional struggles of the seventeenth century. In response, the English developed a constitution and Americans enacted a constitution that placed all legislative power in the legislature. It therefore is mistaken to assume that American administrative law is a novel mode of governance, which could not have been anticipated or barred by the U.S. Constitution. On the contrary, administrative power revives extralegal rulemaking, interpretation, dispensing, and suspending, and thus almost the entire regime of extralegal lawmaking once associated with absolute prerogative power. It thereby restores what constitutions barred when they located legislative power in their legislatures.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Philip Hamburger" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-hamburger/in-sum-part-i-has-shown-that-administrative-law-revives-prerogative/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/edc/philip-hamburger-28176_absolute-power_in-sum-part-i-has-shown-that-administrat_635761.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/edc/philip-hamburger-28176_absolute-power_in-sum-part-i-has-shown-that-administrat_635761.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/edc/philip-hamburger-28176_absolute-power_in-sum-part-i-has-shown-that-administrat_635761.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“In sum, part I has shown that administrative law revives prerogative legislation, together with the…” — Philip Hamburger", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } } ] }, { "@type": "CollectionPage", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/absolute-power/philip-hamburger/#webpage", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/absolute-power/philip-hamburger/", "name": "Absolute power Quotes by Philip Hamburger", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/absolute-power/philip-hamburger/#itemlist" }, "primaryImageOfPage": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4ee/philip-hamburger-28176_absolute-power_indeed-they-embraced-a-tradition-that-wa_500812.jpg" }, "description": "2 Absolute power quotes by Philip Hamburger. 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