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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 August 2009
Professor Paul Lucas has described Edmund Burke's theory of prescription as his “idea about the way in which an adverse possession of property and authority may be legitimated by virtue of use and enjoyment during a long passage of time.” The description is accurate so far as it goes. Burke certainly maintained that if one had held uncontested possession as the owner of a piece of property for a sufficiently long period of time, no earlier title to the property, however valid, could be revived and made to prevail against the occupant's title. Through the passage of time the occupant had acquired a title by prescription, and this in Burke's eyes was “the soundest, the most general, and the most recognized title … a title, which … is rooted in its principle, in the law of nature itself, and is indeed the original ground of all known property.” Burke also said: “Prescription is the most solid of all titles, not only to property, but, which is to secure that property, to Government.”
1 Lucas, Paul, “On Edmund Burke's Doctrine of Prescription,” Historical Journal, XI (1968), 36Google Scholar.
2 Letter from Burke to his son, undated, The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke (16 vols.; London: Rivington, 1803–1827), IX, 449Google Scholar. All subsequent references to Burke's Works will be to this edition.
3 Speech on the Reform of the Representation of the Commons in Parliament, Works, X, 96. Burke wrote this speech in May, 1782, in answer to a motion made in the House of Commons for a committee to inquire into the state of the representation of the people in that house. According to Pocock, J.G.A., “Burke and the Ancient Constitution,” Historical Journal, III (1960), 139–140Google Scholar, Burke did not deliver the speech. But it is an important exposition of his thought.
4 Fennessy, R. R., Burke, Paine and the Rights of Man (The Hague, 1963), p. 131CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
5 Works, X, 93–95.
6 Works, V, 119–120.
7 Works, VI, 200.
8 Works, VI, 230. See, Thoughts on French Affairs (1791), Works, VII, 18Google Scholar; Observations on the Conduct of the Minority (1793), Works, VII, 270–272Google Scholar.
9 MacCunn, John, The Political Philosophy of Burke (London, 1913), p. 54Google Scholar.
10 Appeal, Works, VI, 218.
11 Works, V, 184.
12 Tract relative to the Laws against Popery in Ireland, Works, IX, 349–350. Mahoney, Thomas H. D. says that this document “was probably written during the fall of 1761 but was not published until after Burke's death.” Edmund Burke and Ireland (Cambridge, Mass., 1960), p. 15CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
13 Reflections, Works, V, 186.
14 Appeal, Works, VI, 205.
15 Fennessy, 114.
16 Works, V, 184.
17 Fennessy, 114.
18 MacCunn, 144.
19 Works, VI, 204–207. The quotations that follow, until the next footnote
20 Fennessy, 114.
21 Appeal, Works, VI, 133.
22 Reflections, Works, V, 184.
23 Fourth Letter on a Regicide Peace (1796), Works, IX, 112Google Scholar.
24 Appeal, Works, VI, 257.
25 Reflections, Works, V, 183.
26 Ibid., 120.
27 Works, VI, 205.
28 Reflections, Works, V, 122–123.
29 Ibid., 123.
30 Speech on the East India Bill (1783), Works, IV, 11Google Scholar. Cf. ibid., 9–10.
31 Appeal, Works, VI, 210.
32 Heads for Consideration on the Present State of Affairs (1792), Works, VII, 114Google Scholar.
33 Reflections, Works, V, 310.
34 Works, X, 95.
35 Works, X, 96.
36 Strauss, Leo, Natural Right and History (Chicago, 1953), p. 319Google Scholar. Paul Lucas says that Burke “believed that prescription possessed an immanent justification,” and that in his mind “time alone became the material and efficient cause of prescription” (Lucas, 40, 62).
37 Wilkins, Burleigh, The Problem of Burke's Political Philosophy (Oxford, 1967), p. 244Google Scholar.
38 Works, X, 51.
39 Works, V, 122–123.
40 Speech at the Hastings Trial (1788), Works, XIII, 165–166Google Scholar.
41 Works, XIII, 169–170.
42 Works, XIII, 24.
43 Works, X, 99.
44 Works, X, 100.
45 Works, X, 101–102. Cf. Reflections, Works, V, 116.
46 Works, X, 100–101.
47 Chapman, Gerald, Edmund Burke: The Practical Imagination (Cambridge, Mass., 1967), p. 166CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
48 Reflections, Works, V, 298.
49 First Letter on a Regicide Peace (1796), Works, VIII, 190Google Scholar.
50 Works, III, 278.
51 Works, III, 246.
52 Works, III, 177.
53 Works, IX, 212.
54 Works, VI, 261, 265.
55 See, Letter to Sir Hercules Langrishe (1792), Works, VI, 369Google Scholar.
56 Speech on the East India Bill, Works, VI, 111.
57 This and the following passages, until the next footnote reference, are taken from Works, IX, 347–350.
58 Speech on the Reform of the Representation, Works, X, 96.
59 Works, V, 106.
60 Works, VI, 217–219.
