"It is a maxim among these lawyers, that whatever hath been done before, may legally be done again: and therefore they take special care to record all the decisions formerly made against common justice and the general reason of mankind"
About this Quote
Legal precedent, in Swift's hands, isn't stability; it's a scam with paperwork. The line skewers a profession that congratulates itself for being rational while quietly laundering cruelty through procedure. Swift's barb lands because it mimics the lawyerly tone of a "maxim" and then flips it: the supposed safeguard of consistency becomes a machine for repeating yesterday's wrongs with tomorrow's signature.
The specific intent is surgical. Swift isn't arguing that rules are bad; he's exposing how rules get weaponized when they detach from "common justice" and "the general reason of mankind". Those phrases are doing heavy moral work: they appeal to an implied human standard that predates statutes. Against it, the lawyers' devotion to record-keeping reads like devotion to impunity. They "take special care" not to preserve wisdom but to archive exceptions, loopholes, and rationalizations - a library of licensed brutality.
The subtext is cynicism about institutions that mistake continuity for legitimacy. "Whatever hath been done before, may legally be done again" describes a circular logic: power commits an injustice, law blesses it after the fact, and then precedent turns that blessing into tradition. The record becomes a shield: don't blame us, blame the file.
Context matters. Swift is writing from a world of imperial administration, class hierarchy, and corrupt patronage, where law often served property and empire more than people. This isn't anti-intellectualism; it's anti-legalism: a warning that systems designed to limit arbitrariness can become, without moral pressure, elegant engines of repetition.
The specific intent is surgical. Swift isn't arguing that rules are bad; he's exposing how rules get weaponized when they detach from "common justice" and "the general reason of mankind". Those phrases are doing heavy moral work: they appeal to an implied human standard that predates statutes. Against it, the lawyers' devotion to record-keeping reads like devotion to impunity. They "take special care" not to preserve wisdom but to archive exceptions, loopholes, and rationalizations - a library of licensed brutality.
The subtext is cynicism about institutions that mistake continuity for legitimacy. "Whatever hath been done before, may legally be done again" describes a circular logic: power commits an injustice, law blesses it after the fact, and then precedent turns that blessing into tradition. The record becomes a shield: don't blame us, blame the file.
Context matters. Swift is writing from a world of imperial administration, class hierarchy, and corrupt patronage, where law often served property and empire more than people. This isn't anti-intellectualism; it's anti-legalism: a warning that systems designed to limit arbitrariness can become, without moral pressure, elegant engines of repetition.
Quote Details
| Topic | Justice |
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