Korupcja – przekleństwo czy fundament parlamentaryzmu brytyjskiego w XVIII wieku?
Corruption – a Curse or the Foundation of British Parliamentarism in the Eighteenth Century?

Summary/Abstract: The article analyses the most theoretically advanced writings by David Hume and Edmund Burke, who, in different ways, challenged traditional political orthodoxy regarding the practice of “corruption” – i.e. the influence of the executive branch on the House of Commons. It is demonstrated that post-revolutionary “corruption” – commonly perceived as a manifestation of a profound crisis, if not of a complete collapse, of the English system of liberty and of the key role of the House of Commons – in the writings of keen eighteenth-century observers of the logic of parliamentary government ceased to be presented just as a threat, becoming instead a foundation essential for sustaining the constitutional stability of the state, which is of particular importance for understanding not only the dynamics of the British political scene in the eighteenth century, but also the logic of the functioning of parliamentary systems as such.

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