Self-study
P1
Can a sovereign have unlimited legal power. ██ █ █████████ ████ ████ █████████ █████ ██████ ████ ███ █████████ ██████████ ███ ███ █████ █████ ██ █████ ██ ████ ██████████ ████████ ███ ███ █████ ██████ ███ █████ ██ █████ ████ ████ ███ █████████ ██ ██████ ███ █████████ █████ ██████ ███████ █████████████ ███ ███████ ████████████ ████ ███████████ █████████ ██ █████████████ █████ ██ ███ ███████ ██ ████████████
Question ·
Can a sovereign be omnipotent?
If so, then the sovereign has the power to limit its own power which means it no longer has unlimited power. That's the paradox of omnipotence.
P2
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OPA ·
Sovereign omnipotence can be a source of difficulty for soverigns
E.g., the English and French monarchies experienced this
P3
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OPA ·
It can be good for sovereigns to have their power be limited
E.g., having absolute power means you can refuse to honor debts which means that you can't get a loan.
P4
OPA Example ·
French and English's unlimited power hurt them
These sovereigns failed to pay debt and expropriated property. Consequently, creditors started demanding high interest rates to capture risk of default.
P5
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OPA Solution / Conclusion ·
The Parliament's limit of the Crown's power resolved the paradox
The Parliament was able to credibly commit the Crown to honor is debts. Consequently, the Crown was able to borrow at a much lower rate.
P6
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OPA legacy ·
Constitutional limits to powers as a benefit is now the conventional view
Author’s Critique ·
Constitutions can fail to limit power
Author’s Argument ·
Did not solve the problem; merely shifted it
The paradox of omnipotence still exists. All the constitution does is to take omnipotence away from the Crown and give it to itself, the Parliament.
Passage Style
Critique or debate
Problem-analysis
26.
Suppose the Parliament in England █████ █ ██████████ ██ ██████ █ █████████ ██████ ██ █ █████████████ █████ ██ ███ ██ ████████ ████ ███ ███████ ████
a
the commitment will █████████ ████████████ ███████ ██ ██████ ██████ ██ █████████ █████
It’s not clear why Parliament’s making a commitment to a multinational body would undermine their ability to get credit. There’s no suggestion that making this commitment would decrease creditors confidence on Parliament’s willingness to pay back loans.
b
lenders will become ████ █████████ ████ ██████████ ████ █████ ███ █████
It’s not clear how creditors would perceive the multinational body and its ability to put limits on Parliament’s ability to renege on commitments.
c
Parliament has the █████ █████████ ██ ███ ███ ██████████ ██ ███ ████
d
the commercial interests ███████████ ██ ██████████ ████ ██████████ ██ ███ ██████████
We have no evidence of how commercial interests would perceive of the multinational body.
e
the commitment will ████████ ████████████ █████ █████
Actually, we’re told Parliament lacks legal power over the extent of its own power and that it lacks the power to bind itself. It’s not clear how committing to the multinational body would increase Parliament’s power. It already has unlimited power.