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Truly, though kingship be not a title but a name of office that runs through the law, yet it is not so ratione nominis, but from what is signified. It is a name of office, plainly implying a Supreme Authority. Is it more, or can it be stretched to more? I say, it is a name of office, plainly implying the Supreme Authority, and if it be so, why then I would suppose, (I am not peremptory in any thing that is matter of deduction or inference of my own,) why then I should suppose that whatsoever name hath been or shall be the name, in which the Supreme Authority shall act; why, (I say) if it had been those four or five letters, or whatsoever else it had been, that signification goes to the thing. Certainly it does, and not to the name. Why then, there can be no more said, but this, why this hath been fixt, so it may have been unfixt.

Oliver Cromwell#38

CromwellAuthorityLaw

About this quote

What does it mean?
Cromwell argues that the authority of kingship comes from the power it signifies, not the name itself.
In plain terms
The title matters less than the power it represents.
What can you take from it?
Authority lies in function, not labels.

Where it applies

  • constitutional theory
  • political philosophy
  • historical debate

Putting it to work

  • analyze titles vs power
  • study constitutional roles

Questions to consider

  • Does the name define the office?
  • What makes authority real?

Another view

This distinction may not resolve practical conflicts over succession.

More from Oliver Cromwell

  1. We are Englishmen; that is one good fact.

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  2. Men have been led in dark paths, through the providence and dispensation of God. Why, surely it is not to be objected to a man, for who can love to walk in the…

    Permalink to quote #39
  3. Weeds and nettles, briars and thorns, have thriven under your shadow, dissettlement and division, discontentment and dissatisfaction, together with real danger…

    Permalink to quote #36

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